From her list of ten favorite classical works, as told to the Guardian:
Read about the other entries on the list.The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
Is it cheating to include them both? The first is Homer's action-packed and psychologically acute paean to a single man's rage. The second is the tumultuous journey of a war veteran struggling to get home to his family. Both are bursting with incident, poetry and amazing characters that grab the attention. When I began writing my own novel, I found myself constantly having to rein in digressions trying to include them all.

The Odyssey also made John Mullan's lists ten of the best shipwrecks in literature, ten of the best monsters in literature, ten of the best examples of rowing in literature, and ten of the best caves in literature, as well as Justin Somper's top ten list of pirate books and Carsten Jensen's list of the top ten seafaring tales.
--Marshal Zeringue