Authors have chosen the books that have inspired them in their writing – or perhaps even made them jealous… Hover over the jacket image to see the recommendation
‘Care of Wooden Floors’ by Will Wiles is one of our favourite first novels of the year. Funny, quirky and occasionally uncomfortably recognisable it is a tale of how house-sitting can go terribly wrong. The book that he loves and wishes he had written is BS Johnson’s ‘Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry’:
“BS Johnson’s 1973 novel concerns a downtrodden young accountant who realises that he can use the main tool of his trade – double-entry bookkeeping – to revenge himself on a world that has wronged him. He tallies up the “debits” against him, and starts extracting increasingly violent “credits” to balance the account. This premise is a brilliant conjuration of the fantastic and original from a thoroughly mundane situation. And Johnson is uproariously funny throughout, from the vulgar dialogue to the textual pranks he pulls, even as the scenario gets darker and darker. On top of all that, Christie Malry is startlingly relevant today, leaving the reader with new thoughts on ennui and terrorism. I really do wish I had written it!”
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Isabelle Grey is the author of Out of Sight Her recommendations are all for the same reason “All four are haunting elegies to lost love and lost dreams, which is maybe how I feel about writing – the book I want to write is always just out of reach”
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The first book that John O’Farrell had published was the incredibly popular Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter His most recent book is The Man Who Forgot His Wife He is a charming and funny man. He wishes that he had written
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Roy Gill is author of ‘The Daemon Parallel’ which was shortlisted for the 2011 Kelpies Prize He recommends Diana Wynne Jones ‘Eight Days of Luke’ and four other ‘must-reads’:
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[...] Current Events ListingTop 10 From Last WeekBought it, Loved itRead it, Loved itLoved it, Wish I’d Written itMeet [...]
Really useful blog post. I am so enthralled with the observations on adjustable piano bench..