I Need Feedback about Books!

I have decided to start a reading list. Since leaving my coworkers and our book club, I have not been reading as much as I used to. So I decided to combine the top 10 best novels from a number of different lists and include those which were included on multiple lists (I removed the ones I have read already). Here is my final list:

A Tale of Two Cities
Anna Karenina
The Great Gatsby
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
1984
Atlas Shrugged

Have you read any of these? Do you think I should (or should not) read them? I don't like depressing books, and I have heard that Anna Karenina is a tragedy; do you think I should take it off my list?

Also: Lolita was one of the most common titles among the Best Novels lists I looked at. However, after doing some quick research on the subject matter, I was thoroughly mortified at its content and removed it from my list, convinced that it would be very far from an uplifting read, and would probably be seriously disturbing. Does anyone know why this book is so famous??


Thanks for your feedback!