Listmania!
Virge's favourite reads 2
The Crimson Petal and the WhiteThe Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £0.01
Hugely detailed, wonderfully descriptive and lengthy novel set in the shadowy and tragic world of Victorian prostitution
The Master and Margarita (Penguin Modern Classics)The Master and Margarita (Penguin Modern Classics) by Mikhail Bulgakov
Buy used from: £3.20
Fantastical and surreal, the devil and his minions roll up in Soviet era Moscow and reap havoc
The Edwardians (Virago modern classics)The Edwardians (Virago modern classics) by Vita Sackville-West
Buy new: £6.31 / Used from: £0.01
An enjoyable, eminently readable tale of the English Upper Classes
A Suitable BoyA Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £0.01
Epic family saga set in post independence India
High-RiseHigh-Rise by J.G. Ballard
Buy new: £4.96 / Used from: £2.47
Unnerving thriller/horror in which the affuent inhabitants of a high class apartment building descend into anarchy
Someone Like YouSomeone Like You by Roald Dahl
Buy new: £5.98 / Used from: £0.01
Dahl's short stories for adults are perfectly crafted and satisfyingly twisted
My Little Blue Dress: A MemoirMy Little Blue Dress: A Memoir by Bruno Maddox
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £0.01
The first half is the best bit - a very funny made up old ladies 'memoir'
No Tears: Tales from the Square MileNo Tears: Tales from the Square Mile by David Charters
Buy new: £6.47 / Used from: £3.30
Short, sharp stories about the inner workings of London's square mile
The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary classics)The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary classics) by Margaret Atwood
Buy new: £4.97 / Used from: £0.01
Set in a terrifying, rigidly structured future in which mankind is essentially doomed and living in fear, told from the perspective of a woman enslaved for her 'viable ovaries'
Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics)Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics) by Gustave Flaubert
Buy new: £4.66 / Used from: £2.33
Classic tragedy of a provincial French housewife who longs for escape and romance
The Bonfire of the Vanities (Picador Books)The Bonfire of the Vanities (Picador Books) by Tom Wolfe
Buy used from: £0.01
Class collision in 80's New York
The Eustace Diamonds (Oxford World's Classics)The Eustace Diamonds (Oxford World's Classics) by Anthony Trollope
Buy used from: £0.01
Difficult to pick my favourite Trollope novel - he is unputdownable!
The Magic Toyshop (Virago modern classics)The Magic Toyshop (Virago modern classics) by Angela Carter
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £0.01
Rich, mythical and dark, Carter's writing is breath-taking
Gone with the WindGone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Buy new: £6.47 / Used from: £0.01
Satisfying historical epic about the American Civil War and self-centered heroine, the wonderfully named Scarlett O'Hara
Perfume (Read Red)Perfume (Read Red) by Patrick Suskind
Buy used from: £0.01
Vivid, evocative novel about a perfumer in 18thC Paris, whose acute sense of smell drives him to murder in his quest to distill the perfect scent
Dracula (Wordsworth Classics)Dracula (Wordsworth Classics) by Bram Stoker
Buy new: £1.99 / Used from: £0.01
How amazing it must have been to pick up this classic occult book when it was newly published, and before the countless misinterpretations which followed!
The Barrytown Trilogy: "The Commitments", "The Snapper" and "The Van"The Barrytown Trilogy: "The Commitments", "The Snapper" and "The Van" by Roddy Doyle
Buy new: £9.02 / Used from: £0.01
Laugh out loud funny, sad and poignant all at the same time. The quality of storytelling steadily improves throughout
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Penguin Modern Classics)One Hundred Years of Solitude (Penguin Modern Classics) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Buy new: £6.46 / Used from: £1.50
Comedy, tragedy, magical realism and political history combine in this Columbian family saga
Jonathan Strange and Mr. NorrellJonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £0.01
Big, atmospheric 19thC fantasy about the rivalry between two English Magicians
Alas, Poor LadyAlas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson
Buy new: £11.40 / Used from: £8.00
A large family of genteel Victorian sisters face a grim future at home unless they manage to snag a husband, the youngest eventually being forced into near penuary as a governess in her old age
Revolutionary Road (Vintage Classics)Revolutionary Road (Vintage Classics) by Richard Yates
Buy new: £4.83 / Used from: £0.01
A cutting insight into the breakdown of an unhappy marriage in 50's US Suburbia
East Lynne (Oxford World's Classics)East Lynne (Oxford World's Classics) by Ellen Wood
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £4.27
Ridiculous Victorian premise, told with great enthusiasm, whereby an adulterous wife, believed dead, returns as her own children's governess, and nobody realises