Having read up on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I'm quite interested in it now. Its hard to say what the best books in the English language are as many of my favorite books come translated from Russian authors like Tolstoy and Doestoevski, French authors like Voltaire or Satre. That being said, a good starting point for anyone interested in English literature is Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men is very short and very good. Same with his novella the Pearl.
That's a good starting point I'd say, though it'd vary depending on what you're interested in.