Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

I found Vanity Fair to be incredibly funny. It makes fun of society as a whole,

particularly the hypocrisy of people and how they’ll willingly step on someone’s neck
to reach a few inches higher. It ends up with an intriguing murder mystery, one that I
used to frequently argue about with an old friend.

Roughing It by Mark Twain

On a rather different note, Roughing It is Mark Twain’s memoirs of his years spent in
the wild West. Twain’s humor is evident here, but it’s also a great adventure story that
reveals quite a lot about the nature of the old West.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

If you’re interested in knights, chivalry, and Robin Hood, you’ll enjoy Ivanhoe. It’s as
simple as that. It’s a very fun adventure story, vibrant and yet realistic, though the
language is just a touch dated in places.

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

This is a very powerful look at what morality is and how we can internally and
externally determine right and wrong based on objective truth, not on the ideas of the
society around us. More often than not, they overlap, but a sense of what’s right based
on what we objectively know to be true is a much more powerful guide than just
following what others tell us.

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

This is a wonderful adventure story set during the French-Indian War of the 1750s. Be
careful when reading Cooper, though; if you’ve read one book by him, you’ll get a
feeling that you’re just re-reading the same book if you read more. One is very well
worth reading, though, and I suggest this one.

Accelerando by Charles Stross

Accelerando is a 2005 science fiction novel that Stross has released as a free e-book
for anyone to read. It’s actually a series of nine somewhat interconnected short stories
telling the story of a family before, during, and after a technological singularity – in
other words, a merging of man and machine for a level of superintelligence that
neither could achieve on their own. It’s a very enjoyable read with lots of thought-
provoking ideas.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Little Brother is a 2007 novel by Cory Doctorow that describes how four teenagers
respond to a terrorist attack in San Francisco. During the aftermath of that attack, the
Department of Homeland Security tries to crack down on civil rights in the area, and
the main characters fight back against it in various ways, often utilizing technology in
a clever way. Much like Accelerando, this one is a great new novel that’s free for
anyone to read.

Hopefully, you now have plenty to read without exploding your pocketbook.