The Great Gatsby

Set on prosperous Long Island in 1922, during the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, who is drawn into the world of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire known for his lavish parties at West Egg. Nick's world also takes in Daisy Buchanan, married to the wealthy Tom Buchanan, a man with a mistress of his own. Scholars read it for its treatment of class, old versus self-made money and the American Dream. It sold poorly at first, then surged when free copies went to American soldiers in World War II, and it became a fixture of high school reading.

Barack Obama has said that in high school his tastes turned to classics such as this one and Of Mice and Men, and Marvin Liao, a partner at 500 Startups, named it among the non-business novels he rereads.