Inspired by the late David Bowie’s 100 Favourite Books, I’ve recently been adding to my own list of the one hundred books which have inspired me, changed me, thrilled me or simply mean a whole lot to me.
I’ve finally finished it, and it’s a real mixed bag. I read a lot from a wide range of genres, and of course there are some on my list which have become much loved from reading them to my kids. Some are classics, some you may not have heard of.
In alphabetical order, as it’s almost impossible to place them in order of preference, here we go…
- 21st Century Yokel – Tom Cox
- A Blink of the Screen – Terry Pratchett
- A Hat Full of Sky – Terry Pratchett
- A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf
- Always Looking Up – Michael J. Fox
- As You Wish – Cary Elwes
- Baker Cat – Posy Simmonds
- Beloved – Toni Morrison
- Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
- Burning Chrome – William Gibson
- Cabal – Clive Barker
- Children of the Dust – Louise Lawrence
- Diana’s Story – Deric Longden
- Different Seasons – Stephen King
- Dracula – Bram Stoker
- Drawing Blood – Poppy Z. Brite
- Driving Miss Norma – Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle
- Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
- Forbidden City – William Bell
- Girl, Interrupted – Susanna Kaysen
- Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls – Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
- Good Omens – Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
- Hellblazer: Original Sins – Jamie Delano (graphic novel)
- House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
- I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
- Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Richard Bach
- Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling
- Little Grey Rabbit’s Christmas – Alison Uttley
- Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
- Look Back in Hunger – Jo Brand
- Love All the People – Bill Hicks
- Malice Aforethought – Frances Iles
- Maus – Art Spiegelman (graphic novel)
- Me, Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews
- Much Ado About Nothing – William Shakespeare
- My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies – Ed Brubaker (graphic novel)
- Nation – Terry Pratchett
- Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
- Odd Thomas – Dean Koontz
- Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
- On Writing – Stephen King
- Phonogram – Kieron Gillen (graphic novel)
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Push – Sapphire
- Rat Queens – Kurtis J. Wiebe (graphic novel)
- Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
- Red Leaves – Thomas H. Cook
- Revolver – Matt Kindt (graphic novel)
- Sandrine’s Case – Thomas H. Cook
- Savage Spawn – Jonathon Kellerman
- Silas Marner – George Eliot
- Skellig – David Almond
- Slam – Nick Hornby
- Sleepers – Lorenzo Carcaterra
- Sleepyhead – Mark Billingham
- Strange Weather – Joe Hill
- The Art of Asking – Amanda Palmer
- The Babes in the Wood – Ruth Rendell
- The Bad Seed – William March
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
- The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter
- The Bone Season – Samantha Shannon
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
- The Color Purple – Alice Walker
- The Crow – James O’Barr (graphic novel)
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
- The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Steig Larsson
- The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
- The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
- The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
- The Hogfather – Terry Pratchett
- The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The House with a Clock in its Walls – John Bellairs
- The Ice House – Minette Walters
- The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. leGuin
- The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
- The Murder Room – P. D. James
- The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
- The Queen and I – Sue Townsend
- The Road – Cormac McCarthy
- The Tao of Pooh – Benjamin Hoff
- The Tripods Trilogy – John Christopher
- The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – C. S. Lewis
- The Whitby Witches – Robin Jarvis
- Things the Grandchildren Should Know – Mark Oliver Everett
- Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome
- We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
- We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- What Does This Button Do? – Bruce Dickinson
- When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – Judith Kerr
- When the Wind Blows – Raymond Briggs
- Wicked – Gregory Maguire
- Wise Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
- Wonder – R. J. Palacio
- Y: the Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan (graphic novel)
- Z for Zachariah – Robert C. O’Brien
How many of these have you read, and what would you put on your 100 Favourites list?
Header photo comprised of images of book covers found online