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Jill's avatar

All three of these are great, excellent choices. I choose: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (first book I cried real tears when it was over), East of Eden by Steinbeck (for obvious reasons: literary perfection), The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (the one I re-read once a year for guaranteed feel-goods) and, of course, Pride and Prejudice, which was the first “grown-up” book I ever read when I was a kid. It made me sense infinite possibilities in the written word.

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Simon Haisell's avatar

Ah so tricky! There are so many! Dune maybe, which gave me so much pleasure as a teenager. Midnight's Children made me giddy with excitement for what words can do. Alan Garner's Treacle Walker, which taught me the value of reading slowly. And of course, War and Peace – for all the people I have met through reading it with them.

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