We said: Perhaps the greatest story ever told, J. R. R. Tolkien’s incredible trilogy of otherworldliness brought a world of hobbits, dwarves, elves and orcs to life in a way never read before. Ultimately a tale of companionship and the battle between good and evil, the fictional world of Middle Earth has endured to become far greater than the sum of its parts.

You said: It's got the great sweeping story, romance, heroism, self-sacrifice, social commentary... it's not just magic and elves! 

 

We said: Two years in the making, this philosophical novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky questions big topics like faith, free will and morality but it’s also a very readable one that’s part murder mystery, part courtroom drama.

You said: A depiction of the darkest recesses of human nature. But also of the brightest ones… 

 

We said: In Thomas Mann’s semi-autobiographical family epic, he portrays the slow decline of a wealthy and highly esteemed merchant-family in northern Germany over four generations, as they grapple with the modernism of the 20th century. 

You said: It’s a great novel about the rise and fall of a family, the relationship between fathers and sons, and the conflict between art and business. Well, and I have to say I do love family sagas. 

 

We said: Quite simply some of the finest writing ever committed to a page. A book that is simultaneously repulsive and utterly seductive.

You said: Beautifully written. The book takes you into the mind of this awful character and lets you roll around in the gorgeous word-play as the story unfurls. 

 

We said: Frances Hodgson Burnett's book will awaken the curiosity of any reader, no matter their age. There’s something so completely irresistible about hidden doors, mysterious noises and secret hiding places. But this is more than a story of adventures and gardening, at its heart, The Secret Garden promises that with time and plenty of nurturing, we can all blossom.

You said: I will never forget reading this book as a child. I felt I was in the middle of the story. 

 

We said: Partly based on Evelyn Waugh’s personal experiences, Scoop is a satirical take on the lengths reporters – and newspaper magnates – will go to for a story. With modern exposés on hacking scandals and the like, Scoop feels as relevant as ever.

You said: A funny story wrapped around absurdity, journalism and war. 

 

We said: A companion novel to The Pursuit of Love, our narrator Fanny tells the story of her cousin Polly who has little interest in the London season and the marriage market at the exasperation of her parents. Full of hilarious, eccentric relatives and the thrills of navigating the glamorous 1930s social season.

You said: Escapism to a world that bears no resemblance to mine. Razor sharp wit and bonkers characters. The novel set the standard for modern romantic comedy novel that has never been bettered. 

 

We said: After 18 years in the Bastille, Dr Manette is released and sent to live in Britain with a daughter he’s never met. Split between Paris and London, A Tale of Two Cities is a mammoth story set during the brutal years of the French Revolution.

You said: Sitting alone at 16 years old after the family had gone to bed,  tears streamed down my cheeks as I finished this novel. 

 

We said: Diary of a Nobody follows a respectable middle-class man, Charles Pooter, and his attempts to live a respectable middle-class life. This riotously funny novel created such an impression that it inspired an adjective in honour of its main character: 'Pooterish', a self-important person who takes themselves far too seriously. 

You said: I have read this book so many times and laugh out loud every time. I have a Penguin Classic copy of it that's falling apart but I wouldn't part with it for the world 

 

We said: Anna Karenina is a woman who seems to have it all. She’s married, she’s wealthy, she’s well-liked – but she feels her life is empty until she meets Count Vronksy. Leo Tolstoy’s novel is essentially a philosophical meditation on the meaning of life and happiness but it’s a very readable one.

You said: Simply the best in-depth characterisation of all time. Tolstoy's psychological insights have never been beaten. 

 

We said: Alessandro Manzoni's novel takes is the story of two young lovers trying to be together, set against a wider backdrop of 17th-century Italian life. The Betrothed is considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written in Italian.

You said: This book is on the verge of being forgotten by casual readers, but it’s entertaining, socially and scientifically progressive for its time, has incredibly moving, beautifully-written passages on bread riots and the plague, and it has the best surprise trope-subversion at the end. 

 

We said: Immense yourself in the dazzling breadth of Virginia Woolf’s imagination in this short but powerful novel and follow Orlando from the court of Elizabeth I to a celebrated poet in the 20th century.

You said: What is it to be a woman? Woolf's modernist novel is so fresh even 90 or so years later. Gender fluidity before the term was even coined. And a history of literature as a backdrop.