Time to get GC a bit high brow methinks. For me if Catch-22 is considered to be a "classic" then it would be it. Otherwise, "Lord of the Flies"
I read some H.G.Wells, was ok but my favourite is The Holy Bible. Some excellent stories and they're all true.
I can't remember what I've read so found a list of "classic literature": http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/12/features.fiction Read (not many): Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe Moby-Dick Herman Melville Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain The Call of the Wild Jack London Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell Lord of the Flies is another not on that list which is probably my favourite.