Riddle of the sands
According to many the best yachting novel and one of the first and among the best espionage yarns. Dates to 1903
Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia
Essays from forty-three of her favorite poems. Over 20 of the poems are 20th century and American poets, which is a bit of disappointment. Her analysis of Yeats, Shelly, and the ghost speech from Hamlet is brilliant.
First Crusade by Thomas Asbridge
I highly recommend this book and its companion The Fourth Crusade by Jonathan Phillips. It gives a good overview of how Gregory VII and Urban II changed the dynamics of the Church and managed to create a war of ideology (not unlike the current situation).
If you feel reading two books on the crusade is too much I highly recommend The New Yorker review of these two. Be sure to check on Doge Enrico Dandolo, one of the craftiest men in history.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
A.S. Byatt expressed it best "Cloud Atlas is powerful and elegant because of Mitchell's understanding of the way we respond to those fundamental and primitive stories we tell about good and evil, love and destruction, beginnings and ends." Of one the best reads.
Best quote "Faith, the least exclusive club on Earth, has the craftiest doorman."