i have a few books to add to claud's (and ian's) list(s), a large majority of which are children's books, since they make good light reading--

/Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
simple and beautiful and heartwarming in its outlook. yes, even guys should read this. ;p
/The Exiles, Hilary McKay*
utterly hilarious, in a remarkably healthy way.
/Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian*
another children's book--but this is absolutely stunning. the characters are so full and so real. and the emotions cut so sharp.
/Katina, Roald Dahl*
this is a short story found in the anthology titled "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"... roald dahl's usually macabre but this is so different from what he usually writes, and for that alone--even without its poignancy and evocativeness--it's worth reading.
/Boy and /Going Solo, Roald Dahl*
but as you can tell i'm a die-hard dahl fan, so. ;p
/Watership Down, Richard Adams*
sometimes i can't say why i like books, why they are good. this is one of them.

/For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway*
set during the spanish civil war--so calling all ye who like war stories and spain. it's a masterful depiction of the life there, i suppose, and the war, and the people caught up in it.
/The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde*
"We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless."
/At Swim, Two Boys, Jamie O'Neill
there's something about irish writing... and then there's the way the story takes off and is swept along by the tide of history (1916 easter rising). contains homosexual material, though--but love is love (though that's only personal opinion) and here it is beautiful.
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho*
an "enchanting fable", reads the synopsis at the back. this is something that renews one's faith in life and in dreams.