To get Book Club going, my favourite book is The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary. It was published as Falling Through Space in the US. I first read it at Oxford, and Hillary’s story begins during his time at Oxford immediately before WWII. He is determined to become a fighter pilot, which he sees as fighting like the knights of old, man against man. His friends at Oxford include a pacifist, soon to be army and navy officers, and fellow members of the University Air Squadron. We fly with Hillary through his basic training and into the Battle of Britain, flying a Spitfire. Having achieved a few kills he is shot down and badly burnt. He undergoes months of plastic surgery before starting to fly again. This time in a Blenheim rather than a Spitfire. It is an autobiography, but Hillary doesn’t let truth get in the way of writing a masterpiece. He paints himself as a man set apart from humanity, and the payoff comes when he is dragged back into it.