In general descending order: Apology, Plato, found in Four Texts on Socrates, trans and ed by West and West, Cornell Press. Republic, Plato, trans. Allan Bloom, Basic Books. (Especially Book 1 and 2). Symposium, Plato, trans. by Seth Benardete, Univ. of Chicago Press. The Clouds, Aristophanes, found in Four Texts, see above. (Pretty much anything from Aristophanes, especially if you cotton to fart jokes.) (grudgingly) The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield, Univ of Chicago Press, 2ed. (The de Alvarez translation is more literal and perhaps yields more, but it can be stilted to some.) The Education of Cyrus, Xenophon, trans. Wayne Ambler, Cornell Hamlet, Shakespeare The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald The Moviegoer, Walker Percy Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq (this will turn your stomach) Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James James and Neyer's Pitching Handbook, James and Neyer