25 February 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Anthony Burgess – which is all the excuse we need to dedicate a month to him here on the Reading group.

Burgess was a writer of unusual talent, and unusual opinions. His non-conformity, his brutal humour and his linguistic verve made for wonderful books, while his Conservatism and hatred of taxes ensured he remained an outsider in leftwing literary circles. This was no more obvious than when he went into exile to tour Europe and to write his novels in the back of a Bedford van, and thus provide an inescapable metaphor for his persistent refusal to take the obvious road.

Talking of obvious, the natural choice to read this month has to be A Clockwork Orange: a magnificent, strange, inventive and hugely entertaining novel with lashings of the old ultraviolence and gorgeosity. But if you don’t fancy a month of my attempts to write in Nadsat, there are many more novels to choose from. And many of them deserve just as much attention as Alex and his Droogs.

We could choose his late masterpiece Earthly Powers, or one of the four books of his Enderby Quartet, or any one of the 30-odd novels he produced in his 40 year career – not to mention his poetry and non-fiction. You can see a full list here – and mighty impressive it is too. To nominate a book, just name your preferred title in the comments below and I’ll come back in a few days to tot up the votes. Oh bliss, bliss and heaven.