Listmania!
Random novels of brilliance
A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Red Classics)A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Red Classics) by John Kennedy Toole
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £3.25
Ignatius is one of the great comic creations of literature!
POP. 1280POP. 1280 by Jim Thompson
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £1.99
Perhaps not as famous as other works such as "The Getaway", but a brilliant dark comedy that has you laughing even as you shudder.
Fat Ollie's BookFat Ollie's Book by Ed McBain
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
McBain has written dozens of books, and I've loved all of the ones that I've read so far, but as this is the first one which I discovered, it seems like as good a starting place as any.
The Old Devils (Vintage Classics)The Old Devils (Vintage Classics) by Kingsley Amis
Buy new: £4.79 / Used from: £2.99
Along with Lucky Jim, this is an absolute classic. Gentler than Martin Amis, but with a wonderful humanity and humour scattered liberally from start to finish
Money: A Suicide NoteMoney: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £3.36
One of his best. A great story, unmarred by the levels of complexity and showing off that sometimes afflict his work.
Perdido Street StationPerdido Street Station by China Mieville
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.05
An epic sci-fi society wonderfully created by this up-and-coming writer
Ubik (S.F. Masterworks)Ubik (S.F. Masterworks) by Philip K. Dick
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £1.95
Becoming ever more popular with Hollywood, I've yet to read a novel which by Philip K Dick which wasn't memorable (albeit often mind-bending). Sometimes the drugs do work!
KokoKoko by Peter Straub
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.48
A dark, gripping page turner. Horror doesn't always need fantastical monsters and gore to be effective.
Omnibus: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror No. 1 (H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus)Omnibus: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror No. 1 (H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus) by H.P. Lovecraft
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £2.98
If only someone had the imagination to turn these stories into films! Gothic horror where what is unsaid and unseen let's your brain scare itself! An under-rated genius on a par with Conan Doyle/Poe
Flashman and the Angel of the Lord (Flashman 09)Flashman and the Angel of the Lord (Flashman 09) by George MacDonald Fraser
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.99
Very far from pc, but very funny, and you even learn something about Victorian history as you read!
I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks)I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks) by Richard Matheson
Buy new: £3.99 / Used from: £1.24
A fantastically claustrophobic and original take on the vampire novel.
The HippopotamusThe Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.88
Brilliantly funny, shocking at times. A master of the English language carrying on the tradition of Oscar Wilde
The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Collins Classics)The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Collins Classics) by Oscar Wilde
Buy new: £10.49 / Used from: £8.33
A paradoxically frivolous genius who could say more with one witty remark than most could say in a novel!
Cycle of ViolenceCycle of Violence by Colin Bateman
Buy used from: £0.01
This, along with Bateman's other early novels, is a riot. Laugh out loud funny, rather than the more traditional sense of rioting in Ulster...
Fever PitchFever Pitch by Nick Hornby
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
A must-read for anyone who has ever made a mix-tape for the girl, boy or other of their dreams.