The Library

Once in the beau monde, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, it rather goes to his head.

Christie wrote two masterpieces (in particular; she wrote many masterpieces, many great books, many good books, and some not-particularly outstanding books: she wrote a lot). I speak of Murder on the Orient Express, and And Then There Were None.

It's the rare non-fiction work that I've happily returned to time and time again, as (a) it's hilarious, and (b) eventually one forgets exactly what went horribly wrong with Grind, or Juno, so it's a bit like reading it again for the first time.

Figures of Earth was the first Cabell novel I ever read, and it's still my favourite, and is considered by most to be one of his best. I read it at thirteen years of age, and was astonished at how funny, moving, clever, and (especially) how different it felt from the many Tolkien imitations.