ten books that changed my life

1. The Bible - everything from the emotions in the Psalms to the story and teachings of Jesus.
2. The Lord of the Rings - for its scale and being under 5' I love the idea of a hobbit being a hero.
3. Pride and Prejudice - for introducing me to wit in literature in the first place.
4. Uncle Fred Flits By - to represent all of P.G. Wodehouse's wonderful writings.
5. Reaper Man - to represent the much missed Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
6. To kill a Mockingbird - I remember the anger that the injustice in this novel roused in me.
7. Day of the Triffids - Thanks to my English teacher, I discovered the joys of sci-fi.
8. Oliver Twist - I first saw the Alec Guinness version, then read the book.  Both are superb.
9. The Daughter of Time - is the only novel to change my mind about the identity of a murderer.
10. Murder on the Orient Express - My favourite Christie novel and an interesting dilemma.

It is just as well Desert Island Discs gets their castaways to take records.  I'd never get my book list down to 8.  I can't leave any of the above off the list (though having the Bible, along with Shakespeare, already there helps reduce the dilemma to getting rid of one book rather than two).