No, it’s not science, but I’ve been meaning for a while to put up a short list of fiction that I’ve enjoyed and want to recommend.

The Raj Quartet (1966-1975) by Paul Scott.  This, I think, is the greatest semi-obscure work of English-language fiction of the 20th century.  It’s a series of four novels, and a sequel (Staying On, 1977), about the end of the British occupation of India.  Like A Passage to India, its centerpiece is a purported case of rape, limning the ambiguous and difficult relationship between India and Britain. You may have seen the BBC television adaptation, The Jewel in the Crown (also the title of one of the novels). If you’re a fan of luscious Fitzgeraldian prose and finely-woven plot, this is for you.   Staying On won the 1977 Booker Prize. This is a great book to take on a long trip.

Life of Pi (2001) by Yann Martel.  Another Booker winner (2002), it’s a must-read if you love animals, biology, and fiction.  I can’t say too much about this one because I’m recommending it as summer reading in an upcoming issue of Nature. You won’t be disappointed.

Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy.  This “Western” (and I use the term loosely), set in the mid-19th century, is the story of a young runaway who joins a gang of Indian hunters, and their bloody travels along the Texas border.  It’s dense and violent, and the prose is hypnotic. When you open a McCarthy book, you are immediately thrust into a unique and mesmerising world that you’ll either love or hate.  McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, three novels written later (and also set in Texas/Mexico), are nearly but not quite as good as Blood Meridian.

Anything by Geoff Dyer, a writer whom I recently discovered. Dyer is a fantastic writer with an amazing range. His jazz/fact/fiction novel, But Beautiful, is a must if you love jazz, and his small collection of reviews and other nonfiction, Anglo-English Attitudes: Essays, Reviews, Misadventures, is a good introduction to his breadth.