Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Loved the movie. Loved the book. This is well worth the read, even if you've seen Clark Gable tell Vivian Leigh that he "doesn't give a damn" about a million times.

(And, if you've never seen the movie... Go rent it this instant! It's a movie that has aged much better than most Hollywood epics of the studio era. I was really surprised by how sophisticated a movie it still is the first time I saw it.)