The War of the Worlds
Part allegorical criticism of British Imperialism, part harrowing apocalypse, and part psycho-social political statement, War of the Worlds, the book, is quite different from War of the Worlds, the movie (Spielberg, 2005). Namely: it's good. Spielberg's film was all action and no thought right up until that flummoxing ending, but the thoughtful pace of the book just begs for that ending. And Wells's fantastical and metaphorical approach to science fiction has made the genre what it is today.