Nothing to write home about

Thanks Jai, for tagging me.

One book that changed your life.

Hmm - changed my life? That’s a difficult question.

Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy, I suppose, because it was the moment I decided I’d become a novelist. I read it and thought that I could write about music much better than he had.

The novel I wrote has not been published yet, but look out Mr Welsh - you might have a cockney competitor one of these days!

One book that you’ve read more than once.

Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman. I’ve read it 4 or 5 times and I love it every time.

One book you’d want on a desert island.

Well now, it would have to be long and absorbing and rereadable. Maybe War and Peace, or Ulysses?

One book that made you laugh.

Bridget Jones. Sorry, forget I said that. Actually it did make me laugh but it’s not a good book, so please don’t take this a recommendation.

I don’t really like funny books, I tend not to find them funny.

There were some darkly humorous bits in Roger Morris’ Taking Comfort, as I remember.

One book that made you cry.

Books do sometimes make me want to cry, if I get really involved, but it’s rare that actual tears fall.

Dickens’ Bleak House was one of the exceptions - I watched the excellent BBC series before I read the book, so I knew what was coming, but that just made it worse. When Lady Dedlock died, I couldn’t stop crying.

One book that you wish had been written.

Dunno. I’m not one for sequels, trilogies or whatnot. I think it’s better to leave the reader wanting more, than flog an idea, or a character to death. And if I had a great idea for a book that hadn’t been written, I wouldn’t write about it here, I’d write it myself, wouldn’t I?

One book that you wish had never been written.

Gosh - I don’t think I hate any book that much. Maybe the Da Vinci Code, because of all the hype and riduculous amounts of money someone can earn with a badly written book, but if I’m honest, I wouldn’t go that far. I don’t think that Dan Brown getting published is preventing me getting my books noticed or anything like that.

On second thoughts it would have to be something written by a holocaust denier like David Irving, but as I steer clear of that kind of fiction I couldn’t name a particular book.

One book you’re currently reading.

I read 4 novels in a week during a recent beach holiday

• Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainan - a perfect holiday read: sad, funny, dealing with big issues in an approachable way and a great ending.
• John Banville’s The Sea - 3/4 great, the last 1/4 disappointing.
• Athol Fugard’s Tsotsi - great book - crap ending.
• Faiza Guene’s Just Like Tomorrow - I should have known better than to read a book that was hailed as a French White Teeth - no plot and no depth.

So I’ve more or less come to the end of my book pile. All that’s left is Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America, which is something I’m taking my take time over. It’s an interesting read, but not something you want to zip through.

One book you’ve been meaning to read.

Well there is a book by Charlie Williams that I gave my partner for his birthday, but I’ll have to wait until he’s read it before I can decently start on it. Otherwise I’ll have given him a secondhand book as a gift, and that won’t do.

I’m tagging my friend (how nice that I can say that now I’ve met her), PA Moed.