The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
An interesting one, this. Wilde's wit is evident from the first page, with the decadent Lord Henry espousing his callous views on why one should live a shallow life of opulence and beauty. And although the plot of the book seems to be told from the perspective of a more conventional morality, the central conceit of the story - that the incomparably beautiful Dorian Gray is able to hide his predilection for sin and vice because the inherent ugliness of such a life affects his supernatural portrait instead of his own flawless face - arguably assumes that goodness and good looks are one and the same.
But regardless of what Wilde was actually trying to say with the book (Victorian society seemed to think that he was saying he should be sentenced to hard labour) something this well written, with luxurious sentences that flow right off the page, is an undeniable pleasure to read.
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