My 10 Favourite Books
I was recently challenged by my publicist to come up with a list of my ten favourite books, which is no small feat! But here goes:
- Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
A classic, and a pivotal book in my undergraduate years. I later studied Woolf as part of my PhD programme in law (yes, really!).
2. What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
One of my all-time favourites. I have several sentences (and sometimes whole paragraphs) underlined on just about every page.
3. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
A book that I return to time and again. It inspires me and makes me anxious, two emotions that writers need to consistently feel.
4. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Volume 1 of In Search of Lost Time. I’ve long wanted to read Proust and gave myself the time and mental space during the coronavirus lockdown to do so. Don’t be overwhelmed by the size and scope; every sentence tells a story.
5. England’s Lane by Emma Woolf
A novel about people and relationships and all the mess that comes with living, and it just happens to be written by someone I personally admire.
6. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
My cousin Jen has been raving about Auster forever. This is the first of his that I picked up, and after reading it, I devoured book after book at an alarming rate.
7. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
This is one of the few books where the cover art of the particular edition I own perfectly matches the moral theme of the story: an insect stuck in a champagne flute. I read this on holiday in the Greek Islands last summer.
8. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Baldwin paved the way for all future LGBT writers, but he’s not just a ‘gay writer’, he writes about contemporary life and the struggles that come along with being human. This is what I try to do as well, however successfully (or not).
9. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
I came across this book by chance. The BBC did an audio recording of it that I stumbled across on the car radio one evening. It’s a book that I’ve bought for others. A really good book is one that you’ll gift to someone else.
10. Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth
I read a lot of non-fiction, and Byzantine history is my favourite. It’s an era that was largely skipped over in the history curriculum at school, so I am fascinated by this lost empire that kept civilisation afloat during the middle ages. Thanks to the Byzantines, we have the classic works of Rome and Greece preserved for posterity.
My new novel, A Dragonfly’s Wing, is available for purchase here.