Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s abut how little things lead up to WWII – mostly. Really, it’s a non-love story about a butler and a maid. Damn. It’s a lot better than I’m making it sound, let’s leave it at that.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Seriously, it’s a great book. I found it to be very easy to read – actually, reading the Harry Potter series afterwards felt like a similar experience, nice and fluffy. Though maybe that’s just because I read it right after reading Crime and Punishment, come to think of it.