Brave New World is the best book ever written. But if you want other dystopian fiction that isn't 1984, then We is the father of the genre and is absolutely sublime. The Handmaid's Tale provides another, very interesting look at the genre.

The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z are not just awesome for zombie fans, but actually ridiculously well written. If Brooks wrote 'serious' stuff, he'd be winning major awards.

Then you can bridge from those two genres into post-apocalyptic fiction. I'm thinking The Postman here.

Anything by Frederick Pohl, but especially The Coming of the Quantum Cats, which not only has a fantastic title, but is a fantastic novel.

Tumithak of the Corridors and Tumithak in Shawm are some of the best early sci-fi I've ever come across. Short stories, but excellent and I only wish I'd read them first. But they're not necessarily easy to track down. There's another one in the series, apparently, but I've never come across it, nor can I remember the name.

Lucky, The Lovely Bones, Tuesdays With Morrie, and The Five People You Meet In Heaven are all profound and important in various ways, even if the latter two can be a little saccharine at times.

And you can never go wrong with Flowers for Algernon.