Well, I've narrowed it down to 6 books, I just couldn't bare to knock one of these off. I had to discard Charlie and the chocolate factory and Wind in the Willows, which was quite traumatic, but here are the final 6. Millroy The Magician by Paul Theroux. A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving. The grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The Ragged Trousered Philanthopist by Robert Tressell. Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth. A Man In Full by Tom Wolfe. Shell.