This is an idea that caught my fancy - mainly because the revelation of the lists seem to expose aspects of reader's histories and tastes that are surprising.
1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
I often re-read this in times of stress - I remember the eve of one final exam at univeristy where I was unable to sleep and started to read it to calm me down. Unfortunately this led me to saty up until dawn racing the the end. When discussiing Lizzie witha froiend at teh time she said 'You sound half in love with yourself'. Being young and stupid, or younger and stupider, I deined this vehemently, rather than accpet this as simple fact.
2. Scoop, Evelyn Waugh
Henry Boot is an Everyman, plucked from a comfortable home life into unwanted adventure.
3. The Old Devils, Kingsley Amis
Almost any of his books would count, but this captures the trials of age and tricks of memory in a positive light.
4. Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
The start of the run of good form in the series, moving and profound as well as funny.
5. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams
A complex time travel plot, and more heart that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (including a heartbreaking scene on Mauretania seeing the last dodo).
6. Towards the End of the Morning, Michael Frayn
Everday life in a newspaper office, standing for the world of pointless wok.
7. Fatherland, Robert Harris
Alternate history in which the Nazis are victorious and a detective uncovers eveidence of the Final Solution.
8. The Warden, Anthony Trollope
The first and best of the Barchester Chronicles - real people in moral dilemmas.
9. So Much Blood, Simon Brett
A Charles Paris murder mystery set in teh theatrical world.
10. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Another alternate history about the Second World War, Dick's most coherent novel.
Nearly made the cut: Martin Amis, David Lodge, Philip Roth, Joseph Heller, Barbara Pym
