The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

My all-time favourite book, must have read it seven or eight times. Classic. See also – The Man In The Iron Mask and The Count Of Monte Cristo

The Chrysalids – John Wyndham

Whilst this book is my favourite of Wyndham’s he is probably best known for The Day Of The Triffids 

Shogun – James Clavell

Brilliant evocation of feudal Japan. Clavell’s ‘Tai-pan’ is good too. Different, but still good.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

All the Sherlock Holmes stories are worth a read as well as The Lost World

Dracula – Bram Stoker

Surely this is on most people’s top ten ‘must reads’.

Hollow Man – John Dickson Carr

The classic mystery story

You Only Live Twice – Ian Fleming

The one James Bond book that wasn’t filmed (only the title was used). You don’t realise just how good a writer Fleming was until you read one of his books. The films don’t really do him justice.

War Of The Worlds – H. G. Wells

The film versions were updates, why not read the original story?

The Last Of The Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper

There aren’t many books published in or before 1826 that hold up to this day but LotM is definitely one of them. Actually one of a series of five novels.

King Solomon’s Mines – Sir H. Rider Haggard

If you’ve not read this by the age of say, 12, then what are you doing with your life?

Jack Absolute – C. C. Humphreys

Although only published in 2004 this has all the makings of a classic ripping yarn that could hold its head up in the company of Dumas, Forester or Haggard. Cracking.

The Prestige – Christopher Priest

The film is presented as a thriller/mystery and is an admirable attempt to tell the story. The book, however, is even more complex and is more like a gothic horror. Probably my favourite book of the 20th century and one you have to read twice to fully appreciate.

The Great Train Robbery – Michael Crichton

Although Crichton is better known for his science fiction work, I have a particular fondness for this adventure story set in Victorian England.

The Hornblower Series – C. S. Forester

Had to pick one series set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic era, could easily have chosen Patrick O’Brian or Julian Stockwin.

Little Big Man – Thomas Berger

A modern picaresque novel detailing the 19th century adventures of Jack Crabb on the American frontier. One of those epic books you can just sink into and not resurface for days.