Graphic novels would be maybe the Sandman series - particularly Fables & Reflections - or Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence (listen to Ship of Fools while reading that one
)
As for actual books, erm, maybe
Flowers for Algernon,
Nineteen Eighty-Four or
A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really like Pratchett's
Soul Music and
Moving Pictures too.
If we're talking non-fiction, I can't recommend Richard Dawkins'
The Ancestor's Tale (or most of his other books in fact) enough. That man is a genius.