Which book is the best to read?

Depends on what kind of person you are Kayla. If you are looking to be merely entertained or patronizingly validated in some way - many of these works will do just fine. But if you are the kind of person who would like to get something of LASTING value out of your summer's reading (and I think you probably are) then there is one book on this list that fits the bill better than any of the others. I am speaking here of course about Orwell's '84. Coming in (a somewhat distant) second would be Huxley's BNW. Either one of these novels will provide you with an opportunity to see the world you live in a new way, but if I could have read only ONE book on this list - it would have to be Orwell's masterpiece of timely insights. Listed as #13 on Modern Library's list of "The top 100 novels of the 20th Century" this work has had more lasting influence on our society than any other book on this list. It has also been BANNED (for reasons that will be obvious) at various times, and in various places. It introduced a number of terms to the English lexicon, and even though it was written in 1948 - it predicted the current state of affairs in the modern world to a degree that is downright SCARY sometimes. I have read it a number of times, 5-10 yrs apart, and each time I do I am AMAZED at how much MORE the world looks like the one in the book than it did the last time I read it. Add to all of this the fact that it is a relatively short novella length piece, and it is pretty tough to beat. In the world of fiction, few cast a longer shadow in the arena of SINGULAR achievement - than George Orwell. -Shekhinah