13. CATCH 22 Joseph Heller

“There was only one catch, and that was Catch-22”. So discovers US airman Yossarian, stationed on a Mediterranean island during World War Two. Determined to survive the combat, he tries to avoid flying further missions only to find the war machine thwarts his efforts. The blackest of satires, it’s wildly inventive and extremely funny – and coined the phrase that has come to describe those all too familiar situations.