Daniel Radcliffe has amazon.com to thank for introducing him to this satirical novel about Stalinist Russia, which Bulgakov wrote in secret from 1928 until just before his death in 1940, and which was finally published 26 years later.

"This is one of the funniest books I've ever read, which is the main reason I recommend it to people," says Daniel Radcliffe, who was given Thompson's drug-fueled, madcap rumination on American culture in the 1960s as a 15th birthday present by a friend on the Potter set.

This hefty masterpiece about the plight of French miners in the 1860s "made me realize that when books are considered 'classics,' most of the time they're actually very readable and exciting," Daniel Radcliffe says.

This collection of short stories by a master of magical realism "blew my mind," says Daniel Radcliffe. "When I read a good book, I sometimes like to think I might be capable of writing something similar, but never, in my wildest dreams, could I write anything that approaches the level of cleverness and intellect and madness of Borges. I don't think anyone could."

"I read this on vacation in Australia when I was 15," says Daniel Radcliffe, who credits the Northern Irish band the Divine Comedy with getting him hooked on Rushdie's allegorical novel about the independence and partition of India and its aftermath.

Hemingway's last major work of fiction, the epic tale of a luckless fisherman and his exhausting struggle to reel in a giant marlin, "is just a beautiful story, simply told," Daniel Radcliffe says.

"Harrison is the best British poet of the second half of the 20th century," says Daniel Radcliffe. "He writes about class, love, Britain, and it's all just brilliant."