I saw World War Z on the list and had to click it off. There's quite a bit of language, but I think it's no worse than you'd hear at a high school. I've read a few on those list, but so far, WWZ is my favorite. I liked the Zombie Survival Guide a bit better, but if you're going for more of a novel, WWZ is great. Farenheit 452 was actually a pretty good book. I had to read it last year for English and it was pretty interesting. I liked it, but a lot of people I know didn't. Then again, they found most books lame.
Read Animal Farm first, 1984 second and then read World War Z. If you like 1984 I strongly advise reading Little Brother.
I'm going to say read the Hunger Games series. Those are probably some of the most intriguing books I've read, and while it is a bit Harry Potter-ish, it's still very well written. The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) is also an instant classic that I'm sure you will like.
Ender's Game is fantastic. One of the few Sci-Fi books that I would actually recommend to someone else. The sequels and prequels, though, fall flat. If you read one book by Orson Scott Card, it better be Ender's Game. I'm reading Catch-22 right now. It isn't exactly pulling me in, but other books I've loved felt the same way towards the beginning, so maybe I'll end up changing my mind.
