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