Among the authors that I have an enduring affection for are Jim Crace (a national treasure), David Mitchell, Neil Gaiman, Sarah Waters, Shirley Jackson, Cormac McCarthy, Peter Hoeg, Sarah Hall, Jeanette Winterson and Kate Atkinson.
My favourite novels change all the time but at the moment I’d say, in no particular order, they are
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“Specimen Days” by Michael Cunningham
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“The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins
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“English Passengers” by Matthew Kneale
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“The Death of Grass” by John Christopher
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“If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things” by Jon McGregor
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“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy
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“”Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell” by Susanna Clarke
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“Ingenious Pain” by Andrew Miller
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“Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett
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“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Muriel Spark
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“In the Skin of a Lion” by Michael Ondaatje
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“The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break” by Steven Sherrill
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“Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel
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“The Lost Books of the Odyssey” by Zachary Mason
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“The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick deWitt
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Any of Jim Crace’s books, but if you you don’t know him I’d recommend starting with “The Pesthouse” or “Being Dead”
- “The Red Tree” by Shaun Tan. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a picture book for children. It’s a pictorial account of the horrors of depression but there’s a sweetness too, in the knowledge that sadness isn’t infinite.
- “Geek Love” by Katherine Dunn
- “Under the Skin” by Michel Faber
- “Interpreter of Maladies” and “Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri. Thanks to my friend, the well read Dheraj Bisarya, who gave me these. They’re a masterclass in short story telling.
