Parliament is back from the Easter recess, and so is the Spectator’s Bookbenchers. First back into the hotseat is Elizabeth Truss, the Tory MP for South West Norfolk. She is inundated with children’s books, and wants to get to grips with some serious science.
1) Which book’s on your bedside table at the moment?
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities and
Britannia: One Hundred Documents That Shaped a
Nation by Graham Stewart.
2) Which book would you read to your children?
Edward Lear Nonsense, Alice in Wonderland — and all the Julia Donaldson (Gruffalo) books. Kings and Queens of England by Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon is my daughter’s favourite, particularly Henry VIII (Bluff King Hal was full of beans, he married half a dozen queens….)
3) Which literary character would you most like to be?
I love the forensic logic of Sherlock Holmes and Jane Austen’s Emma is another favourite.
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