I'll move Day of the Triffids to Sci Fi, Lord of the Rings to Fantasy.
Under European Literature, I'll select George Orwell's Animal Farm.
From wiki:
Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell. Published in England on 17 August 1945, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II. Orwell, a democratic socialist,[1] and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Joseph Stalin, and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences with the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as his novel 'contre Stalin'.[2]
The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. When published in the United States in 1946, the publishers dropped A Fairy Story. Only in Telugu, of all translations during Orwell's lifetime, was the original title retained. Other variations in the title include: A Satire, and A Contemporary Satire.[2] Orwell suggested for the French translation the title 'Unions des republiques socialistes animales' or URSA, which means "bear" in Latin.[2]
The book was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005),[3] was number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels and won a Retrospective Hugo in 1996.
I read this in junior high I think, along with his other book and both left a big impression on me. I was sad to read that he died soon after he wrote this of tuberculosis.