Scott Westerfeld's alternative history fiction series is fantastic! Give 'em a try.
They're called Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath. They're set in an alternative 1914, where Europe is divided between the Clankers, the central powers which put their faith in advanced machines and battle walkers, and the Darwinists, who have discovered genetical manipulation and thus breed living creatures to fill the same role. Well worth checking out, even more if that particular era interests you.
I also saw George Orwell up there. While 1984 is certainly Orwell's most famous work, he wrote a few other books well worth picking up.
Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell detailing the life on the bottom of society in, well... Paris and London.
Homage to Catalonia, about his observations and experiences in the Spanish civil war.
Coming up for Air, a really nice story about an unhappy middle-class middle-aged man trying to get a glimpse of his childhood back.
Another timeless work well worth reading; Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
It's a comedy from the 1880's, about three men on a boating vacation on the Thames, with rude steamers, unhelpful towing lines, a half-feral canine companion and quarrelsome swans. It's great fun, much better than it sound.
"I forget the other ingredients, but I know nothing was wasted; and I remember that, towards the end, Montmorency, who had evinced great interest in the proceedings throughout, strolled away with an earnest and thoughtful air, reappearing, a few minutes afterwards, with a dead water-rat in his mouth, which he evidently wished to present as his contribution to the dinner; whether in a sarcastic spirit, or with a genuine desire to assist, I cannot say."
Oh, and I'll nominate my favourite book, while I'm at it. Robert Westall's Blitzcat.
The title sums it up fairly nicely. It's a cat trying to find her human during the Blitz, and somehow improves the lives of all the people she crosses path with. It's a fantastic story if you like cats at all, and still a good story if you don't give a toss about cats but like a good story.
You could be doing alot worse than checking out Robert Westall's books in general, come to think of it. He's awesome!
Last Edit, I Promise: Michail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a fantastic book as well. In short; the Devil visits Stalin-era Moskva, with all the confusion and mayhem that implies. It can be a bit of a brainbreaker at times, but it's well worth your time.
