Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
What is there left to say about this absolute unit of a classic?
I didn't read this in high school but I wish I had, just to see how it would have affected me. This book punches you hard. You see the tragedy of it coming a mile away but that doesn't make it one bit less sad. To me this is a book about human connection and how isolating and uprooting people alienates them. It's an absolute masterpiece of economy of words. Page for page it might be the best novel (I guess it's technically a novella) I've ever read.
I feel like this is the perfect book to get a young person into reading because it showcases all the amazing things literature can do in such a small package.