I found a copy of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in my school library when I was in the 7th grade, and had never read a piece of "adult" literature before. It was so great it brought tears to my eyes; it really opened up my mind. I immediately started searching the public library for other "monster" novels: I read Shelley's Frankenstein (archaic language but great story), Stoker's Dracula (Victorian prose can't hide a cool villain and psychologically loaded plot), Phantom of the Opera (so-so penny dreadful), and probably best of all from a purely stylistic standpoint, Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (even though I already knew the "surprie ending). Later in college I read Endore's The Werewolf of Paris, which was also pretty good.

Le Fanu's Carmilla is a good one, too, as are many of his stories, real spooky. Then I got into Poe, and finally Lovecraft. They're great. So is Guy de Maupassant, especially The Horla. Every October I re-read one of my anthologies of classic horror short stories.