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| Writers pick their best reads
of 2005 |
There are plenty of literary figures living
in north London, so we asked them to choose their favourite books
of the past year
NOVELIST Julian Barnes lives in Dartmouth Park. He was short
listed this year for the Booker Prize for Arthur and George.
“The one that stands out is a wonderful book on a rather grim
subject. It is by a writer called Joan Didion, and it is called
The Year Of Magical Thinking (Fourth Estate, £12.99).
“It is about the sudden death of her husband, who was the Hollywood
screenwriter, Julian Gregory Dunne.
“It is one of the most lucid, clear eyed, and unsentimental
books I have read for sometime.”
Another book he has read this year – for the third time –
is by author Penelope Fitzgerald, who lived in Highgate until her
death in 2000.
“It is called The Gates of Angels (Flamingo, £7.99) and
is a story set in 18th-century Germany. It is about a subject that
is hard to write about,” he says.
“The story focuses on a poet’s love for a 12-year-old
girl. It is a tricky story to write and it is wonderfully done.”
• Ian Jack is the editor of Granta Books. He lives off Blackstock
Road in Finsbury Park.
“The book I really enjoyed this year was by John McGahern,
a man I consider to be the best living Irish writer
“He did his autobiography called Memoir (Faber and Faber, £16.99),
and it was a very effective account of his childhood in County Leitrim
before the war.
“It is about many things; the death of his mother in his youth,
and how he went to live with his angry, violent father.
“It is a masterful piece of writing, wisdom and prose –
but his fiction is just as powerful.”
He cites the book That They May Face The Rising Sun as one of his
favourites. It is about a farmer in County Leitrim, with fine descriptions
of rural flowers.
Another book he particularly enjoyed this year, which he published
and was featured first in this review section.
The Bus We Loved: by Travis Elborough (Granta Books, £12)
is a history of London’s Routemaster buses.
“I thought it was an interesting subject. It was quite a difficult
book to do.
“They are a much loved piece of evidence of a previous civilisation,
and Travis managed to place the bus in a cultural context. It has
been a successful book but it might not have worked – it could
have been all about axle lengths.”
• Poet Adrian Mitchell, of Dartmouth Park, says his book of
the year hasn’t even been published yet. It is a collection
of poems by Will Holloway, called Angel Capital.
“He used to write under the name Mr Social Control. This man
really is the future of poetry. He is just a bit slow getting published.
“He is the most incredible performer. I first heard him read
his poems in a pub. He has a fiercely intelligent way of dealing
with real life – I was charmed by every one.”
• Poet and playwright Bernard Kops lives in West Hampstead.
His book of the year is Peter Brook: A Biography by Michael Kustow
(Bloomsbury, £25).
“Peter Brook had the most important vision of the theatre.
His ideas on empty space blew my mind when I was very young. His
understanding of theatre and its place in society is the greatest.
He has worked in different countries and cultures. He just had an
amazing vision. He’s a genius.”
• Former Labour leader, journalist and biographer, Michael
Foot, lives in Hampstead. His favourite book of the year is Geoffrey
Robertson’s Tyrannicide Brief (Chatto & Windus, £20).
Roberston tells the story of John Cooke, the 17th-century lawyer
who persuaded Parliament to chop off the head of Charles I. And
it has links to the college where Foot did his degree and was president
of the union in 1933.
“It is a story that has never been told before,” Mr Foot
says. “Cooke went to Wadham College, Oxford, as well. A number
of other opponents to the monarchy were educated at Wadham.”
• Novelist Beryl Bainbridge, lives in Camden Town. “I
enjoyed Richard Ingrams on the life of William Cobbett (Harper Collins,
£20),” she says.
“I had heard of him – but knew a little about him. I had
this picture of Rural Rides being just about a man galloping about
on a horse. I did not realise what a political agitator he was.
He spoke out all the time against injustice and the church. He thought
the bishops were rotten, he worked for the poor and was terribly
self opinionated. His views were so interesting. It gave me a very
good picture of the man.”
She also enjoyed Julian Barnes’s Booker-nominated novel Arthur
and George. A historical novel, she saw similarities to her own
writing.
“I was very taken aback by the structure,” she says.
“I loved the way he changed from Arthur’s voice to George’s
voice. I thought this was such a good idea I may have to pinch it
for my next book.”
• Columnist and biographer Hunter Davies lives in Dartmouth
Park. His book on Paul Gascoigne won The British Book Wards sports
book of the year on 2004.
But one book that has stood out is a sports book entitled Moscow
Dynamo: Passovotchka, by David Downing (Bloomsbury, £7.99).
This tells the story of the Dynamo side’s British tour in 1945.
They played Chelsea, Arsenal, Cardiff and Glasgow Rangers.
It is an event Davies, as a nine year old, remembers well.
“It was big news when I was a kid and I have always been fascinated
by it,” he recalls.
So much so, when he heard four of the original programmes were for
sale at Sotheby’s, he went down and joined in the bidding.
He is currently reading The Addictive Personality: Understanding
the Addictive Process and Behaviour (Hazelden Information &
Educational Services, £12.99). It’s an American book
by Craig Nakken and Mr Davies is reading it for research.
“It is an academic book – totally unreadable. I only read
a few books for my pleasure,” he says.
“I mostly read for research.”
Mr Davies is currently writing another book on Gazza, this time
focussing on the problems he has had with addiction, and how he
is treating them.
• Former Monty Python Michael Palin lives in Gospel Oak. His
books, accompanying his hit BBC travel shows, include Himalaya,
Pole to Pole and Around the World in 80 Days.
“It’s quite tricky to pick one because I’ve read
a few good books this year.
“Defying Hitler, a personal memoir by Sebastian Haffner (Orion,
£7.99) about living in Germany in the 1930s resonated because
of its very different perspective about living under Hitler. American
Purgatorio, a novel by John Haskell (Canongate, £12.99) was
very intriguing. Unlike a lot of books I’ve read recently,
it doesn’t peter out in the end – it was a very satisfying
and thought provoking trip into America. And another one I enjoyed
was Eve Green by Susan Fletcher (Pernennial, £7.99), a new
British author – again another very satisfying book that was
also a terrific read with main characters that really cut through
the pages.
• Interviews by Dan Carrier, Sunita Rappai and Tom Foot |
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