As a last hoorah in the College library, my lovely students compiled a list of books that the "differently insane" should read nbefore they die. There was considerable discussion about whether we were nerds or geeks but the label "differently insane" proved a winner!
So here it is:

1.    The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

2.    Fullmetal Alchemist (series) by Hiromu Arakawa

3.    Foundation (series) by Isaac Asimov

4.    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

5.    Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

6.    Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

7.    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

8.    Thomas the Tank Engine by W. Awdry

9.    The Culture (series) by Iain M. Banks

10. The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop

11. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

12. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

13. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

14. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

15. Inception by Dan Brown

16. The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

17. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

18. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

19. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

20. Anything by Jasper Fforde

21. QI: The Book of General Ignorance by Stephen Fry, John Lloyd and John Mitchinson

22. Sandman (series) by Neil Gaiman

23. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

24. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

25. Dune by Frank Herbert

26. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

27. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

28. Anything by Stephen King

29. Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr

30. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

31. How Not to Write a Novel by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman

32. Scott Pilgrim (series) by Brian Lee O’Malley

33. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

34. Discworld (series) by Terry Pratchett

35. His Dark Materials (series) by Philip Pullman

36. (un)arranged Marriage by Bali Rai

37. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

38. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling

39. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

40. Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

41. Edge Chronicles (series) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

42. Dracula by Bram Stoker

43. A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma

44. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

45. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

46. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

47. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

48. Lemming the Lemming and the Tube of Doom (unpublished) by Max

49. The Bible

50. A Dictionary in every language