Fwiw, I'm currently reading 'Gulag Archipelago' by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and 'I, Claudius' by Robert Graves and they are both well done. FYI, the first one is non-fiction and sobering (basically anyone who wasn't a lifelong, hardcore Bolshevik [majority party] in Russia was executed or imprisoned from 1918-'56; that included intellectuals and anyone of religious faith that openly expressed it, even to their family). The second one is historical fiction about an unlikely Roman Emperor.
Favorite non-fiction (x37):
'1776' by David McCullough
'All Quiet on the Western Front' by Erich Maria Remarque
'April 1865' by Jay Wink
'A Long Walk to Water' by Linda Sue Park
'A Season on the Brink' by John Feinstein
'At Dawn We Slept' by Gordon Prange
'A Walk in the Woods' by Bill Bryson
'Band of Brothers' by Stephen Ambrose
'Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity' by Katherine Boo
'Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End' by Atul Gawande
'Blackhawk Down' & 'Guests of the Ayatollah' by Mark Bowden
'Blink'/'David and Goliath'/'Outliers'/'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell
'E = mc2' by David Boding
'Eating Well for Optimal Health' by Dr. Andrew Weil
'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser
'Freakonomics' by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
'Friday Night Lights' by H.G. Bissinger
'From Beirut to Jerusalem' & 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman
'Guns, Germs, and Steel' by Jared Diamond
'Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets' by David Simon
'Isaac's Storm' by Erik Larson
'Lone Survivor' by Marcus Luttrell
'One Summer: America 1927' by Bill Bryson
'On Writing' by Stephen King
'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor
'Stumbling on Happiness' by Daniel Gilbert
'The 5 Love Languages' by Gary Chapman
'The Courting of Marcus Dupree' by Willie Morris
'The Dungeon Master' by William Dear
'The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family' by Martha Raddatz
'Unbroken' by Laura Hillenbrand
'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy
Favorite adult fiction (x21):
'A Year of Wonders' by Geraldine Brooks
'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown
'Aztec' by Gary Jennings
'Boy's Life' by Robert McCammon
'Cold Mountain' by Charles Frazier
'11/22/63', 'Joyland', 'Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption', 'The Body', 'The Dead Zone', 'The Green Mile, & 'The Stand' by Stephen King
'Gone, Baby, Gone' & 'Mystic River' by Dennis Lehane
'The Company' by Robert Littell
'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson
'The Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck
'The Martian' by Andy Weir
'The Power of One' by Bryce Courtenay
'The Rainmaker' by John Grisham
'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee
Favorite young adult fiction (x22):
'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeleine L'Engle (1963 Newbery Medal Winner)
'A Year Down Yonder' by Richard Peck (2001 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Bud, Not Buddy' by Christopher Paul Curtis (2000 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Dead End in Norvelt' by Jack Gantos (2012 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Harry Potter' series by J.K. Rowling
'Hatchet' by Gary Paulsen (1988 Newbery Medal Honor Book)
'Holes' by Louis Sachar (1999 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Island of the Blue Dolphins' by Sam O'Dell (1961 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Maniac Magee' by Jerry Spinelli (1991 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Moon Over Manifest' by Clare Vanderpool (2011 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH' by Robert O'Brien (1972 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Nerd Camp' by Elissa Brent Wissman
'Number the Stars' by Lois Lowry (1990 Newbery Medal Winner)
'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak
'The City of Ember' by Jeanne DuPrau
'The Giver' by Lois Lowry (1994 Newbery Medal Winner)
'The Graveyard Book' by Neil Gaiman (2009 Newbery Medal Winner)
'The Hunger Games' series by Suzanne Collins
'The Invention of Hugo Cabret' (2008 Caldecott Medal Winner) & 'Wonderstruck' by Brian Selznick
'The Tale of Despereaux' by Kate DiCamillo (2004 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio
Favorite non-fiction (x37):
'1776' by David McCullough
'All Quiet on the Western Front' by Erich Maria Remarque
'April 1865' by Jay Wink
'A Long Walk to Water' by Linda Sue Park
'A Season on the Brink' by John Feinstein
'At Dawn We Slept' by Gordon Prange
'A Walk in the Woods' by Bill Bryson
'Band of Brothers' by Stephen Ambrose
'Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity' by Katherine Boo
'Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End' by Atul Gawande
'Blackhawk Down' & 'Guests of the Ayatollah' by Mark Bowden
'Blink'/'David and Goliath'/'Outliers'/'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell
'E = mc2' by David Boding
'Eating Well for Optimal Health' by Dr. Andrew Weil
'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser
'Freakonomics' by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
'Friday Night Lights' by H.G. Bissinger
'From Beirut to Jerusalem' & 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman
'Guns, Germs, and Steel' by Jared Diamond
'Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets' by David Simon
'Isaac's Storm' by Erik Larson
'Lone Survivor' by Marcus Luttrell
'One Summer: America 1927' by Bill Bryson
'On Writing' by Stephen King
'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor
'Stumbling on Happiness' by Daniel Gilbert
'The 5 Love Languages' by Gary Chapman
'The Courting of Marcus Dupree' by Willie Morris
'The Dungeon Master' by William Dear
'The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family' by Martha Raddatz
'Unbroken' by Laura Hillenbrand
'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy
Favorite adult fiction (x21):
'A Year of Wonders' by Geraldine Brooks
'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown
'Aztec' by Gary Jennings
'Boy's Life' by Robert McCammon
'Cold Mountain' by Charles Frazier
'11/22/63', 'Joyland', 'Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption', 'The Body', 'The Dead Zone', 'The Green Mile, & 'The Stand' by Stephen King
'Gone, Baby, Gone' & 'Mystic River' by Dennis Lehane
'The Company' by Robert Littell
'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson
'The Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck
'The Martian' by Andy Weir
'The Power of One' by Bryce Courtenay
'The Rainmaker' by John Grisham
'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee
Favorite young adult fiction (x22):
'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeleine L'Engle (1963 Newbery Medal Winner)
'A Year Down Yonder' by Richard Peck (2001 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Bud, Not Buddy' by Christopher Paul Curtis (2000 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Dead End in Norvelt' by Jack Gantos (2012 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Harry Potter' series by J.K. Rowling
'Hatchet' by Gary Paulsen (1988 Newbery Medal Honor Book)
'Holes' by Louis Sachar (1999 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Island of the Blue Dolphins' by Sam O'Dell (1961 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Maniac Magee' by Jerry Spinelli (1991 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Moon Over Manifest' by Clare Vanderpool (2011 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH' by Robert O'Brien (1972 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Nerd Camp' by Elissa Brent Wissman
'Number the Stars' by Lois Lowry (1990 Newbery Medal Winner)
'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak
'The City of Ember' by Jeanne DuPrau
'The Giver' by Lois Lowry (1994 Newbery Medal Winner)
'The Graveyard Book' by Neil Gaiman (2009 Newbery Medal Winner)
'The Hunger Games' series by Suzanne Collins
'The Invention of Hugo Cabret' (2008 Caldecott Medal Winner) & 'Wonderstruck' by Brian Selznick
'The Tale of Despereaux' by Kate DiCamillo (2004 Newbery Medal Winner)
'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio