My favorite: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

You know a book is good when the Simpsons do a parody of it in an episode. Yeah, I know the movie is good, but books are almost always better than movies because the narrator can express or describe things that you'll never see on-screen. We have Ken Kesey to thank for this awesome novel. Before Kesey was a renowned author, he worked in psych ward in the late 1950's, and the disturbing things he observed there inspired him to write "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," his first novel. Interestingly, he was also used as a test subject for government experiments with LSD and other drugs. In the late 60's Kesey became a big fan of LSD and sometimes gave it to people without their knowledge so he could watch their reactions. He lead a group called the Merry Pranksters who drove across the country in a painted bus; it's no wonder his writing is so entertaining.
     The two main characters in this book-- McMurphy and Nurse Ratched-- are brilliant inventions, and their extreme personalities are perfect catalysts for the war of wills that ignites between them. McMurphy wants to rebel against every rule that exists in the psych ward in which he resides, so he smuggles in alcohol and women, gambles, instigates other patients, starts brawls, and challenges Nurse Ratched. As a patient, you'd think he'd be helpless to get away with much, but his cunning intellect and hilarious insolence push the staff and the rules to their absolute limits. This book is so funny, so entertaining, so shocking, and so appalling that I've never been able to find anything to read that I love as much as this. Kesey brings to light the disturbing things that go on in a mid-century mental hospital, and interlaces hilarity with sad calamity, culminating in an ending that's astonishing and completely unforgettable.