Imagine your child, your god-child, or perhaps a child you know will become the leader of the free world, can only ever read ten books in their lifetime. What would those books be?

Thanks to all who contributed to the experiment. I received some wonderful lists from people, many of whom also gave their reasons why they chose the books.

In the end, we didn’t have a full top ten. There was a handful of books who were nominated a number of times, and a clear number one book. But the rest of the books nominated make such a great collection that I have listed them all here. Click here to buy any or all of the Top Eight from Amazon. Enjoy!

Number 1 – four votes

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Nominated by:

Nick Lawrance        
“Read this book firstly as a fairy tale”      
“To be read a second time immediately after The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, as an allegory of how power corrupts and all that”

Mairead Doyle                                                                                        “This book can be read again and again in life to appreciate its many layers”

Katea Downie

Joint 2nd

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Nominated by:

Manu Pillai
Katea Downie
Mairead Doyle         
“The ultimate cautionary tale for our times”

Joint 2nd

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

Nominated by:

Nick Lawrance        
“Because mental health problems are just health problems”

Eileen Kershaw
Mairead Doyle
 

Joint 4th

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Nominated by:

Sam Evans  
“Read this book and you won’t have a great view of humanity; like no other book it reveals the human cost of wars and why they should never be fought”

Mairead Doyle         
“Probably the best war book ever written”

Joint 4th

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Nominated by:

Bres               
“A modern Australian flavour”

Sam Evans  
“An Australian masterpiece, amazingly written book about two poor families in western australia that suffer catastrophies but live on – wonderful use of Australian rural language”
 

Joint 4th

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Nominated by:

Katea Downie
Katharine Haines
 

Joint 4th

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Nominated by:

Katea Downie
Mairead Doyle         
“A powerful story about growing up in an imperfect world”
 

Joint 4th

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama

Nominated by:

Manu Pillai

Sam Evans  
“Helped me get perspective – I think I’ll need to re-read this every few years to keep its messages fresh”

 

Ref.	Title	Author	Nominated by
1	100 Years of Solitude	Gabriel Garcia Marquez	Suzanne Parsons
2	A Shropshire Lad	AE Housman	Katharine Haines
3	A Well Dressed Gentleman’s Pocket Guide	Oscar Lenius	Orlando Gibson
4	Anna Karenina	Leo Tolstoy	Sam Evans
5	Art of War	Sun Tzu	Manu Pillai
6	Between You & I	James Cochrane	Orlando Gibson
7	Bhowani Junction	John Masters	Hayley Burchill
8	Bible	Reference	Lesa Campbell
9	Black Beauty	Anna Sewell	Louise Beechey
10	Black Dogs	Ian McEwan	Bres
11	Bonjour Tristesse	Francoise Sagan	Katharine Haines
12	Brave New World	Aldous Huxley	Manu Pillai
13	Bridge to Terebithia	Kathrine Patterson	Alison Crimmins
14	Brotherman	Herb Boyd & Robert Allen	Orlando Gibson
15	Captain Correlli’s Mandolin	Louis de Bernieres	Louise Beechey
16	Catch 22	Joseph Heller	Nick Lawrance
17	Catcher in the Rye	J D Salinger	Katea Downey
18	Change the World	Robert E Quinn	Dean Campbell
19	Computer Programming for Dummies	Reference	Orlando Gibson
20	Crime & Punishment	Fyodor Dostoevsky	Louise Beechey
21	Danny, Champion of the World	Roald Dahl	Nick Lawrance
22	Definitely Atlas Shrugged	Ayn Rand	Alison Crimmins
23	Dracula	Bram Stoker	Nick Lawrance
24	Elizabeth – Red Rose of the House of Tudor	Kathryn Lasky	Kathryn Fridman
25	Endurance	Alfred Lansing	Sam Evans
26	Famous Five or Secret Seven	Enid Blyton	Eileen Kershaw
27	Fast Food Nation	Eric Schlosser	Katharine Haines
28	Howl’s Moving Castle	Diana Wynne Jones	Kathryn Fridman
29	I Capture the Castle	Dodie Smith	Katharine Haines
30	I, Coriander	Sally Gardener	Kathryn Fridman
31	If This Is A Man	Primo Levi	Katharine Haines
32	In Praise of Slow	Carl Honore	Katharine Haines
33	In Spain	Ted Walker	Annette Doyle
34	Journey to the River Sea	Eva Ibbotson	Kathryn Fridman
35	Les Miserables	Victor Hugo	Louise Beechey
36	Lord of the Rings	J R R Tolkien	Sam Evans
37	Lyn: A Diary of Prostitution	Lyn Madden	Annette Doyle
38	Maid of Buttermere	Melvyn Bragg	Louise Beechey
39	Martin and Malcolm and America	James H Cone	Orlando Gibson
40	Master and Commander	Patrick O’Brien	Hayley Burchill
41	Mayor of Casterbridge	Thomas Hardy	Louise Beechey
42	Midnight’s Children	Salman Rushdie	Mairead Doyle
43	Mr God This Is Anna	Finn	Mairead Doyle
44	Northern Lights	Philip Pullman	Kathryn Fridman
45	Noughts and Crosses	Malorie Blackman	Mairead Doyle
46	On Her Majesty’s Secret Service	Ian Fleming	Nick Lawrance
47	Oxford English Dictionary	Reference	Orlando Gibson
48	Parade’s End	Ford Madox Ford	Hayley Burchill
49	Pilgrim’s Progress	John Bunyon	Hayley Burchill
50	Pole to Pole	Michael Palin	Katharine Haines
51	Puffin Book of Utterly Brilliant Poetry	Various	Louise Beechey
52	Rachel’s Holiday	Marian Keyes	Annette Doyle
53	RHS Gardening Manual	Reference	Hayley Burchill
54	Romeo and Juliet	William Shakespeare	Katea Downey
55	Schindler’s Ark	Thomas Kenneally	Mairead Doyle
56	Sophie’s World	Jostein Gaarder	Bres
57	Teach Yourself Chinese	Reference	Orlando Gibson
58	Teach Yourself Spanish	Reference	Orlando Gibson
59	The Butcher Boy	Patrick McCabe	Annette Doyle
60	The Communist Manifesto	Karl Marx	Nick Lawrance
61	The Constant Gardener	John le Carre	Suzanne Parsons
62	The Five People You Meet in Heaven	Mitch Alborn	Bres
63	The Horse Whisperer	Nicholas Evans	Annette Doyle
64	The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini	Suzanne Parsons
65	The Lady Grace Mysteries – Assassin	Patricia Finney	Kathryn Fridman
66	The Lonely Planet – India	Lonely Planet	Annette Doyle
67	The Lost World of the Kalahari	Laurens van der Post	Katharine Haines
68	The Mousehole Cat	Antonia Barber	Louise Beechey
69	The New York Trilogy	Paul Auster	Bres
70	The Once and Future King	T H White	Katharine Haines
71	The Piano Tuner	Daniel Mason	Hayley Burchill
72	The Prophet	Kahlil Gibran	Annette Doyle
73	The Reader	Bernard Schlink	Nick Lawrance
74	The Silent World	Jacques Cousteau	Louise Beechey
75	The Star of Kazan	Eva Ibbotson	Kathryn Fridman
76	The Treatment	Mo Hayder	Annette Doyle
77	The Worlds of Chrestomanci – The Magicians of Capriona	Diana Wynne Jones	Kathryn Fridman
78	Time Bandits	Michael Palin & Terry Gilliam	Orlando Gibson
79	Twinkle Annual	–	Eileen Kershaw
80	Veronika Decides to Die	Paul Coelho	Annette Doyle
81	Vile Victorians (Horrible Histories)	Terry Deary	Kathryn Fridman
82	Voyage of the Dawn Treader	C S Lewis	Nick Lawrance
83	Winnie the Pooh – Complete Collection of Poems and Stories	A A Milne	Mairead Doyle
84	Women’s Room	Mariyn French	Annette Doyle