Reading

For me, reading fiction is one of life's great pleasures. Here's a record of the novels and short story collections that I've enjoyed. (Books are listed alphabetically by author.)

You might also be interested in the following related links:

Why I read (article)
Recommended non-fiction (writing / design related)

Photo of some of our bookshelves at home

Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003) by Mitch Albom
Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley Amis
Take a Girl Like You (1960) by Kingsley Amis
The Old Devils (1986) by Kingsley Amis
Money (1984) by Martin Amis
Winesburg, Ohio (1919) by Sherwood Anderson
Case Histories (2004) by Kate Atkinson
Shrines of Gaiety (2022) by Kate Atkinson
Surfacing (1972) by Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood
Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen
Persuasion (1818) by Jane Austen
The New York Trilogy (1987) by Paul Auster
Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) by James Baldwin
The Sense of an Ending (2011) by Julian Barnes
Herzog (1964) by Saul Bellow
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1993) by Louis de Bernières
Out of Africa (1937) by Karen Blixen
On Love (1993) by Alain de Botton
The Death of the Heart (1938) by Elizabeth Bowen
The Heat of the Day (1948) by Elizabeth Bowen
Any Human Heart (2002) by William Boyd
Restless (2006) by William Boyd
Waiting for Sunrise (2012) by William Boyd
Trio (2020) by William Boyd
Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home (1980) by Erna Brodber
Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) by John Buchan
The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) by John Bunyan
Possession (1990) by A. S. Byatt
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) by James M. Cain
Fold (2011) by Tom Campbell
The Outsider (1942) by Albert Camus
The Plague (1947) by Albert Camus
The Fall (1956) by Albert Camus
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) by Truman Capote
Oscar and Lucinda (1988) by Peter Carey
A Month in the Country (1980) by J. L. Carr
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by John le Carré
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974) by John le Carré
The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) by John le Carré
A Perfect Spy (1986) by John le Carré
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass (1871) by Lewis Carroll
Wise Children (1991) by Angela Carter
Leading the Cheers (1998) by Justin Cartwright
The Promise of Happiness (2005) by Justin Cartwright
Other People's Money (2011) by Justin Cartwright
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981) by Raymond Carver
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) by Willa Cather
Stories (1903) by Anton Chekhov
The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) by G. K. Chesterton
The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914) by G. K. Chesterton
The Scandal of Father Brown (1935) by G. K. Chesterton
The Girls (2016) by Emma Cline
The Accidental Woman (1987) by Jonathan Coe
What a Carve Up! (1994) by Jonathan Coe
The House of Sleep (1997) by Jonathan Coe
The Rotters’ Club (2001) by Jonathan Coe
The Alchemist (1988) by Paulo Coelho
Foe (1986) by J. M. Coetzee
Disgrace (1999) by J. M. Coetzee
The Woman in White (1859) by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins
I, Tituba (1986) by Maryse Condé
Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim (1900) by Joseph Conrad
The Last of the Mohicans (1826) by James Fenimore Cooper
Generation X (1991) by Douglas Coupland
Life After God (1994) by Douglas Coupland
All Families are Psychotic (2001) by Douglas Coupland
Hey Nostradamus! (2003) by Douglas Coupland
The Power of One (1989) by Bryce Courtenay
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977) by Roald Dahl
Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984) by Roald Dahl
Going Solo (1986) by Roald Dahl
Last Bus to Woodstock (1975) by Colin Dexter
Last Seen Wearing (1976) by Colin Dexter
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1977) by Colin Dexter
Service of All the Dead (1979) by Colin Dexter
The Dead of Jericho (1981) by Colin Dexter
The Riddle of the Third Mile (1983) by Colin Dexter
The Secret of Annexe 3 (1986) by Colin Dexter
The Wench is Dead (1989) by Colin Dexter
The Jewel That Was Ours (1991) by Colin Dexter
Ttrust (2022) by Hernan Diaz
David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickins
Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickins
Ragtime (1975) by E. L. Doctorow
All the Light We Cannot See (2014) by Anthony Doerr
Crime and Punishment (1867) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Idiot (1869) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov (1880) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845) by Frederick Douglass
Paddy Clark, Ha Ha Ha (1993) by Roddy Doyle
The Sign of Four (1890) by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) by Arthur Conan Doyle
An American Tragedy (1925) by Theodore Dreiser
The Bafut Beagles (1954) by Gerald Durrell
My Family and Other Animals (1956) by Gerald Durrell
A Heartwarming Work of Staggering Genius (2000) by Dave Eggers
Middlemarch (1872) by George Eliot
The Virgin Suicides (1993) by Jeffrey Eugenides
Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides
Lara (1997) by Bernardine Evaristo
The Sound and the Fury (1929) by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying (1930) by William Faulkner
Light in August (1932) by William Faulkner
The Girl at the Lion d'Or (1989) by Sebastian Faulks
Birdsong (1993) by Sebastian Faulks
Human Traces (2005) by Sebastian Faulks
Engleby (2007) by Sebastian Faulks
A Week in December (2009) by Sebastian Faulks
A Possible Life (2012) by Sebastian Faulks
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells (2013) by Sebastian Faulks
Where My Heart Used to Beat (2015) by Sebastian Faulks
Snow Country (2021) by Sebastian Faulks
Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) by Helen Fielding
The Beautiful and the Damned (1922) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender is the Night (1934) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (1935) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Crack-Up (1935) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Lost Decade (1935) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Madame Bovary (1856) by Gustave Flaubert
Casino Royale (1953) by Ian Fleming
The Good Soldier (1915) by Ford Madox Ford
Parade’s End (tetralogy) (1948) by Ford Madox Ford
The Sportswriter (1986) by Richard Ford
Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) by E. M. Forster
A Room with a View (1908) by E. M. Forster
Howards End (1910) by E. M. Forster
A Passage to India (1924) by E. M. Forster
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2012) by Ben Fountain
The Collector (1963) by John Fowles
The Magus (1965) by John Fowles
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) by John Fowles
The Ebony Tower (1974) by John Fowles
The Corrections (2001) by Jonathan Franzen
Freedom (2010) by Jonathan Franzen
Hideous Kinky (1992) by Esther Freud
The Solitaire Mystery (1990) by Jostein Gaarder
Sophie’s World (1991) by Jostein Gaarder
The Christmas Mystery (1992) by Jostein Gaarder
The Promise (2021) by Damon Galgut
The Snow Goose (1941) by Paul Gallico
The Beach (1996) by Alex Garland
The Tesseract (1998) by Alex Garland
Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons
Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding
The Spire (1964) by William Golding
Rites of Passage (1980) by William Golding
The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame
I, Claudius (1934) by Robert Graves
Brighton Rock (1938) by Graham Greene
The Power and the Glory (1940) by Graham Greene
The Heart of the Matter (1948) by Graham Greene
The End of the Affair (1951) by Graham Greene
Twenty-One Stories (1954) by Graham Greene
The Quiet American (1955) by Graham Greene
Our Man in Havana (1958) by Graham Greene
A Sense of Reality (1963) by Graham Greene
Snow Falling on Cedars (1994) by David Guterson
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) by Mark Haddon
The Midnight Library (2020) by Matt Haig
Wessex Tales (1988) by Thomas Hardy
Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) by Thomas Hardy
Fatherland (1992) by Robert Harris
Enigma (1995) by Robert Harris
Archangel (1998) by Robert Harris
The Ghost (2007) by Robert Harris
The Second Sleep (2019) by Robert Harris
The Go-Between (1953) by L. P. Hartley
The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway
Men Without Women (1927) by Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway
Green Hills of Africa (1935) by Ernest Hemingway
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1936) by Ernest Hemingway
To Have and Have Not (1937) by Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) by Ernest Hemingway
Across the River and Into the Trees (1950) by Ernest Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea (1951) by Ernest Hemingway
The Prodigy (1906) by Hermann Hesse
Gertrude (1910) by Hermann Hesse
The Glass Bead Game (1943) by Hermann Hesse
The Talented Mr Ripley (1955) by Patricia Highsmith
I’m the King of the Castle (1970) by Susan Hill
The Woman in Black (1983) by Susan Hill
A Kestrel for a Knave (1968) by Barry Hines
The Kite Runner (2003) by Khaled Hosseini
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston
What I Loved (2003) by Siri Hustvedt
Chrome Yellow (1921) by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley
Eyeless in Gaza (1936) by Aldous Huxley
The World According To Garp (1978) by John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) by John Irving
Goodbye to Berlin (1939) by Christopher Isherwood
The Remains of the Day (1989) by Kazuo Ishiguro
When We Were Orphens (2000) by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go (2005) by Kazuo Ishiguro
Nocturnes (2009) by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James
The Aspern Papers (1888) by Henry James
Selected Short Stories (1896) by Henry James
The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James
Three Men in a Boat (1889) by Jerome K. Jerome
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2009) by Jonas Jonasson
The Prophet and the Idiot (2022) by Jonas Jonasson
Dubliners (1914) by James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) by James Joyce
Metamorphosis and Other Stories (1915) by Franz Kafka
The Trial (1925) by Franz Kafka
The Perfect Stranger (1966) by P. J. Kavanagh
On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums (1958) by Jack Kerouac
Maggie Cassidy (1959) by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey
The Secret Life of Bees (2001) by Sue Monk Kidd
The Poisonwood Bible (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver
The Lacuna (2009) by Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead (2022) by Barbara Kingsolver
Kim (1901) by Rudyard Kipling
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) by Milan Kundera
The Leopard (1958) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Sons and Lovers (1913) by D. H. Lawrence
The Atom Station (1948) by Halldór Laxness
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee
Cider with Rosie (1959) by Laurie Lee
Out of the Silent Planet (1938) by C. S. Lewis
Perelandra (1943) by C. S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength (1945) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (1955) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (1950) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: The Horse and His Boy (1954) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: Prince Caspian (1951) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: The Silver Chair (1953) by C. S. Lewis
Narnia: The Last Battle (1956) by C. S. Lewis
Moon Tiger (1987) by Penelope Lively
The Photograph (2003) by Penelope Lively
Under the Volcano (1947) by Malcolm Lowry
Wolf Hall (2009) by Hilary Mantel
Bring Up the Bodies (2012) by Hilary Mantel
Embers (1942) by Sándor Márai
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Life of Pi (2001) by Yann Martel
The Piano Tuner (2002) by Daniel Mason
Of Human Bondage (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham
Cakes and Ale (1930) by W. Somerset Maugham
Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier
My Cousin Rachel (1951) by Daphne du Maurier
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998) by Alexander McCall Smith
Tears of the Giraffe (2000) by Alexander McCall Smith
Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) by Carson McCullers
The Innocent (1990) by Ian McEwan
Enduring Love (1997) by Ian McEwan
Amsterdam (1998) by Ian McEwan
Atonement (2001) by Ian McEwan
Saturday (2005) by Ian McEwan
On Chesil Beach (2007) by Ian McEwan
Solar (2010) by Ian McEwan
Sweet Tooth (2012) by Ian McEwan
Billy Budd, Sailor (1924) by Herman Melville
Focus (1945) by Arthur Miller
Cloud Atlas (2004) by David Mitchell
Private Peaceful (2003) by Michael Morpurgo
Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison
The Love of a Good Woman (1998) by Alice Munro
Norwegian Wood (1987) by Haruki Murakami
Under the Net (1954) by Iris Murdoch
The Bell (1958) by Iris Murdock
The Black Prince (1973) by Iris Murdock
The Sea, the Sea (1978) by Iris Murdoch
Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
Pnin (1957) by Vladimir Nabokov
Pale Fire (1962) by Vladimir Nabokov
A House for Mr Biswas (1961) by V. S. Naipaul
A Bend in the River (1979) by V. S. Naipaul
The River Between (1965) by Ngugi Ngugi
One Day (2009) by David Nicholls
Appointment in Samarra (1934) by John O’Hara
Yonnondio (1974) by Tillie Olsen
The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje
Down and Out in London and Paris (1933) by George Orwell
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
1984 (1949) by George Orwell
The Thursday Murder Club (2020) by Richard Osman
The Man Who Died Twice (2021) by Richard Osman
The Bullet that Missed (2022) by Richard Osman
The Last Devil to Die (2023) by Richard Osman
Where the Crawdads Sing (2018) by Delia Owens
Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton
The Bees (2014) by Laline Paull
The Moviegoer (1961) by Walker Percy
The Visit (1999) by Adrian Plass
Silver Birches (2009) by Adrian Plass
The Shadow Doctor (2017) by Adrian Plass
The Shadow Doctor: The Past Awaits (2019) by Adrian Plass
The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838) by Edgar Allan Poe
A Question of Upbringing (1951) by Anthony Powell
A Buyer’s Market (1952) by Anthony Powell
The Acceptance World (1955) by Anthony Powell
At Lady Molly’s (1957) by Anthony Powell
Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant (1960) by Anthony Powell
The Kindly Ones (1962) by Anthony Powell
The Valley of Bones (1964) by Anthony Powell
The Soldier’s Art (1966) by Anthony Powell
The Military Philosophers (1968) by Anthony Powell
Books Do Furnish a Room (1971) by Anthony Powell
Temporary Kings (1973) by Anthony Powell
Hearing Secret Harmonies (1975) by Anthony Powell
The Shipping News (1993) by Annie Proulx
The Godfather (1969) by Mario Puzo
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) by Thomas Pynchon
Exercises in Style (1947) by Raymond Queneau
Swallows and Amazons (1930) by Arthur Ransome
The Evenings (1947) by Gerard Reve
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys
Housekeeping (1980) by Marilynne Robinson
Gilead (2004) by Marilynne Robinson
American Pastoral (1997) by Philip Roth
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998) by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999) by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003) by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) by J. K. Rowling
The God of Small Things (1997) by Arundhati Roy
Midnight’s Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie
Holes (1998) by Louis Sachar
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger
For Esmé ~ With Love and Squalor (1953) by J. D. Salinger
Franny and Zooey (1961) by J. D. Salinger
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters / Seymour: an Introduction (1963) by J. D. Salinger
The Norfolk Mystery (2013) by Ian Sansom
Whose Body? (1923) by Dorothy L. Sayers
Clouds of Witness (1926) by Dorothy L. Sayers
Unnatural Death (1927) by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928) by Dorothy L. Sayers
Strong Poison (1930) by Dorothy L. Sayers
Murder Must Advertise (1933) by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Nine Tailors (1934) by Dorothy L. Sayers
Gaudy Night (1935) by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Tobacconist (2012) by Robert Seethaler
Funny Boy (1994) by Shyam Selvadurai
The Lonely Londoners (1956) by Sam Selvon
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003) by Lionel Shriver
I Capture the Castle (1948) by Dodie Smith
Gorky Park (1981) by Martin Cruz Smith
White Teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark
Golden Hill (2016) by Francis Spufford
Treasures of the Snow (1950) by Patricia St John
Tortilla Flat (1935) by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row (1945) by John Steinbeck
The Pearl (1947) by John Steinbeck
East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen (1767) by Laurence Sterne
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Perfume (1985) by Patrick Süskind
Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift
The Secret History (1992) by Donna Tartt
The Little Friend (2002) by Donna Tartt
The Goldfinch (2013) by Donna Tartt
The Hobbit (1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien
LOTR: The Two Towers (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien
LOTR: The Return of the King (1955) by J. R. R. Tolkien
Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy
Cane (1923) by Jean Toomer
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2006) by Paul Torday
The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce (2008) by Paul Torday
The Girl on the Landing (2009) by Paul Torday
Rules of Civility (2011) by Amor Towles
A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) by Amor Towles
The Lincoln Highway (2021) by Amor Towles
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1982) by Sue Townsend
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1984) by Sue Townsend
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists (1914) by Robert Tressell
Fathers and Sons (1862) by Ivan Turgenev
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain
Rabbit, Run (1960) by John Updike
Rabbit Redux (1971) by John Updike
The Enchanted April (1922) by Elizabeth Von Armin
Slaughterhouse 5 (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut
Decline and Fall (1928) by Evelyn Waugh
A Handful of Dust (1934) by Evelyn Waugh
Scoop (1938) by Evelyn Waugh
Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh
The Complete Short Stories (1962) by Evelyn Waugh
Sword of Honour (trilogy) (1965) by Evelyn Waugh
Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) by Nathanael West
The Day of the Locust (1939) by Nathanael West
The House of Mirth (1905) by Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton
The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) by Oscar Wilde
Stoner (1965) by John Williams
My Man Jeeves (1919) by P. G. Wodehouse
The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) by P. G. Wodehouse
Carry on, Jeeves (1925) by P. G. Wodehouse
Thank you, Jeeves (1934) by P. G. Wodehouse
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935) by P. G. Wodehouse
The Code of the Woosters (1938) by P. G. Wodehouse
Joy in the Morning (1947) by P. G. Wodehouse
The Mating Season (1949) by P. G. Wodehouse
Jeeves in the Offing (1960) by P. G. Wodehouse
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963) by P. G. Wodehouse
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) by Tom Wolfe
Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf
To the Lighthouse (1927) by Virginia Woolf
Orlando (1928) by Virginia Woolf
The Waves (1931) by Virginia Woolf
Revolutionary Road (1961) by Richard Yates
The Shadow of the Wind (2001) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Book Thief (2005) by Markus Zusak
Chess (1943) by Stefan Zweig
Twentieth-Century Short Stories (1959) by [Various authors]
The Art of the Tale (1986) by [Various authors]
Tales from the Beach House (2021) by [Various authors]

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