1. Catch-22
   Franny and Zooey
2. The Outsiders
   The Return of the Native

What else could this be but the late-60s teen classic? Johnny Cade says this to his friend, the narrator Ponyboy Curtis, on his deathbed.

1. Madame Bovary
   Sense and Sensibility
2. Neuromancher
   A Tale of Two Cities

If you're wondering why the full line isn't quoted, trust us, it's for the best. The full quote reads like a paragraph; it's an astounding 119 words long.

1. Beloved
   The Great Gatsby
2. The Last Six Million Seconds
   The Shadow Over Innsmouth

It's amazing to consider that this melancholy line, the last of "Gatsby," was written when Scott Fitzgerald was only 26. His insight into the regrets of midlife was remarkable for such a young man.

1. Clarissa
   Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. Pride and Prejudice
   Persuasion

This one is famous, of course. Sidebar: does the placement of the commas look wrong to you, like it does to us? Well, that's they way Jane wrote 'em, so we won't quibble.

1. Anne of Green Gables
   The Hobbit
2. The Paris Wife
   Robinson Crusoe

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" for his children. Generations of children and adults have since taken it to their hearts.

1. Catch-22
   Fahrenheit 451
2. A Farewell to Arms
   The Sun Also Rises

Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns. Generations of readers have Ray Bradbury's classic novel about book burning to thank for knowing that.

1. Catcher in the Rye
   Emma
2. Moby Dick
   The Scarlet Letter

Yup, it's another opening line. Enjoy its brevity - from here on out, there's going to be a LOT of complicated, long sentences and paragraphs about the world of whaling.

1. 1984
   A Confederacy of Dunces
2. October Road
   To Kill a Mockingbird

Okay, these are three lines. But they all work together to make the reader understand why brazenly dishonest propaganda is called "Orwellian."

1. The Mayor of Casterbridge
   The Hunger Games
2. Lord of the Flies
   War and Peace

This book about preteens shipwrecked on an island is a perennial student favorite, largely because of its relatively short length and involving plot. Spoiler alert: The "we're not savages" thing proves to be wrong. AND HOW.

1. Little Women
   Looking for Alaska
2. A Farewell to Arms
   Slaughterhouse-Five

This book by Kurt Vonnegut has an odd subtitle: "or, the Children's Crusade, a Duty-Dance with Death." The final clause about "a Duty-Dance" rarely makes it into references to this anti-war novel.

1. A Christmas Carol
   Fat City
2. A Pair of Blue Eyes
   The Catcher in the Rye

This is Ebenezer Scrooge's conclusion, after he learns some important life lessons in "A Christmas Carol." It was written, of course, by Charles Dickens.

1. This Side of Paradise
   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
2. Moby-Dick
   Eat, Pray, Love

This book is a perennial classic by poet and memoirist Angelou. Fun fact: Angelou wrote and read a poem for Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration.

1. Anna Karenina
   For Whom the Bell Tolls
2. The Love of the Last Tycoon
   Don Quixote

This is the first sentence of the famous Tolstoy novel. "Anna Karenina" is his second-most-famous work, overshadowed slightly by "War and Peace."

1. The Beautiful and Damned
   Northanger Abbey
2. On the Road
   Franny and Zooey

Deeply insightful or painfully self-indulgent? This debate about "On the Road," by Beat generation writer Jack Kerouac, is still ongoing.

1. Great Expectations
   Franny and Zooey
2. Persuasion
   The Return of the Native

So what you're saying is that the deck is stacked against you, eh, Pip? Never let it be said that Charles Dickens was afraid of a long pileup of descriptive phrases!

1. Pride and Prejudice
   Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus
2. All Creatures Great and Small
   The Road to Wigan Pier

Oh, Victor. It's going to cost more than one life by the time your mess is cleaned up.

1. The Handmaid's Tale
   Infinite Jest
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
   Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Honestly, our favorite quote from this book is the one that gives it its title. "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." What did Harper Lee have against blue jays?!

1. Beloved
   The Fault in Our Stars
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
   The House on Mango Street

"Beloved" is the harrowing story of a mother who kills her daughter rather than have her grow up a slave in the pre-emancipation South. The novel won Toni Morrison the Pulitzer Prize.

1. The Bluest Eye
   The Dunwich Horror
2. Sense and Sensibility
   Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Tess is speaking here to her mother, who did not warn her of the dangers of her sophisticated "cousin" Alec. Tess returns home from Alec's estate pregnant outside wedlock.

1. The Big Sleep
   Dracula
2. At the Mountains of Madness
   A Series of Unfortunate Events

"The Big Sleep" is Raymond Chandler's most famous book, introducing his hero, Philip Marlowe. Chandler also wrote "Farewell, My Lovely" and "The Lady in the Lake."

1. Catcher in the Rye
   The Fault in Our Stars
2. Anne of Green Gables
   Rebecca

"The Fault in Our Stars" is all about love in the face of death. YouTube star John Green single-handedly changed the course of YA fiction by releasing this realistic, ironic "problem novel" into a market full of vampire and dystopian fantasies.

1. Jane Eyre
   Anno Dracula
2. Rebecca
   The Remains of the Day

"Rebecca" is probably Daphne duMaurier's best-known novel. The simple, classic line above is its opening line.

1. Jane Eyre
   The Mayor of Casterbridge
2. Northanger Abbey
   Pamela

This classic, succinct line has been paraphrased in many ways, ("Reader, I divorced him!"). In its original form, it is the title of a book of Jane-Eyre-inspired short stories.

1. Carrie
   Sister Carrie
2. Eat, Pray, Love
   On the Road

This comes from Stephen King's classic chiller about high-school revenge. The quote above reflects King's casual, conversational style.

1. All Quiet on the Western Front
   Jude the Obscure
2. Seabiscuit
   This Side of Paradise

This line sums up Thomas Hardy's doomed hero in a few words. Jude wants to be an architect, but England's class system - and misfortune in love - stand in his way.

1. All Creatures Great and Small
   The Little Prince
2. The Alchemist
   Shane

This is probably the most famous line in Antoine St. Exupery's beloved book. If you haven't seen it lately, check a coffee mug, poster or bumper sticker near you.

1. Dracula
   Jonathan Livingston Seagull
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
   To the Lighthouse

In Bram Stoker's book, this line appears first in German, then is translated into English. It's one of the lines that stick in readers' memories, along with, "The children of the night... what music they make!"

1. The Road to Wigan Pier
   The Hunger Games
2. Little Women
   The Return of the Native

This line is from Louisa May Alcott's famous book. She followed it up with "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys."

1. Catch-22
   Dracula
2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
   Twilight

This line comes late in Stephenie Meyer's first novel. In the movie, it was moved up to a prologue segment about heroine Bella's near-death.

1. Catch-22
   The Corrections
2. Less Than Zero
   White Noise

"Catch-22" is a novel about World War II pilots. The catch in "Catch-22" was that anyone who went to the Army's psychologists asking to be let out of combat missions, based on an irrational fear of them, couldn't be taken off combat duty. Being afraid to fly was rational, therefore proof of being sane.

1. The Scarlet Letter
   The Hunger Games
2. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
   Wuthering Heights

If you enjoy lines like the above, trust us, "Wuthering Heights" is for you. On an emotional scale of 1 to 10, the characters of "Wuthering Heights" are always operating at an 11.

1. All Quiet on the Western Front
   The Guards
2. The Shining
   The Old Man and the Sea

Many readers point to this as the theme of Ernest Hemingway's classic. Written later in his life, this book was largely responsible for Hemingway winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1. Catcher in the Rye
   Looking for Alaska
2. The Red Badge of Courage
   A Confederacy of Dunces

Holden Caulfield narrates "Catcher" as though he's speaking directly to the reader. His thoughts on life are ironic, often funny, sometimes infuriating, and occasionally heartbreaking.

1. The Alchemist
   For Whom the Bell Tolls
2. All Creatures Great and Small
   Sense and Sensibility

Paulo Coelho's book about following one's "personal legend" has become a deeply polarizing book. Some people love it and find it inspirational; others find it misleading and likely to promote self-centeredness.

1. Dune
   The Handmaid's Tale
2. The Corrections
   Little Dorrit

This quote is from the "Manual of Muad'Dib" in Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic. Also popular are the later lines about "fear... the mind-killer."