I've been finishing about one book per week every week for the last 3 years. It's probably my favorite hobby. I read mostly non-fiction and take lots of notes.
While these 10 books aren't about current events (most of them are pretty old) they all deeply apply to what's happening now. I've read a lot of good stuff and a lot of crap, but these 10 are the best time investments I've made when it comes to reading. I think they're very important and relevant.
The books by topic:
Political Psychology
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind By Gustave Le Bon
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
Thought Reform And The Psychology Of Totalism by Robert Jay Lifton
Max Weber on Charisma and Institution Building; Selected Papers
History & Culture
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C. S. Lewis
The Pagan Temptation by Thomas Molnar
Political Philosophy
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy by Carl Schmitt
Fascism Viewed from the Right by Julius Evola
King of the Castle: Choice and Responsibility in the Modern World by Gai Eaton
(Adam) Smith, Bastiat, Hayek, Von Mises, Rothbard, Friedman
Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, etc. (the Stoics)
Lucretius
The Lonely Crowd
The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit
1984, Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, The Time Machine
World Revolution: The Plot Against Civilization (Webster)
Killing Hope
Witness (Chambers)
Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, Common Sense, The Constitution of the Confederacy of the United States, The Magna Carta.