 | The Crimson Petal And The White by Michel Faber
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01 One of the best historical novels I've read (and I've read quite a few). Don't be put off by it's size, the riveting narrative ensures that you get through the 800+ pages in no time.
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 | Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Buy used from: £0.28 A must-read, fantastic in every way, a real page-turner with surprising twists antd turns and a real sense of character and atmosphere. Superbly captures the grimy underworld of the 19th centuy
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 | Catch-22 (Vintage Classics) by Joseph Heller
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.00 A book the EVERYONE has to read. It captures the insanity of war superbly and is in turns absolutely hilarious,(one of the funniest books ever!), and poignantly moving with powerful images of war
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 | Mrs Dalloway (Penguin Modern Classics) by Virginia Woolf
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.33 One of those iconic classics. Read it non-stop in about 3 days. The stream-of-concious narrative gives it real psychological depth and you really get to know the characters as intimate friends.
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 | The Portrait of a Lady (Oxford World's Classics) by Henry James
Buy new: £4.40 / Used from: £0.01 Amother master of the psychological narrative, with a central character that you really feel for. Although essentially quite tragic it is also full of witty satiric observations of 1890's society
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 | Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics) by Gustave Flaubert
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £1.77 Another 19th century psychological classic (absolute sucker for them). A central flawed character (that I find entirely relatable even now) gives this novel great realism.
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 | Jane Eyre (Oxford World's Classics) by Charlotte Bronte
Buy new: £4.41 / Used from: £0.01 Need i say more about this truly great classic, you've all heard about it, now do yourself a favour and actually read it, you won't regret it.
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 | 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Buy new: £9.85 / Used from: £21.36 Another book everyone has to read, the world would indeed be so much better if everyone did. Undoubtably the best dystopian novel ever and one of the best books ever, guaranteed to make you think.
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 | Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Buy new: £5.54 / Used from: £0.01 A book you owe it to yourself to read, Faulks is a historical genius and this is him at his very best, there are scenes that will make you cry, gripping, harrowing and relentlessly realistic.
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 | The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Buy used from: £186.55 Epic in scope and extremely entertaining despite the recent sexist and feminist criticisms. Doesn't seem that long at all despite the 900+ pages, essential.
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 | The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Buy new: £3.58 / Used from: £1.19 A book that grows on you, so stick with it , it's so worth it.
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 | Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) by William Makepeace Thackeray
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.27 Another essential classic, full of wit and acute observations of regency society.
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| The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Buy new: £3.99 / Used from: £0.01 Wonderfully inventive prose and imagery that stays in the mind, extremely poetic, moving and funny. Captures India's exoticism and also it's dark politics.
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 | Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
Buy new: £5.59 / Used from: £0.01 Charming and touching, a real human story where you care for the characters, also bloody funny.
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 | The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe
Buy new: £7.38 / Used from: £0.01 One of the best contemporary novels ever, really captures the struggles of youth, and doesn't wallow in nostalgia instead presenting the harsh enoch powell politics of the time+ v. funny.
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 | On the Road (Penguin Classics) by Kerouac
Buy used from: £4.58 A real iconic classic, pacy, edgy and full of a reckless passion and youthful energy for, life, music and adventure. Really captures the times.
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 | Lady Chatterley's Lover, Including 'A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover': A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover (Penguin Modern Classics) by D.H. Lawrence
Buy used from: £0.01 Very erotic (as is suggested by title) especially for the time when it was banned, but in an un-trashy way. Beautifully and lyrically written.
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 | The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
Buy new: £3.99 / Used from: £1.95 Read all of them you won't regret v. v. funny , Townsend is a very shrewd observer.
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 | The Regeneration Trilogy: Regeneration; The Eye in the Door; The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
Buy used from: £25.00 Another classic of the first world war, sleep-disturbing.
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 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Penguin Modern Classics) by Ken Kesey
Buy new: £3.58 / Used from: £4.34 Absolutely brilliant, gives you a moving glimpse into the minds of the insane and the prison in which their kept. Plus a central character you really root for.
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 | Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
Buy new: £4.94 / Used from: £0.01 Extremely beautiful and poignant offset by humour. Really feel for the characters.
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 | Crime and Punishment (Wordsworth Classics) by F.M. Dostoevsky
Buy new: £1.89 / Used from: £0.01 Although it may look utterly depessing (it is Russian after all) this is essential reading, deeply profound observations on humanity.
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 | Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics) by Charles Dickens
Buy new: £3.89 / Used from: £0.57 From the master of storytelling, one of the most entertaining books ever with larger than life, to die-for characters.
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 | The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
Buy new: £4.44 / Used from: £0.01 A book to make you fall in love with Egypt but also one that gives you fascinating insights into its troubled politics.
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 | To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Buy new: £3.94 / Used from: £2.60 A book that no-one has any excuse for not reading, a beautifully touchng book.
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