2. The Red and the Black (1830), by Stendhal
A novel that pits the rebel and individualist against the institutions of a society: red for the army (of Napoleon) and black for the Roman Catholic Church. The protagonist, Julien Sorel, tries to rise in society by becoming first a soldier and later a priest.

3. The Three Musketeers (1844), by Alexandre Dumas
Love a good chase, adventure, intrigue, and an imaginative plot? Find out how the musketeers and d'Artagnan thwart the efforts of villainous Cardinal Richelieu, working with the sinister Milady de Winter, to expose the love of Queen Anne of France for the Duke of Buckingham.

4. Cousin Bette (1846), by Honoré de Balzac
Balzac didn't flinch before human horridness, and he describes it splendidly--and with irony--in Cousin Bette. Watch the family on which Bette depends unravel as the result of her incessant, malevolent plotting. Balzac's eloquent depictions of background--houses and rooms, for example--rival his development of character.

5. Madame Bovary (1857), by Gustave Flaubert
If you enjoy brilliant, perceptive characterization and meticulously realized settings, this novel is for you. Is Emma Bovary a romantic idealist or a scheming dreamer? Whose perceptions does Flaubert offer? With its strong dose of realism, Madame Bovary was a shocker in its time. Caution: If you need to identify with the characters in a novel, you may have trouble with Emma and Charles Bovary.

6. Les Misèrables (1862), by Victor Hugo
Poverty grinds the people of France, and our hero, Jean Valjean, has spent years in prison for stealing bread to feed his family. Yet this is a tale of goodness. Pursued by the terrifying Inspector Javert, Valjean risks his freedom to save the life of an orphaned child. If you enjoyed the musical, you'll love the book.

7. Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), by Edmond Rostand
A classic play about the long-nosed poet who achieves nobility through the faithfulness of his love and the readiness of his wit.

8. Swann's Way (1913), by Marcel Proust
Nuances of feeling and pleasures of the senses radiate through this elegantly written first-person interior monologue. Proust examines the workings of time and memory in descriptions of stylish individuals and settings from the gilded age before World War I. Swann's Way is the first of seven volumes in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, so you won't need other plans soon.

9. The Plague (1947), by Albert Camus
A town in Algeria is overrun by the plague, and its residents struggle mightily to help one another, although aware that their efforts may be in vain. A metaphor for the Nazis overrunning Europe during World War II? After presenting human alienation from the world in The Stranger, Camus here insists that despite the absurdity of human existence, we can rebel and work toward a better society.

10. Moderato Cantabile (1958), by Marguerite Duras
Are you a freethinker, a rebel by nature? So was Duras. She wanted to free the novel from the limitations of traditional narrative (this happened, that came next) to focus on direct experience.