By Dante Alighieri
432 pages; Bantam Classics

This story captivated me in my junior year of high school; I remember being so intrigued by Francesca and Paolo—two great lovers in life who had eyes only for each other and ended up in the second circle of hell. The book affected me deeply as a teenager because that's the age when the idea of wanting everything all the time begins. As an adult, you think, "Yeah, loving one man too much probably puts me in circle two. Okay, let me just try to love others and do good in the world."

— Julianna Marguiles