Recommended reads:
Contemporary (incidentally Canadian):
Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake
Douglas Coupland Elanor Rigby
Douglas Coupland Microserfs
Wade Davis - One River (non-fic)
Timothy Findlay Pilgrim
Carol Shields Larrys Party
Kate Taylor Mme. Proust and the Kosher Kitchen
Madeline Thien Simple Recipes
Terry Woo Banana Boys
Classic:
Albert Camus The Plague
Herman Hesse - Siddhartha
Aldous Huxley Brave New World
Gabriel Garcia Marquez One Hundred Years of Solitude
Erich Maria Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front
Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Issac Asimov The Foundation Series
Arthur C. Clarke The Rama Series
J.R.R. Tolkien anything
Kids:
Lois Lowry The Giver
Kenneth Oppel Airborn
J.K. Rowling as if you need my recommendation
Currently reading: H.P. Lovecraft At the Mountains of Madness
Next up: Wayson Choy (never had to read him), Augusten Burroughs