Forget the Hunger Games. A Canticle for Leibowitz is the grandaddy of all post-apocalyptic novels. In it, Walter M. Miller Jr. eloquently dissects the nature of mankind in a moving manner that is also surprisingly funny.
Libraries are my passion in life. Before I became mayor, I used to sneak out here during lunch time...and I'd go to a corner and take a book -- any book almost -- and read it for a while, and then feel rejuvenated.