Perec was a leading exponent of French literary surrealism who found humour - and pathos - in the human need for classification. Thoughts of Sorts is itself unclassifiable, a unique collection of philosophical riffs on his obsession with lists, puzzles, catalogues, and taxonomies. Introduced by Margaret Drabble.

Georges Perec, winner of the Prix Renaudot and Prix Medicis, was born in 1936. His books include Life A User's Manual hailed as "one of the great novels of the century" by among others the Times Literary Supplement and the Boston Globe. His other books include A Void (written without the letter 'e'). He died in 1982. Novelist, biographer and critic Margaret Drabble's latest book is a memoir, The Pattern in the Carpet (2009), in which she looks at her own life, the history of the games and the delights of puzzling. She is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd and lives in London and Somerset. In 2008 she was made a DBE.