Special mention for L’eternel Adam.
Those are excellent choices with VERY powerful ending phrases. 
In a similar fashion you might both like “The emperor’s soul” by Brandon Sanderson and " …That Thou Art Mindful of Him" by Asimov
So, favorite books?
- The Foundation Series by Asimov
- The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson
- “Hyperion” and its sequel “The fall of Hyperion” by Dan Simmons
- “Inherit the Stars” and its sequel “The gentel giants of Ganymede” by James Hogan
- “Going Postal” and “The Truth” by Terry Pratchett
- “The Demon-Haunted World” by Carl Sagan
Shorter books/stories
- “The trap” by Howard Fast (if you can find that, READ IT … it is one of the most interesting ideas ever to be printed in a sci-fi tale, imho)
- “Bicentennial Man” by Asimov
- “The Emperor’s soul” and “Sixth of the Dusk” by Brandon Sanderson
- “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
- “What have I done?” by Mark Clifton
- “Secret Unattainable” by A.E. van Vogt
Now with the times being as they are, reading books is a nice thing to do at home 