1984

I taught 1984 for a few years, and I always found some new trenchant critique of society with each fresh reading and year of teaching. It's kind of a failed novel; the plot is bad, and the characters are pretty bad. However, it functions marvelously as a series of essays disguised as a novel. The middle third does drag a little. The plot and the characters exist to justify world-building that critiques a new "mode of oppression" with every chapter: tribalism and weaponized hate; propaganda and censorship; manipulation and erasure of truth; etc.

It's far from perfect. It can be wooden and inaccessible, but can required reading be, like, four stars?