Dear Alejandrá, Eva and Marat,

I read somewhere that between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four our brains are super-receptive, and that it is the period when we form acutely close attachments to things – songs, books, films, paintings etc. – that will be the guiding lights that lead us through the rest of our lives. So, Alejandrá, Eva and Marat, you are all in those bright and shining years where you should absorb as much art as possible. Drink it up, while the thrill is there, whenever and wherever you can, because as the years go on, that flush of wonder may subside, as we direct our attention to our own work.

As with the other lists I have posted here on The Red Hand Files, this is in no way definitive and by no means reflects the ‘best’ books I have read, nor are these necessarily the greatest books by the particular author I have chosen, but here are a dozen books of fiction that I love. Most of them I read when I was a quite young, and each of them introduced me to worlds that were strange and fascinating and new. I hope you like them.

Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi

Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy

The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald

Lolita Vladimir Nabokov

As I Lay Dying William Faulkner

Train Dreams Denis Johnson

Moby Dick Herman Melville

Coming Through Slaughter Michael Ondaatje

Wise Blood Flannery O’Connor

Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy

The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas

Much love, Nick