 | The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £0.01 Fantastic, fatnastic, fantastic rollercoaster of a novel. Literary, beautifully written, compelling and addresses victorian sexual politics in a masterful fashion.
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 | The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe
Buy new: £6.98 / Used from: £3.82 Such a lovely, spiritually heartwarming and wise book, which manages to be an interesting historical document at the same time.
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 | The New York Trilogy: "City of Glass", "Ghosts" and "Locked Room" by Paul Auster
Buy new: £4.96 / Used from: £0.01 Masterpiece, exploring identity among a bleak New York backdrop. Completely wonderful.
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 | The World According to Garp (Black Swan) by John Irving
Buy new: £5.96 / Used from: £0.01 Such a fully realised novel that the world of Garp never leaves you. As well as the nature of marriage, family and fidelity, Irving's representation of extreme feminist movements is one to think about
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 | The Moon and Sixpence by William Somerset Maugham
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £2.98 I loved this book more than I can describe. Perhaps it was the deep understanding of the motivations of a great artist, and the godliness that surrounds creation.
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 | Of Human Bondage (Vintage classics) by William Somerset Maugham
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £5.02 I'm such a Maugham fan. There's a great review for the book that describes it better than this.
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 | The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) by Jeffrey Eugenides
Buy used from: £144.37 Although I feel pretty adolescent for liking this so much, it's just so atmospheric and uses the teenage narrator so well.
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 | Thérèse Raquin (Oxford World's Classics) by Émile Zola
Buy used from: £2.27 I read this at University as a classic Naturalistic text and it began a great love for Zola, who does rot and decay better than anyone.
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 | Nana (Oxford World's Classics) by Émile Zola
Buy new: £8.09 / Used from: £0.01 Ditto Therese Raquin. It really seems to be the literary precursor to The Crimson Petal and the White in many ways.
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 | The Collected Stories of Colette by Colette
Buy used from: £10.43 Sexy old Colette. We love her.
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 | The Earthsea Quartet: "A Wizard Of Earthsea"; "The Tombs of Atuan"; "The Farthest Shore"; "Tehanu" (Puffin Books) by Ursula Le Guin
Buy new: £7.11 / Used from: £3.69 The books that JK Rowling blatantly stole from. Read them and see how much better they are.
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 | Complete Chronicles of Narnia (Narnia(r) Narnia(r)) by C. S. Lewis
Buy used from: £8.27 I know it's trendy to diss these regarding the Christian content, but I love it. They are such powerful, moralistic fables.
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 | The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Buy new: £4.87 / Used from: £0.01 Oh, this was good. Again, a strongly atmospheric book that transported to me to its remote fishing community and the depth of characterisation is lovely.
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 | Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Buy new: £6.47 / Used from: £0.01 You've got to love Margaret Atwood, and I think this is her best, along with The Robber Bride, for capturing savagery between women.
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