If you like fantasy, then read The Gormenghast Triology by Mervyn Peake and the collection of short stories by the American writer, Harlan Ellison, called Strange Wine. A much underrated novelist is Martha Gellhorn so try and get her collected novellas. Anything by Hardy, whether it is a novel, a collection of short stories, or his poetry. If you are a man, then you have to read "For Whom The Bell Tolls": If you are a woman, then read "Wuthering Heights."

If you like history, then "The Making of the English Working Class" by EP Thompson and the biography of Cromwell by Antonia Frasier. Avoid anything by Alison Weir(d)!