Book-lovers - the best wedding present ever?

I'm having the most fun. A dear friend of mine from university is getting married and has asked for "books to start our family library". This friend really helped us out by doing all the flowers at our wedding - we saved a fortune - and we had never found a way of repaying her. Until now. I have a £200 budget and can get anything at all - they have asked for "a collection of well-chosen, well-loved books from our well-chosen, well-loved friends to commemorate our wedding day.  Gifts of books that are especially meaningful to you, or that you think are especially appropriate for us".

It's bliss. They're settling in on the East Coast of the US, and her husband to be is American, so I'm thinking of getting my favourite books that I think they'll both like  but with a distinctly British slant. She'll undoubtedly have duplicates, but if I get them from Amazon, she can return any she has already. I'm thinking Secret Garden, Adrian Mole, His Dark Materials, William Boyd, Austen, Amis, etc etc etc.

What would you choose?

Oooh, fabulous Rache. I'd love to do this for a friend. Hmmmm, on my list would be (not all British, obv):

Great Expectations

Harry potter Series

Something by Christopher Brookmye _ probably  One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

Ditto Irving Welsh - Trainspotting being the obvious choice

Secret Garden

The Hobbit

The Bell Jar

The Great Gatsby

My Sister's Keeper

Lord of the Flies

To Kill A Mockingbird

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Colour Purple

I know Why the CagedBird Sings

A Long Walk to Freedom (Mandela)

Moab is my Washpot (Stephen Fry)

The Call of the Wild

The Wind in the Willows

Emma

The Remains of the Day

That'll doto start I think. Wow - you are going to have sooo much fun doing this!

What about Enid Blyton?

Some bodice ripping yarns but I imagine things like Pride & Prejudice and Wuthering Heights will be bought a few times?

For Englishness- lots of Nancy Mitford, PG Wodehouse, David Lodge, both Amises.  Also To the Lighthouse, A Room of One's Own and Orlando, because I think they are great, and Middlemarch because it has good lessons about married life

oh, and George Orwell, esp D&O in P&L and his essays

Lady Chatterley's Lover? Lady of the manor shagging the hired help is quite British

Oh, you have to get them Charlotte's Web, I love that book!

What a fantastic idea for a wedding present - very unique

What a fantastic idea! I don't know how you'll choose - I'd be dithering for ever

I already have Middlemarch and many of these. I've chosen Stephen Fry's Making History because of the UK/US slant (also she was a historian), and PG WOdehouse, Mitford, Will Self's Great Apes, and Great Expectations. Some Sarah Waters, Miss Jean Brodie, Willy Russell. I keep changing my mind though. Molesworth isn't on Amazon.com

Thanks so much for all the tips.

I'm not a great reader of novels and such, as you know, but I want so much to read this. You read it too, and add it to the list

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ladys-Mountains-Virago-classic-non-fiction/dp/0860682676/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238529168&sr=8-1

Oh how utterly fabulous.

How about The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams, an old school Ruth Rendell (Crocodile Bird, Going Wrong), a Philip Larkin collection, an Agatha Christie, The Promise of Happiness by Justin Cartwright, Spies by Michael Frayn, a Dylan Thomas collection, something by Sebastian Faulks, Enduring Love by Ian McEwan, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis.

If I were buying I would have to include The Poisonwood Bible, A Suitable Boy, Midnight's Children, The Blind Assassin, Catch 22, East of Eden, To Kill a Mockingbird, All Quiet on the Western Front.

Definitely the best wedding present ever!

I'm struggling to remember my favourite books though, and the ones that are springing to mind are a bit on the gloomy side, or sci-fi.

Howard's End, Cold Comfort Farm, I Capture the Castle, I'm the King of the Castle/Strange Meeting/Woman in Black by Susan Hill, Roald Dahl (esp Tales of the Unexpected or The Twits), Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, something by the Ahlbergs.

Ooof, I wish I could do this!

Wow Rache, I would love to have had this as a present. Books are my guilty pleasure.

A couple of my favourites;

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

James and the Giant Peach 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory