Philip Pullman Recommends …

British bookselling chain Waterstone's recently asked Philip Pullman, author of the greatly acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy (Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) to choose 40 books, in any genre, that he treasures. The resulting list is eclectic and working your way through them would make a great project if you need a reading kickstart.

Pullman's choices take in classics (Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil, Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann), oddities (The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft, A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay), poetry (Complete Poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke), non-fiction (The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, Venice for Pleasure by JG Links), thrillers (The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Kolymysky Heights by Lionel Davidson) and children's books (We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome, The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay - of which Pullman says, "The best thing yet to come out of Australia, and that includes Shane Warne. If anyone can read this without laughing, heaven help them.")

Sure, the list has been generated at the behest of a retailer keen to flog product, but thanks to Pullman's restless intelligence it stands on its own merits as an intriguing compilation that offers discoveries for even widely read booklovers. Click here for more.

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