I agree with "Heavenly" that Death in Venice is a good start, but Buddenbrooks is another possibility--a classic bildingsroman that is also a very absorbing read.

"The Remains of the Day" is a great introduction to Ishiguro's meticulous, painstaking and very moving work. I'd say start there for sure.

I have been warned NOT to start with Lolita, the icky sexual politics of which (so said my cautioner) might turn me off to what a fabulous writer he is. I do find him an incredible writer (Pale Fire particularly) and am actually saving Lolita for last.

"Leaving Brooklyn" is one of my favorite books by Lynne Sharon Schwartz (and also one of my favorite books). I think it would be a good introduction. But Schwartz's work is so varied (novels, short stories, essays, poetry etc.) that other books might be the right start for other people. Her excellent collection "The Melting Pot" contains two of my favorite short stories, "The Two Portraits of Rembrandt" and "Killing the Bees." "Ruined by Reading" is a classic meditation on books and the book habit. It is rich and funny and subtle and sharp.

FYI, Godden wrote mostly fiction, but "A House With Four Rooms" and "A Time to Dance, No Time To Weep" are both memoirs.

I've entered Dave King even though he's only written one book because it's just so good. Richly written, deeply imagined, funny, telling story of a damaged man (and aren't we all?) and his (partial) redemption.

Alice Munro writes wonderful sentences and wonderful, absorbing stories. "Friend of My Youth" is an unusually unified group of very strong stories. I would start there.

I still remember the night thirty years ago when I first read "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." After finishing it, I lay still for what seemed like hours, flattened, staggered. The story expresses the human condition so fully that I almost felt there was nothing more left to write. I would certainly recommend starting O'Connor with this book. I also inhaled her letters, published as "The Habit of Being." They are as vivid a portrait of a life steeped in letters as one could hope to read. Like so much of her work, they are sharp, hilarious, fierce, and deeply courageous.

"Huckleberry Finn" is a masterwork, not only among Twain's books but in American and even world fiction. I would start with Huck and work back to "Tom Sawyer."

I loved "Headlong," which is very funny and clever. Frayn is so various--good in so many different ways--it's hard to say where to start. If you have even the mildest interest in the fine arts, though, "Headlong" is at least one good place.