 | Persuasion by Jane Austen
Buy new: £1.79 / Used from: £0.01 I love Jane Austen; all of them - it was a toss up between Pride and Predjudice, Emma and Persuasion, but at the end of the day, there is something special about this. I've read it countless times...
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 | In a Dark Wood by Amanda Craig
Buy used from: £0.01 I have a lot of random buys - they vary from diabolical to fantastic - this is definitely fantastic and absorbing, but then I have a soft spot for fairy tales...
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 | Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Buy used from: £1.40 Again, hard to choose. I will read anything that Neil Gaiman produces and I've yet to be disappointed. Something to lose yourself in... Individual
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 | Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
Buy new: £5.59 / Used from: £0.34 Didn't plan to put 2 of 1 author, but as this is Terry Pratchett too... Great bit of light reading - I laugh out loud every time I read it.
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 | The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D. Watson
Buy new: £3.77 / Used from: £3.00 Such an exciting read about (in my opinion) one of the most important recent scientific discoveries. And here is all the cattiness of science encapsulated unintentionally - great stuff!!
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 | Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Buy new: £4.49 / Used from: £1.71 Important note: the film is enjoyable, but a very different story (with a thread of the original). I grew up loving DWJ - she's still great escapism even at 28! Always magical (literally)!
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 | Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince: Children's Edition (Harry Potter 6) by J.K. Rowling
Buy new: £11.04 / Used from: £0.40 Children's book for a reason - I can't bear it when people pretend this isn't a children's book. Best of the lot I reckon. Still no match for most of Diana Wynne Jones's stuff...
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 | Twelfth Night (Penguin Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.95 Well actually, plays are always better when you see them perfomed and maybe picking Shakespere is a bit trite, but this contains some of the most touching, thoughtful and memorable lines I know.
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 | 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £3.75 One of the most disturbing books I've ever read - took me 10 years to attempt to re-read it ... Still disturbing! Makes you think...
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 | Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £0.01 Such a good book. Sooo much better than the film. More than a beautiful romance. You learn about England, France & Germany etc in WWII at school, but not about the Greek Islands.
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 | Whit by Iain Banks
Buy new: £0.93 / Used from: £0.01 I've only read this once, but it struck me so clearly at the time. Iain Banks is a strange bloke I think, but this book really makes you think about organised religion in any form
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 | High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Buy new: £2.97 / Used from: £0.30 Anyone remotely obsessive about anything, or musically nerdy (like me) will identify with this book!
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 | The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm
Buy new: £4.83 / Used from: £6.24 I said I loved fairy tales, didn't I?! Welll, I challenge you not to find one you enjoy!
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 | The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Buy new: £2.92 / Used from: £0.01 There was a great BBC adaptation of this with Naveen Andrews too...
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 | Egypt (Rough Guide Travel Guides) by Dan Richardson
Buy used from: £1.88 I think that Rough Guide are infinitely better than Lonely Planet (beyond the maps!), but this typefies that - informed, interesting and also amusing text, it is infallably good on accommodation too.
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 | The Beach by Alex Garland
Buy used from: £0.01 The ultimate holiday thriller!
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 | The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Buy new: £3.99 / Used from: £0.01 What can I say?! One of the best books I ever read! You don't have to be a Sci-fi fan to enjoy it - clever, funny and full of the best quotes ever!
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 | North and South (Norton Critical Editions) by E Gaskell
Buy new: £7.59 / Used from: £5.70 Mary Barton is more exciting on the first read (so read it!), but I suspect that this will last longer in my memory. Takes a bit of getting in to , but stick with it - real people
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 | Asterix the Gaul (Asterix (Orion Hardcover)) by René Goscinny
Buy new: £3.18 / Used from: £0.59 This is the first one. Probably not the best, but let's start at the begining! Clever, amusing plots - you don't have to be small to enjoy them (infact reading them as an adult you catch more).
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 | Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01 Unbelievably gripping! Based on a real life case. The best Atwood yet (including recent things - 2005)
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 | The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
Buy new: £2.45 / Used from: £1.58 Makes me cry. Amy Tan is always a very absorbing author, but I'd say this is her best.
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 | Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder by Evelyn Waugh
Buy new: £3.46 / Used from: £1.25 Again, it was a toss up between this and Vile Bodies. Unusually for me, I'm going with the more depressing book. An era that I have no knowledge about, but still the characters are sympathetic.
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 | The Count of Monte Cristo (Wordsworth Classics) by Alexandre Dumas
Buy new: £1.80 / Used from: £0.01 This genuinely does keep you guessing! Very exciting, tense and enjoyable!
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 | The Great Hunt: Hunt Begins Pt.1 (Great Hunt) by Robert Jordan
Buy new: £4.74 / Used from: £0.15 Badly written, hugely cliched and Jordan is clearly milking this for all it's worth (series was supposed to finish 2 books ago), but nonetheless, strangely addictive. Don't try reading when busy!
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 | Princess Bride, The: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by William Goldman
Buy used from: £10.91 Was going to have a 'Don't read it!' space, but ran out of room and this HAS to be read. One of the best modern fairy tales I've read; clever, laugh out loud funny and very memorable!
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