MY SIX BEST BOOKS

GYLES BRANDRETH, 67, is a former Conservative MP who appears on Countdown and Just A Minute. He has written fictional Oscar Wilde mysteries, puzzle books and a biography of John Gielgud. His latest book Word Play is out this week. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Penguin Classics, £ 8.99 This is the ultimate comfort read. Holmes and Watson just seem so real.

I was brought up in Baker Street overlooking the site of 221b and I don’t think my head has ever left 1890s London. COMPLETE WORKS OF OSCAR WILDE

by Oscar Wilde

Collins, £ 14.99 Wilde’s use of language is glorious. This collection includes his stories, poems and plays. I went to Bedales school and its founder had been there when Wilde’s son was there, so I knew a man who knew Oscar Wilde.

VANITY FAIR

by William Makepeace Thackeray

Vintage Classics, £ 7.99 I love the heroine Becky Sharp who is a feisty character. It’s a great, sweeping novel and good to read on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, which features in it. THE DIARIES OF SAMUEL PEPYS

by Samuel Pepys

Penguin, £ 18.99 I have kept a diary since 1959 so I understand the discipline. The great thing about Pepys’s diary is that there was no eye for publication.

I love his humanity and it’s a fascinating period. I’ve been reading it out loud to my wife for 48 years and we have not got beyond volume two of the 10 because she falls asleep. OXFORD DICTIONARY OF HUMOROUS QUOTATIONS

by Ned Sherrin

OUP, £ 10.99 Wherever you flick this open, there’s a chuckle to be had. I have several copies: by the bed, in the car and on my desk.

One of my favourite lines is from Saki: “The cook was a good cook, as cooks go; and as cooks go she went.”

CODE BLACK

by Mark Evans

Coronet, £ 18.99 This is so unlike a book I would normally read but I saw it serialised and it’s gripping.

A soldier writes about his time in Afghanistan and the reality of war seems unchanged from the Napoleonic Wars: the confusion, the mistakes, the camaraderie. I haven’t been so moved by a book in a long time.

CAROLINE REES