Ten Books you can't live without

As part of World Book Day's tenth birthday celebrations. Plymouth City Council staff have chosen below and let us know your ten books by emailing them to cityinfo@plymouth.gov.uk.

Find the books in your library using the library catalogue.

---

A Man In Full - Tom Wolfe

Mother's Milk - Edward St. Aubyn

Ruined City - Nevil Shute

A Child Possessed - R.C. Hutchinson

March The Ninth - R.C. Hutchinson

The Boy in Striped Pajamas - John Boyne

Monsignor Quixote - Graham Greene

The Reader - Bernhard Schlink

The Long Walk - Slavimir Rawicz

English Passengers - Matthew Kneale

Paul, Community Services

---

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Emma - Jane Austen

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

War and Peace - Tolstoy

Middlemarch - George Elliot

Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky

Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Dirk Gentlys Detective Agency/The long dark tea-time of the soul - Douglas Adams

Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott

Claire, Food Safety Officer

---

Jingo - Terry Pratchett

Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

Morbid Taste for Bones (Cadfael) - Ellis Peters

Sabriel - Garth Nix

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Eagle Strike - Anthony Horowitz

How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff

Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett

Someone to Run with - David Grossman

Liz, Schools Library Service

---

Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger

The Outsider - Albert Camus

Collected Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges

The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler

The Left hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin

Do Androids Dream of electric sheep? - Philip K. Dick

Red Harvest - Dashiel Hammet

Existentialism and Humanism - John Paul Sartre

The Stars my Destination - Alfred Bester

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Simon, Housing

---

Silas Marner - George Eliot

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

The Bible, New English translation

Complete works of Shakespeare

Anthology of English poetry

Anthology of American poetry

Master Olof - August Strindberg

The Woman from the Sea - Henrik Ibsen

Heartburn - Nora Ephron

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Susan, Central Library

---

The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

Lorna Doone - RD Blackmore

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

The King's Fifth - Scott O'Dell

Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman

The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman

The New Moon with the Old - Dodie Smith

Pippa, Lending Library

---

Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban

The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing

Cancer Ward - Alexander Solzenitsyn

The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins

Water Music - T. Coraghesson Boyle

Solaris - Stanislaw Lem

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

The Great Shark Hunt - Hunter S Thompson

The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass

Mark, Community Services

---

Dune - Frank Herbert

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

I Claudius - Robert Graves

Rumpole of the Bailey - John Mortimore

The Journeyer - Gary Jennings

The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John le Carre

Unfolding Our Universe - Ian Nicholson

Ghost Force - Patrick Robinson

Strong Medicine - Arthur Hailey

Ross, Corporate Resources

---

The Great Dune Trilogy - Frank Herbert

Legends of Dune Series - Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert

Prelude to Dune Series - Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson

Island and Empire Series - Jonathan Wylie

Scarecrow Trilogy - Matthew Reilly

Temple - Matthew Reilly

The Jerle Shannara Trilogy - Terry Brooks

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkein

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Susie, Plymouth 2020

---

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

City of Golden Shadow - Tad Williams

Eon - Greg Bear

Songs of Earth and Power - Greg Bear

White Light - Rudy Rucker

Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold - Terry Brooks

Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan

Stanton, Community Services

---

The Moon's a Balloon - David Niven

Bridges of Madison County - Robert Waller

Wild Swans - Jung Chang

The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillapa Gregory

The Stand - Stephen King

The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Penman

River God - Wilbur Smith

Roots - Alex Hayley

Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra

Still Thinking About You - Adele Parks

Roxanne, Plympton Library

---

Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

Bravo Two Zero - Andy McKnab

Immediate Action - Andy McKnab

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

Deception Point - Dan Brown

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickins

The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

Danny, Champion of the World - Roald Dahl

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Michael, Youth Offending Team

---

Widow for a Day - John Irving

Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein

Intimacy - Hanif Kureshi

The Worst Journey in the World - Cherry-Garrard

David Evans, Community Services

---

The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

The Song of Bernadette

Mary, called Magdalene - Margaret George

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

Forever Amber - Kathleen Winsor

The Robe - Lloyd C. Douglas

Ben-Hur - General Lew Wallace

What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graham

Maria, Development

---

Autobiography Of Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash

Solo - Pen Hadow

Death Knell - Nicholas Wilde

Wars Against Saddam - John Simpson

A Briefer History Of Time - Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow

War Junkie - Jon Steele

Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser

Matilda - Roald Dahl

Lost World - Michael Crichton

The World According To Clarkson - Jeremy Clarkson

Matt, ISD Helpdesk

---

Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Junkie - William Burroughs

Animal Farm - George Orwell

Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

Mountains of Madness - HP Lovecraft

Black Corridor - Michael Moorcock

Beowulf - Unknown

Time Machine - HG Wells

The Trial - Franz Kafka

Dean, Housing

---

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson

Empire of The Sun - JG Ballard

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Bonfire of The Vanities - Thomas Wolfe

On The Road - Jack Kerouac

Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

Gravitys Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis

Regeneration - Pat Barker

Aaron, Print and Document Services

---

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Bloodtide - Melvin Burgess

Longitude - Dava Sobel

The Swish of the Curtain - Pamela Brown

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Peter Pan - J M Barrie

Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman

The Woman in Black - Susan Hill

Pam, Central Library

---

Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

Wild Swans - Jung Chang

Chase the Wind - EV Thompson

A Girl called Thursday - Lilian Harry

Last Train to Lime Street - Joan Jonker

Billy - Pamela Stephenson

Tuppence to Cross the Mersey - Helen Forrester

Mustn't Grumble - Terry Wogan

Our Betty - Liz Smith

Himalaya - Michael Palin

Maureen, Central Library

---

The Borrowers - Mary Norton

Tom's Midnight Garden - Phillipa Pearce

Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Colour Purple - Alice Walker

Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

Little Locksmith - Katherine Hathaway

Frost in May - Antonia White

Bleak House - Charles Dickens

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

My Sister's Keeper - Jodie Picoult

Julie, Central Library

---

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Another Life - Sara Macdonald

The Big White Book With Almost Nothing In It - Mike Brownlow

Armorel of Lyonesse - Waltar Besant

The Ashgrove - Diney Costello

Midnight Is A Lonely Place - Barbara Erskine

Culture and Society in Britain 1850 to 1890 - John Golby(Ed)

The Isles of Scilly - Jessie Mothersole

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Hope - Lesley Pearse

Kathryn, St Budeaux Library

---

Gone with the wind - Margaret Mitchell

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson

Thornbirds - Colleen Mccullough

King Rat - James Clavell

Birdsong - Sebastion Faulks

Nun's story - Kathryn Hulme

First Casualty - Ben Elton

Goodbye, Mr.Chips - James Hilton

Mari, Central Library

---

The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson

The complete 'Far Side' - Gary Larson

To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee

Trust No One - Harlan Coben

Carrie - Stephen King

Guards, Guards - Terry Pratchett

On the Beach - Nevil Shute

What Katy Did/at school/did next - Susan Coolidge

Harry Potter (all titles!) - J K Rowling

Whitakers Almanack

Caroline, Central Library

---

I Lost it at the Movies - Pauline Kael

Moominsummer madness - Tove Jansson

The Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man - Thomas Mann

Anna Karenina - L.N. Tolstoy

The Cry of the Owl - Patricia Highsmith

The Mouse and His Child - Russell Hoban

Lily's Purple Plastic Purse - Kevin Menkes

A Confederate General from Big Sur - Richard Brautigan

English Passengers - Matthew Kneale

Deux Anglaises et le Continent - Henri Pierre Roche

Julia, Young Peoples Services

---

English Passengers - Matthew Kneale

Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton

Tales of the City - Armistead Maupin

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Lucia Rising - EF Benson

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

Photographs 1970 to 1990 - Annie Leibovitz

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

The Stand - Stephen King

Sue, Reader Development

---

To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee

Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

The Red Pony - John Steinbeck

Swish of the Curtain - Pamela Brown

Une Vie - Guy de Maupassant

Passage to India - EM Forster

The Owl Service - Alan Garner

Pincher Martin - William Golding

One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzenitsyn

Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton

Ann, Information Services

---

The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber

Jennings and Derbyshire - Anthony Buckeridge

What a Carve Up! - Jonathan Coe

The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 - Friedrich Engels

Birdman - Mo Hayder

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell

From Here to Eternity/The Thin Red Line/Whistle - James Jones

All Quiet On the Western Front - Erich Remarque

Karl Marx: A Life - Francis Wheen

Shaun, Information Services

---

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud - Ben Sherwood

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

Working Wonders - Jenny Colgan

The Wind and the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

Nothing But Blue Skies - Tom Holt

How to Stop a Train With One Finger - David Henry Wilson

The Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes

Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie

Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee - Meera Syal

Emma, Young Peoples Services

---

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

The Magus - John Fowles

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier

Penmarric - Susan Howatch

Fair Stood the Wind for France - H E Bates

The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough

Bridget Jones Diary - Helen Fielding

The Starbridge Novels - Susan Howatch

Anne, Library Support

---

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - JRR Tolkien

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C S Lewis

The Good Companions - J B Priestley

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens

Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis

The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham

Turtle Diary - Russell Hoban

The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins

Andrew, Music and Drama Library

---

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Chocolate - Joanne Harris

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Five Quarters of the Orange - Joanne Harris

Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens

Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

Little Women/Good Wives - Louisa M. Alcott

Sue, Eggbuckland Library

---

White City Blue - Tim Lott

Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby

The Van - Roddy Doyle

English Passengers - Matthew Kneale

Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic - Mark Beaman and Steve Madge

Tinker and Tanker and the Knights of the  Round Table - Richard Scarry

Joseph Andrews - Henry Fielding

Doghouse Roses - Steve Earle

Twenty-one Stories - Graham Greene

The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell

Darrell, Library Support

---

The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

London A to Z, Original Geographers black and white edition

Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee

Blessed - George Best

Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley

An Equal Music - Vikram Seth

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver

English Passengers - Matthew Kneale

Margrave of the Marshes - John Peel

Tony, Library Support

---

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

Marrying the Mistress - Joanna Trollope

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Down all my Days - Christie Brown

Out of my Mind - Jane Lapotaire

Strumpet City - James Plunkett

The Courtyard - Marcia Willett

Elizabeth: The Queen Mother - Hugo Vickers

The Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank

Some Other Rainbow - Jill Morrell

Thelma, Music and Drama Library

---

Zemindar - Valerie Fitzgerald

Life of Pi - Yann Martell

Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

Trade Wind - MM Kaye

Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos

Degree of Guilt - Richard North Patterson

The Silver Pigs - Lindsey Davis

Dialogues of the Dead - Reginald Hill

Cross Stitch - Diana Gabaldon

Ross Poldark - Winston Graham

Jill, Plympton Library

---

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Magic Kingdom for sale/sold - Terry Brooks

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Eregon - Christoper Paolini

Armageddon: The Musical - Robert Rankin

Maskerade - Terry Pratchett

The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkein

Duncton Wood - William Horwood

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J K Rowling

Flying Dutch - Tom Holt

Charlie, Library Support

---

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

The Go-Between - L P Hartley

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich

Howard's End - E M Forster

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

Small Island - Andrea Levy

Lorna Doone - R D Blackmore

Sick Puppy - Carl Hiaasen

Sue, Southway Library

---

Slaughterhouse five - Kurt Vonnegut

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

The Wind Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murukami

The Collected Calvin and Hobbes

The World According to Garp - John Irving

Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

White Noise - Don DeLillo

Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes

Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

Claire, Information Services

---

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan

Little Women - L Alcott

Scarlet Feathers - Maeve Binchy

An Act of Peace - Ann Widdecome

Blood Sisters - B and S Keating

Scaredy Cat - Mark Billingham

Tokyo - Mo Hayder

The Rosary Girls - Richard Montanari

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

Vanessa, Southway Library

---

Enduring Love - Ian McEwan

Bleak House - Charles Dickens

Selected Poems - S T Coleridge

The French Lieutenant's Woman - J Fowles

Chronicles of Narnia - C S Lewis

Moonfleet - J Meade Falkner

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - Angela Carter

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall - Spike Milligan

About A Boy - Nick Hornby

Helen, Southway Library

---

It's not about the Bike - Lance Armstrong

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

Girls' Night Out - Kathy Lette

The Langoliers - Stephen King

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

Forget you had a Daughter - Susan Gregory

The World of Karl Pilkington - Karl Pilkington, Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais

The Girls Book: How to be the best at everything - Juliana Foster

Tracey, Central Library

[Back to top ]