I read Catcher in the Rye in English and Chinese, and both times I hated it. I just couldn't stand the protagonist.
I think you're right that good fiction requires good characters. All actions in the story flow from the characters, and without believable characters a reader can invest in, the rest of the story falls flat.
Off the top of my head, I love Barry Eisler's John Rain series, Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series, Larry Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles and Son of the Black Sword, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Alera series. They combine charismatic characters, intelligent worldbuilding, tight plotting, and superb tradecraft.
I haven't read Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles just yet, but I'm a massive fan of his Monster Hunter International series, read nearly every book in it. I also really need to read the Dresden Files, another series I've heard a lot of good things about. I'll also put the other books on my reading list. It's kind of hard to keep up on reading, however, when you read for a living every day. Currently I'm working on reading Francis of the Filth because one of my friends gifted me the ebook on Amazon, I'll let you know how that one goes.
The Grimnoir Chronicles are pretty good. Well worth a read
Can't recommend Dresden highly enough. I burned through all the extant novels (though not the short stories yet) over the course of the summer before last, and then got severely bummed that another installment was not immediately forthcoming. Still the characters and their development is expertly done.