Dame Anne Begg is this week’s Bookbencher. The MP for Aberdeen South tells us what she is currently reading and which books she would save if the
British Library caught fire.
What book’s on your bedside table at the moment?
The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. Except it is no longer on my bedside as it is on my iPad!
What book would you read to your children?
Each Peach, Pear Plum by Janet Ahlberg.
What literary character would you most like to be?
I wouldn’t necessarily like to be this person, but the character I identify most closely with is Chris Guthrie in Sunset Song.
What book do you think best sums up ‘now’?
1984 by George Orwell
What was the last novel you read?
The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina – I read a lot of murder mysteries/detective fiction.
What book would you most recommend?
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon is my favourite novel of all time. However, I am also enjoying the novels of Stuart MacBride which are set in Aberdeen.
Given enough time, which book would you like to study deeply?
The newly published book by Professor Alex Kemp, The
Official History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry – both volumes!
Which books do you plan to read next?
I have recently downloaded novels by Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Bernard Cornwall and Alexander McColl-Smith – and they are all waiting to be read when I have the time.
If the British Library was on fire and you could only save three books, which ones would you take?
Scots Quaire trilogy, Slaughterhouse 5 and To Kill a Mockingbird
Fleur Macdonald
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