A last minute cancellation by Adrian Mole meant that Sue Townsend had to step in to answer this week’s Shelf Life questions. She tells us which books she read as a child and what she would
title her own memoirs. Her latest book, The Woman who Went to Bed for a Year,
is out now.
1) What are you reading at the moment?
Nothing I am registered blind, I listen to plays and readings
2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?
Comics, Mad Magazine, P.G. Wodehouse, The William books, Jane Eyre, Little Women…
3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?
The Grapes of Wrath and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take two books. What would you choose?
John Updike’s Rabbit Series
Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim
5) Which literary character would you most like to sleep with?
Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre
6) If you could write a self-help book, what would you call it?
‘Shoulders Back’
7) Michael Gove has asked you to rewrite the GCSE English Literature syllabus. What would you make compulsory reading?
G K Chesterton’s ‘The Donkey’ and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
8) Which party from literature would you most like to have attended?
The Madrigal singers party that Jim Dixon attended in Lucky Jim (clip above).
9) What would you title your memoirs?
‘The Long Yawn’
10) Which literary character do you dream of playing?
Emma Bovary
11) What book would you give to a lover?
Couples by John Updike
12) Spying Mein Kampf or Dan Brown on someone’s bookshelf can spell havoc for a friendship. What’s your literary dealbreaker?
That’s it – The Da Vinci Code
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