 | The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Buy new: £4.75 / Used from: £0.53 I wish Ms Plath wasn't dead. There was so much in this book I identified with and I really recommend it.
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 | 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Buy new: £5.04 / Used from: £2.84 This is a bit of a list cliche but Orwell is a hero of mine and this book is the most prophetic work I've read.
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 | A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £0.01 Forget the size - you'll wish it was longer. I soaked this up like a sponge and learned loads without realising.
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 | Cider House Rules - The Novel by John Irving
Buy new: £6.74 / Used from: £0.01 Irving is always quirky but this book explores the abortion issue really well. I wish we did more of this.
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 | On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Buy new: £4.72 / Used from: £0.01 I've never been disappointed by this author but this short book broke my heart.
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 | Any Human Heart by William Boyd
Buy new: £7.19 / Used from: £6.65 I don't think Boyd gets due credit but I love him and this is him at his best.
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 | Wuthering Heights (Penguin Popular Classics) by Emily Brontë
Buy new: £2.16 / Used from: £0.01 The no. 1 antidote to female adolescence as attested to by me :)
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 | Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Buy new: £1.78 / Used from: £0.01 It's more concept than format but you have to read this book to have a post-colonial reference point.
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 | Lolita (Penguin Classics) by Vladimir Nabokov
Buy new: £5.46 / Used from: £2.77 Another one that makes you uncomfortable but tackles the issue head-on.
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 | A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Modern Classics) by Anthony Burgess
Buy new: £4.82 / Used from: £1.00 Scary because it's so close to the bone.
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 | All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Buy new: £5.07 / Used from: £2.50 Very hard to choose between this and Pat Barker but this gives a wake-up call about life on the other side.
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 | East of Eden (Penguin Modern Classics) by John Steinbeck
Buy new: £6.46 / Used from: £3.77 You think things are bad now? Get some perspective of another depression.
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Listmania!
