The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Even if my personal views at times differed greatly with those displayed in this novel, it's a great story for those in search of hope.
Saved my life once.

The Lyonesse Trilogy by Jack Vance; it's my favorite series. Unfortunately, it tends to be out-of-print.

Jack Vance is great, but I've read that people who dislike flawed and sociopathic protagonists can be a little put off by his stuff . . . it's too gritty and realistic for some people. Then there are some who find his flowery prose and use of many uncommon (and even made up) words to be pretentious.

I recommend anything by Charles Bukowski - his books at least (I'm not poetry fan in general) - or Celine's Journey to the End of the Night. Or if you don't want stuff quite so grumpy try Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Danish author Peter Hoeg. A fairly standard crime thriller, but he creates a tremendous sense of atmosphere.

Or if you like sci-fi try anything by Neil Asher.

Michel Houellebecq: Whatever
Heinrich von Kleist: Penthesilea
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Notes from Underground
Kenzaburo Oe: The Silent Cry
--> to wound yourself


Michael Ende: The Neverending Story
--> to heal your wounds


Alessandro Baricco: Silk
Robert Schneider: Brother of Sleep
--> to immerge in romance and beauty


Philip K. Dick: Ubik
--> to distort your sense of reality


Max Frisch: Gantenbein
Thomas More: Utopia
George Orwell: 1984
--> to re-establish your sense of reality


Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra
--> to understand the enemy


Michael Ende: Momo
--> to know how to deal with the enemy


Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game
--> for browsing


Robert Musil: Man Without Qualities
--> to get to know razorlike thoughts and perfect prose


Further recommended reading:
Hans Christian Andersen, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Sören Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Hannah Arendt, Zygmunt Bauman, Immanuel Kant, Jürgen Habermas.

Sci Fi: Iain M Banks

Fantasy: Jim Butcher