At the risk of being the one guy who refuses to repeat the non-conformist's oath, I'll say Ayn Rand is a miserable fiction writer, worthwhile only if you enjoy slogging through hundreds of pages of pretentious claptrap in search of a plot.
If I want to do that, I'll go read Henry Miller. At least it has dirty bits. And old Henry could really turn the hell out of a phrase, too.
As for good stuff... a lot have already been mentioned, but here's a few more:
For Steinbeck, I've always been partial to The Winter of our Discontent. Maybe not his best work, but it's always worked for me.
I'll second Catch-22. Pure loopy brilliance.
V (Thomas Pynchon) may be the best book I've ever read without having any idea what it's about.
Perfume is a really good book. Good movie, too.
Pretty much anything Vonnegut ever wrote is allright by me, but Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse stand out.
Cash, by Johnny Cash (there's a reason it got a shout-out in High Fidelity)
