What book do you wish you had written?

I wish I'd written Right Ho Jeeves - you measure a book by what it is intended to achieve, and this book is the closest match ever of what was intended and what resulted, I wouldn't change a word in it. Other than that, probably The Man who was Thursday by G K Chesterton, because there's nothing else like it and never will be, a whimsical, philosophical rattling yarn. The Big Sleep would have been a good one to write too, another book that changed the landscape of the genre. Anyone who writes crime fiction now has to walk somewhere between Christie and Chandler.

behind the scenes at the museum

'Setting Free The Bears', by John Irving

For history - the new Berlin book For love - Pride and Prejudice/Of love and other demons For creative genius - 100 years of solitude For a biography - Of Human Bondage For poetry - Liz Lochhead or Emily Dickinson For children - Tulku or Black Hearts in Battersea For creating a world that is so real you know your way around the main cities - any Terry Pratchett Discworld novel For wealth - Harry Potter (don't kill me, please) Mainly, though, I would love to be able to write like Marquez. He is, in my mind, able to create such strong, vivid characters that you feel as though you could know them and recognise them on a street. His storylines are varied with so many twists along the way, his personalities varied and interesting and his books compelling. Also because I have never read anyone who writes like him - he is unique.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Although I would've wanted it published while I was still alive.

Miss Smilia's Feeling For Snow - Peter Hoeg: for one of the the most fascinating and complex female characters every created. King Lear - Shakey: Anything that contains a line like 'Jesters do oft prove prophets' has my vote. I Am David - Anne Holm: For Children. For Ever. The Siege - Helen Dunmore: Lyrical, grief-inducing, lingering. The Bible - Various: good stories, whatever your beliefs and sales are still good, I believe.....

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, because it reminded me so much of my own life. It conveys the youthful arrogance and 'us against the world' feeling that I think I've lost with age :0( As well as relating to the specifics of the life of a child responsible for a child, it encapsualted a whole emotional era for me. Not sure I'll ever be brave (or talented) enough to express my own life so well.

What an interesting collection of titles, a lot of which I've not come across before. I'll be looking up some of these in the near future, since they come with such top notch ratings. Honestly, you think you're well read, and then...Keep 'em coming! P.S. Cougar, I don't think that there's anyone putting fingers to keyboard that wouldn't mind a slice of J.K's stash. I personally have nothing against the idea of a fabulously wealthy me.

The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger. Changed my view of fiction writing completely.

Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck Absolute Beginners: Colin Maclinnes The Peculiar Memoirs of Thomas Penman: Bruce Robinson All the Pretty Horses: Cormac McCarthey Postcards: E Annie Proulx Ralph

Any Sherlock Holmes story by A. Conan Doyle "The Spire" by William Golding "Skimming Stones" by Liana Hemmett "Planting a Sequoia" by Dana Goia "March Calf" by Ted Hughes - willingly commit murder to have written that But if I had to make one choice it would be the utterly brilliant biography of Eleanor Marx by Yvonne Kapp (Vol 1 "Eleanor Marx: Family Life", Vol 2 "Eleanor Marx: the Crowded Years). If these books are not magical literature as well as stunning historical discourse, then I'm Pim Forteyn. God I wish I had written them.

If it had to be a short story, it would be either :- The Absence of Mister Glass by G K Chesterton (this is undoubtedly the best piece of literary sleight-of-hand ever, and not only a clever mystery but a deeply satisfying solution. ) or Fat by Raymond Carver - I must have read it sixty times and every time I come away feeling something slightly different about it.

This would be a long list, but for starters: Borderliners by Peter Hoeg and a short story by Bukowski called "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town." One of the best story titles of all time is Bukowski's story "Great Poets Die in Steaming Pots of S.H.I.T."

Hmmm.. how about the complete works of Willaim Shakespeare :op Seriously.... 'Anthills of the Savannah' or 'A Man of the People' by Chinua Achebe would be a good start (though it might require me coming from Nigeria). 'The Lord of The Rings' so I could write fantasy without being unoriginal :o) 'The Waste Land' by T.S Eliot, leave it unpublished then sue T.S Eliot when he publishes it, to stop it going to print. That way, history would be altered, and my fellow students would have been spared 3-5 lectures and an exam of the bloody thing (I'm a true altruist). Oh, and any poem of Simon Armitage.

Good to see you're a fellow Borderliners fan Justyn. It's one of my favourite books but it seems to be less well known than Hoeg's other stuff.

The Kama Sutra. just think of the research.

"Stranger In A Strange Land" because then I would have put in a clause that says if the book is ever filmed, it must follow the story EXACTLY and not change stuff just to make it more commercial. And "The Time Machine" as I think I would given the characters names. iceman

My favorite book by far is "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Herman Hesse. It's basically just an exploration of life and art. Hesse really laboured on that book. All of the details match each other. The characters are so real they seem alive when you read the book. I think it's one of the greatest masterpieces ever written but it's received very little attention. Hesse is a famous author but "Narcissus and Goldmund is one of his most obscure books. Pity.

Just finished reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and A Better Place by K.J. Stevens. It's been a while since I've been able to get back into reading, but now that I have time, I have been reading a lot. A Prayer for Owen Meany had, of course, great character. What I liked best was that my feelings for the characters changed over the course of the book. In A Better Place, I don't ever remember being so pulled into stories before. It is a collection of short stories and I haven't heard of the writer until a friend recommended him but boy, I was pleasantly surprised. If anyone has any comments please feel free to email me or post away! tom - tomjenkins66@yahoo.com

Great Gatsby Catch-22 Slaughterhouse Five The trial Buddenbrooks Anna Karenina Crime and Punishment Herzog The Magus and on and on