Bulgakov, Mikhail: Heart of a Dog – Hilarious book, very human and political all at the same time. This is the only Russian classic that I’ve found genuinely readable!

Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations – Hugely readable and wonderful.

Fitzgerald, F Scott: The Great Gatsby – A beautiful book, intense and absorbing. Also very short!

Heller, Joseph: Catch 22 – Hugely funny and heart breaking all at the same time.

Lee, Harper: To Kill a Mocking BIrd – A really great story about a quiet, small town hero.My favourite book ever.

Murakami, Haruki The Wind-up Bird Chronicle – Very divisive at the book club but I loved it. A strange mix of the mundane and the surreal.

Orwell, George: Animal Farm – Really interesting to read this with my Russian tennis partner.

Rand, Ayn: Atlas Shrugged – A huge book, beloved by republicans especially professional politicians who should know better. I loved this book, despite the polemic which I half agreed with and half hated.

Steinbeck, John: Cannery Row – How can such a big, rich story fit into such a small book?

Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited – Still an amazingly good portrait of the class system at work in England.