Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

I love the richness and resonance of this novella. Also, it has a wonderfully archetypal quality.
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The prose is beautifully poetic and the exploration of love, loss and glamour is incisive.
Villette – Charlotte Bronte

Her final novel is one of the most compelling studies of melancholy that has ever been written.
The Sorrows of Young Werther – Goethe

An early novella combines youth, love and tragedy in an unforgettably powerful manner.
War and Peace – Tolstoy

This epic is breathtaking in its conception, scope and, most importantly, execution.
Densley’s poetry has appeared in Australian, English and American journals. His latest poetry collection, his third, Orpheus in the Undershirt, was published by Ginninderra Press (Port Adelaide, South Australia) in early 2018. He is also the co-author of many plays with Steve Taylor, including Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press (Sydney, 2003).