My favourite books in the whole world

I've been asked what my favourite book ever is more than once this week. And most of the time you'll get a resounding answer (the one that's kicking off this list), but as I studied English Literature at Uni, I'm not sure it's as cut and dry as that. Because asking me what my favourite books are is like getting a music fan to name their top ten albums. I'm going to find this just as hard, but here are my favourite ever books in the whole world:

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

This is my favourite book in the world. It's the most beautifully written story and if you're after a book to read, expect me to badger you until you buy this. Everyone I know who has bought it after I banged on about it has loved it. It's an epic family saga that spans across Zaire over three decades. It honestly makes me doubt every single thing I've ever written. I don't think I'll ever be able to play with words as well as Barbara Kingsolver does in this book. I read it at least once a year. If I buy you this book it's safe to say I'm actually in love with you.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

I adore Jane Eyre. After taking the opportunity to read it five times at Uni, I've read it more since finishing (but in fairness I left five years ago) and it just gets better. There's something about Jane Eyre that stands out from all other female protagonists of her time. She kicks ass. Charlotte is my favourite of the Bronte sisters and I'm so pleased I read this again after uni. Best rest under blankets in winter (but if you're not going to read it, you could do a lot worse than catch the most recent BBC adaptation).

Rebecca's World, Terry Nation

I have an awful amount to thank this book for. It's the book I read as a child that made me want to write. Something changed when I read this book. I'd always written stories, but this book flipped a switch in that childish little head of mine and made me want to be a writer. Four years ago, I nabbed an out of print copy on eBay for about £20 (although I've just looked on Amazon and four years later they're selling for £100 - awesome) and when it arrived I took the day off work, curled up and read the whole thing cover to cover. There was only a few bits I could remember before I started, and I knew there was a really scary bit, although I couldn't remember why. But when I started reading it, I knew it was the bit that scared me as a kid. There's something really exciting about a book being able to stay with you for 20, 30 even 40 years. That's why I want to write. Because words stick with people.

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee



This book was great when I read it at school for my English GCSE, but every time I've read it since it's got better. Is there a better, more noble man in literature than Atticus Finch? There's something so precious about seeing the story through the eyes of Scout and Jem that really turns this book on its head. It wasn't only a very daring book for its time, it was also a damn good story. And, a bloody good film for that matter. It's very rare that a film will be as good as the book, but for me Gregory Peck will always be Atticus Finch.

Birthday Letters, Ted Hughes



I think this book surprises even me. Because I'm not a huge fan of poetry. I've tried to get on board with it, but it's not something I usually enjoy. But then I watched that Gwyneth Paltrow film Sylvia. And instead of getting all excited about Ms. Plath, I was much more curious about Ted Hughes (until I watched that film I had no idea they were married). I wanted to know about this book he'd written after her suicide, something that had so entirely consumed him that he wrote such a huge body of work about it. It's somehow bigger than writing a novel about it. It's like every thought he ever had after her suicide was about that one act. And that fascinates and saddens me at the same time.

There are lines from his poems in my novel and Fulbright Scholars is still the most romantic thing I've ever read. When I travel, this book always comes with me. I don't read it all in one sitting (seriously, who would do that to themselves?), but I dip into it every now and again and always find something new and exciting. I picked up my copy in a £2 bookshop in Greenwich. It's one of the only books I don't lend to people.

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

This book was the best thing I read at uni. I was halfway through a tough course and if I remember rightly I'd just finished reading The Cement Garden. That's a very short, but very tough read. I needed a book like this. Wonderful, imaginative and totally escapist. Heartbreaking too. I started it at 9am, curled up in bed. I didn't move until I'd finished the whole thing 7 hours later. I was crying so much at the end. It's a beautiful book very much in the same vein as The Poisonwood Bible (family tragedy, misunderstanding, foreign ground).

It's a wonderful story and my essay question about it was one of the things I remember most from Uni. I talked about inanimate things as characters, in this case, the house in the book. I remembered that essay question halfway though my novel and realised that the tree in my book needs to have the same amount of character. It needed to become a character itself. I didn't realise a Monday morning English class at uni would teach me one of the most important things about writing my novel. Reading books makes me a better writer.

The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffeneger

This book is wonderful. And a lot of The Root of the Root nods to it as well. It would be impossible not to nod to the most successful magical realist novel in recent years. Of course, my novel is hugely different, but the playfulness with what's real is there, and considering I read this around the same time I started my novel I think it's when I realised just how much you can play with language. It's fun to do that. Want to do more of it.

I bought my copy two days before I flew to China (for those of you who didn't know, I lived there for a month or so teaching English). It took me 100 pages of going "what are you on about? This book is stupid..." before it finally clicked. Strangely, it always takes 100 pages before I get immersed in it. I gave my copy to my friend and teaching companion, Jon. He gave it to his friend in Australia and so on. It's one of those books I like so much that I give it out to people all the time. I don't expect it back and if I'm in a second-hand book shop and spot a copy I'll buy another and start reading it again. I just want more people to read it. It's a happy book that reminds you that books can be beautiful, tragic and fun, all the while still being well written. That's everything you want from a book really, isn't it?

There are more books that probably deserve to be on this list, but I've always found that once you get to this bit of a list, you're scrabbling around for stuff to get to ten. This is enough for now. I hope to add to it more, it would be sad if this list still looked the same in three years. But if you're looking for a new read, you could do an awful lot worse than those. What's on your list?