You'll notice that, with the exception of the number one slot, this top 10 isn't numbered. Jeremy refused to put the books in order of preference, and insists that the order they're listed in is meaningless. He didn't hesitate, though, to name The Quincunx as his all-time favourite ("though that's not necessarily permanent," he added). He did tell us how the books were chosen for inclusion. "It's a simple formula," he said. "I thought about the number of times I've read a particular book, and then added the likelihood that I'll read it again. Plus, I allowed for things like artistic whatnot and literary howsyerfather. Easy." Well, who are we to question the critical judgement of Jeremy Dronfield?  1. THE QUINCUNX by Charles Palliser
The Quincunx took 13 years to write and is around half a million words long. It tells the story of John Mellamphy's quest to prove his right to the great Huffam inheritance, and evade the clutches of his enemies, who all desire the estate for themselves. "The most intricately plotted, convincingly realised novel I've ever read," says Jeremy. "It swallowed me whole first time round, and it took me six or seven enthralled reads to master all the by-ways and undercurrents of the plot, which (quite deliberately and very much to its credit) never entirely resolves itself. There are hundreds of characters, and even the most fleeting of them is drawn in three dimensions. The Quincunx is the closest thing to a perfect novel I've ever found."  The FLASHMAN Series by George Macdonald Fraser
The life and adventures of Harry Flashman, the infamous bully of "Tom Brown's Schoodays". Why Jeremy likes it: "Fraser's Flashman is one of the all-time great characters of English literature. He outshines Sherlock Holmes for charisma and the circumstantial detail that makes up his fictional world. Flashman is so solidly drawn, he makes an almost tangible impression on the real history of the nineteenth century. If you don't fancy reading the whole series, at least read his Indian Mutiny adventure, 'Flashman in the Great Game', which stands highest among all the books as a novel in its own right."  THE LORD OF THE RINGS by JRR Tolkien
"Needs no recommendation from me," says Jeremy. "I first read it aged 12, and have done the quest on average once a year ever since."  THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
Jeremy went through a "major Steinbeck readathon" in his late teens, and this is the book that has stuck with him. "Whenever I 'write American' I'm essentially writing Steinbeck. Hugely influential."  THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by JD Salinger
In my opinion (Sal speaking), anybody who doesn't like The Catcher In The Rye has no soul, so I was glad to see it in Jeremy's list. "The first time I read this, I was the same age as Holden Caulfield. If ever I felt 'That's me, there on the page,' it was with this book. I'm not so sure now. I think Holden is as big a phony as any of the characters he derides, and I think Salinger knows it."  STEPHEN BIESTY'S INCREDIBLE CROSS-SECTIONS by Stephen Biesty
This one surprised us a bit. "I loved intricate cutaway drawings when I was a kid. I used to spend hours studying them. If Biesty had existed back then, I'd probably never have left my bedroom. His 'Man-O-War' and 'Castle' volumes are ecstatically gorgeous."  BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM by Kate Atkinson
This seems like a bit of a girls' book to us, so we were surprised Jeremy put it in his Top 10. He explained why: "A wonderful story told in an echanting way. There are plenty of writers I admire, and any number I've been influenced by. Kate Atkinson, though, is the only one whose near-magical skills with English prose I would slit throats to possess as my own." THE BEST OF RING LARDNER by Ring Lardner "Talk about literary influence. Lardner is name-checked in The Catcher In The Rye - read a few of his short stories (he never wrote a novel) and you'll realise that Salinger's vernacular prose style, which is popularly thought of as seminal, was lifted wholesale from Lardner. Very funny too."  PERFUME by Patrick Süskind
"Weird, disturbing, and with a fascinating premise. I've read this over and over, and never tire of it." This was Skite's favourite out of the whole list, which tells you something about his mind. THE SHORT STORIES OF HG WELLS by HG Wells "Most people think of Wells as a sci-fi writer avant-la-lettre, but he was at his best as an author of small, fantastical conceits, such as The Truth About Pyecraft and The Man Who Could Work Miracles. EM Forster worked up similar little fantasies in his short stories, though never with Wells' range of imagination. In my own modest way, The Alchemist's Apprentice began life as an attempt to revive this kind of storytelling." | 
