Rupert Ticehurst recommends
There is a clear theme to my recommendations. I am a very impatient reader and put down more books than I complete. So I am drawn to authors who can, in the first few pages, haul me into a fictional world which feels very real and, in the case of 1984, frighteningly real.
1984
George Orwell
Terrifyingly prescient and a gripping yarn. One of the few books that translated well into film.
Stoner
John Williams
A brilliant but underrated novel. Williams brings his main character, Stoner, to life so effectively that I feel he is a close but rather disappointing lifelong friend.
On the Black Hill
Bruce Chatwin
I am indebted to my colleague, Ed Powles, for this recommendation. Like John Williams, Chatwin draws you into a life story that is simple, uneventful but totally compelling.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Betty Smith
The novel focuses on my favourite fictional character, Francie Nolan, an eleven year old girl struggling to survive the poverty of early twentieth century New York. I felt as though I was walking the streets of Brooklyn with Francie during her adolescence, enduring great hardships and sadness with her.
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
I acted in the play as a child (I was a street urchin with one line, “Scrooge is a miser”) and have had great affection for this novel ever since, reading it every year. FX’s 2019 adaptation adds an extraordinary dimension to the story.
Dissolution
C. J. Sansom
I could have chosen any of the seven books from the Shardlake series. This series follows the life of a barrister in Tudor London. Part history lesson, part escapism. Totally engaging.