Conn Iggulden Recommends

Please feel free to email me to suggest others, but these are the ones who have stolen afternoons out of my life, who have kept me up till dawn reading their words. These are my favourite authors and I owe them more than they will ever know.

1. James Clavell’s ‘Tai-Pan’
Possibly the greatest rattling tale of them all in a single book.

2. Bernard Cornwell
Including Harlequin, Vagabond and Heretic.

3. George MacDonald Fraser
The Flashman books. One of the few series I can read again and again and never tire of them.

4. Patrick O’Brian
None better…

5. David Gemmell
Anything he’s ever written. Genius. I could put him higher up the list.

6. CS Forester’s Hornblower Books
What a fascinating character! With Flashman, these are the ones that made me want to write historical fiction.

7. Wilbur Smith’s Courtney Series
Ten wonderful books, every one different. A master.

8. Peter F. Hamilton
The grandest of science fiction. Hamilton sets up a horrific problem for himself in the first two – one I thought he could never end satisfactorily. He managed it, though. Superb.

9. Stephen King’s ‘Cujo’ and ‘The Dead Zone’
You’ll be pressed to find more fascinating characters from any author.

10. David Feintuch’s Challenger series

Hornblower in space and I loved every minute of it. I read most of these on a tall ship in the Pacific and still remember the creaking bunk and sails whenever I open them.

11. Isaac Asimov
No need to explain. Master Taleteller.

12. Raymond Feist’s RiftWar Series
My favourite fantasy novels. The trilogy he wrote with Janny Wurts is the cream.

13. Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders
Fantastic fantasy sequence and one that had me frothing to read the ending.

14. ‘Yes Minister’ – Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay
The written form is wonderful – better than the series and that’s saying something. These are far more than just scripts.

15. Terry Pratchett
Sheer nostalgia. I think the series is getting better and better and it does make me laugh.

16. Orson Scott Card
The only Mormon author in this list, as far as I know. Wonderful short stories, in particular and ‘Ender’s Game’ is a classic.

17. Jeffrey Archers ‘As the Crow Flies’
A fantastic story, well told.

18. Dick Francis
I still read and re-read these. For sheer pleasure, they have to be in this list. Cracking tales.

19. Peter Pook
After Jerome K. Jerome, the funniest writer I have ever read.

20. Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three Men in a Boat’
The funniest book ever written. Absolutely perfect.