Top ten adventure classics

Charlie Fletcher is the author of the internationally acclaimed Stoneheart trilogy. He also writes for film, television and as a newspaper columnist.

He named ten favorite adventure classics for the Guardian, including:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

As a teenager I fell in love with Scout Finch at first read and have felt that way ever since. The book actually made me a bit less of a jerk because it provoked and seduced me into seeing the world through other people's eyes – the first time I remember a story doing that to me. As a father I often wish I could be more like Atticus Finch, an ambition I fail miserably to come close to achieving. You can't read this book and not be outraged by injustice and prejudice, nor can you fail to understand both sides of the court-case it swings around. If Tintin was my gateway into children's books, this was the portal into adult reading. It made me grow up.

Read about two more novels on the list.

To Kill a Mockingbird made Sheila Bair's 6 favorite books list, Kathryn Erskine's top ten list of first person narratives, Julia Donaldson's six best books list, TIME magazine's top 10 list of books you were forced to read in school, John Mullan's list of ten of the best lawyers in literature, John Cusack's list of books that made a difference to him, Lisa Scottoline's top ten list of books about justice, and Luke Leitch's list of ten literary one-hit wonders. It is one of Sanjeev Bhaskar's six best books and one of Alexandra Styron's five best stories of fathers and daughters.

--Marshal Zeringue