Jane Asher is second in the hot seat. She tells us how to get children reading; who she would have a literary fling with and what exactly would make her end a friendship.
1) What are you reading at the moment?
Inspired by seeing her interviewed recently, I’m catching up with Diana Athill’s collected memoirs: I’ve got to half way through ‘Instead of a Letter’. She writes so beautifully and frankly that she makes the most mundane events completely fascinating.
2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?
Sherlock Holmes; Frances Hodgson Burnett (particularly A Little Princess) and the Dimsie books by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?
I read the whole of Les Miserables a couple of years ago (except for the very heavy-going political chapters that the translator thoughtfully advised the reader to skip) and Fantine’s death really did make me cry. And there have been others…
4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take three books. What would you choose?
The complete Oxford dictionary – all 20 volumes or whatever – would keep me going. It’s fascinating that it’s almost impossible to find a single page on which every word is familiar. I could leave the prison, or wherever you’ve put me, a real know-all. The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins, to help put everything into perspective, and some PG Wodehouse, to cheer me up
5) Which literary character would you most like to sleep with?
The Count of Monte Cristo: the pre- and post-prison incarnations please. Then I can have either the sweet, loving, innocent young man or the ruthless, sexy, rich older one, depending on my mood.
6) If you could write a self-help book, what would you call it?
‘Don’t buy this – see a professional’
7) Michael Gove has asked you to rewrite the GCSE English Literature syllabus. Which book, which play, and which poem would you make compulsory reading?
The Book of Illusion by Paul Auster so they can see how wonderfully enjoyable fiction at its best can be; I’d take them to see (not read) The Woman in Black, to prove that theatre can be as scarily thrilling as film and television, and I’d get a really good actor to read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to them out loud. Once the love of literature is established, the classics can come later.
8) Which party from literature would you most like to have attended?
It would have been pretty dramatic to be at Boldwood’s Christmas party in Far from the Madding Crowd, where Bathsheba accepts a marriage proposal, is wooed by a desperate ex-lover and then witnesses his murder all in one evening.
9) What would you title your memoirs?
I’d never want to write them.
10) Which literary character do you dream of playing?
My dream has already been fulfilled: the Queen in Snow White. Wicked, funny AND dressed in red sequins: what more could you want?
11) What book would you give to a lover?
Iris Murdoch’s The Black Prince has my favourite description of falling in love – and if my lover didn’t appreciate the great Iris I’d have to leave him anyway.
12) Spying Mein Kampf or Dan Brown on someone’s bookshelf can spell havoc for a friendship. What’s your literary dealbreaker?
Anything on astrology, healing crystals, homeopathy, etc etc
Fleur Macdonald is editor of The Omnivore.
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