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Jeffrey Archer

Author

The Thirty-Nine Steps

John Buchan

Still the master at telling a simple story, so it's 'unputdownable'; the sort of book that even snobby critics have to admit is a good read.

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Zadie Smith

Author

Pnin

Vladimir Nabokov

A gorgeous, hilarious, humane book that uncovers the reality of a man's life in sly, piecemeal fashion. I think it's my favourite novel.

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Peter Purves

TV presenter and actor

The Iliad

Homer

The Iliad is amongst my favourite books. Not, I hasted to add, in the original Greek, but in the Penguin modern translations.

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Jilly Cooper

Novelist

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

An incredibly funny, very upmarket love story with an enchanting heroine and the perfect romantic hero: a tartar with a heart of gold.

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Boris Johnson

Mayor of London

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy

When Hillary reached the top of Everest, I believe he said to Tenzing, 'We knocked the bastard off.' I remember saying much the same when I finished War and Peace.

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