Perhaps one of the best things to come out of Birmingham, Mike Skinner, mastermind behind The Streets, lets us know what he’s reading in this week’s Shelf Life. He reveals an interest in 20th Century history, what he once managed to get 10,000 people to do and a fondness for Philip Marlowe’s bon mots.
His memoirs The Story of the Streets are out now. He tweets @skinnermike.
1) What are you reading at the moment?
All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings and
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. Both in
their different ways incredibly well researched.
2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?
I didn’t read really. Actually I did read a lot of magazines but books didn’t work for my attention span when I was young. Though I used to write a lot.
3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?
I often weep when I read Raymond Chandler as I hit one liner on each page.
4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take three books. What would you choose?
I would take Crime and Punishment and some other long Russian stuff like Tolstoy because they are books I wouldn’t get through without solitary confinement.
5) Which literary character would you most like to sleep with?
I’d love to drink a gimlet with Philip Marlowe.
6) If you could write a self-help book, what would you call it?
I would call my self help book ‘Go Low’. It’s a joke but behind every joke is the truth. The go low is what we used to do with the crowd when we performed. It’s hard to get 10,000 people to all sit down at the same time. While I was trying I learnt a lot about people.
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?
I’d tell them to read anything but make sure they were reading something and enjoying it. I’ve not seen a play that I’ve loved as much as films so I’d introduce screenplay studies. I’d
ditch the poetry in favour of a syllabus of quality folk and country lyricism with a bit of conscious rap. I’m not mad on conscious rap but understand the other rap has swearing and homophobia.
8) Which party from literature would you most like to have attended?
Evelyn Waugh knew how to set that sort of scene.
9) What would you title your memoirs?
I have titled my memoirs, ‘The Story of the Streets’ because after many months trying to be clever we
came to the conclusion that the strongest image would be the logo with as few words as possible of clutter on the cover.
10) Which literary character do you dream of playing?
Sherlock Holmes is a great character if not over egged.
11) What book would you give to a lover?
I couldn’t anticipate what another person would like, especially a lover. I’ve known woman that liked Betjeman and others that liked design, but rarely one that liked Andy McNab as much as me.
12) Spying Mein Kampf or Dan Brown on someone’s bookshelf can spell havoc for a friendship. What’s your literary dealbreaker?
I’m not a snob about books. We react to drama however well it’s worded. I read the Da Vinci Code and found the religious conspiracy stuff really entertaining. If I saw Mein Kampf
on someone’s shelf I’d assume they wanted to better understand one of the greatest tragedy’s in the story of humanity. Europe should probably remind itself of what the Treaty of Versailles
resulted in as it deals with the problems in countries like Greece.
Comments