World Book Day 2018: York luminaries talk about their favourite reads

The questions we asked were: 1) The theme for World Book Day is sharing - which book would you most like to share with our readers? 2) What was your favourite book as a child? 3) What was the last book you read that you just couldn’t put down? 4) Who is your favourite author? Here are their replies:

Kate Atkinson – bestselling York-born author whose new novel, Transcription, is due out in September.

1) Pai Naa by Dorothy Thatcher and Robert Cross, the story of vicar’s daughter Nona Baker, who was living in Malaysia at the outbreak of World War II. In order to escape the Japanese invasion, she hid in the jungle with communist rebel guerillas. It’s a quite extraordinary story that had me gripped from the beginning.

2) I loved all my childhood books - Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, Five Children and It, What Katy Did, and so many more. They opened up my imagination to the possibilities of literature. I still consider them to be some of the best books I’ve ever read.

3) The last book I read that I really enjoyed was You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld. It’s a collection of stories which I read in one sitting. I think she’s an excellent writer.

4) It has to be Jane Austen, because she is peerless.

A P Winter – York-based children’s author, whose debut book, The Boy Who Went Magic, was published last year.

1) I’d love to share the story Monkey, by Wu Ch’eng-en. It’s a Chinese epic about a monkey warrior helping a priest to defeat monsters and demons in a quest to retrieve sacred scrolls. As well as being a great adventure, it’s also pretty funny, and unceasingly weird. It’s a story that can be appreciated by children and adults alike.

2) I always loved Treasure Island as a child. Robert Louis Stevenson famously wrote the story under the guidance of his stepson, with the request that it feature pirates, and that “women were excluded”. Thankfully, the results are a lot better than the guidelines might suggest, with a tale of deception and bravery that anyone with an adventurous spirit can enjoy. As you might expect, it was a major influence on my own children’s writing (although my story has fewer pirates and more women).

3) Last year, I enjoyed Old School by Tobias Wolff so much that it ruined me for other books. The premise focuses on a writing competition at an exclusive school, where students compete for the prize of a conversation with a famous author. It addresses profound questions about honesty, identity, and what is important about literature. The language of the book falls with a sense of rhythm and feeling, without ever becoming obtrusive, and the result is like listening to a quiet sort of music that draws emotions where you least expect, and leaves you wishing every song was as good.

4) Marilynne Robinson is my favourite modern author, and Gilead is my favourite of her novels. It is probably the definitive masterclass in understated storytelling and manages to pull off something that very few stories can: challenging your thinking, without challenging your sense of interest. I couldn’t recommend her writing highly enough.

Barbara Boyce, York’s incumbent Lord Mayor.

1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. When I was a first-year university student in the 1980s and grappling with many new concepts and ideas, our tutor told us to read this as it contains everything we need to know. He was right, it does.

2) Black Beauty as I loved horses and all animals, and still do.

3) I have to admit that since I’ve been Lord Mayor I haven’t had time to read a book cover to cover. I’ve got quite a pile of them I’ve picked up in charity shops but not had time to look at. My reading at the moment seems to be newspapers on my iPad and my fortnightly Private Eye.

4) I initially thought Charlotte Bronte who had to struggle so hard to be published in her own name, but I think I will choose Thomas Hardy. He was a man writing in the 19th century who created strong, independent, believable female characters. He strongly criticised social conventions which limited the opportunities and created unhappiness for women and all working-class people. I wonder what he would write today.

Martin Barrass – York Theatre Royal panto favourite.

1) Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee is an absolute classic about a boy growing up in the early part of the last century in Gloucestershire. It’s highly atmospheric, lovingly written but never sentimental. It also links me to York Theatre Royal as the play version was my first piece of work I did at the theatre, playing Laurie himself. He came to see it and I have a signed copy of the book.

2) Stig of the Dump by Clive King. A young lad befriends a caveboy lost in time, who has made his dwelling in a secret part of the countryside. This beautiful piece of writing evokes childhood adventure and the excitement of hidden corners. I actually believed if I looked hard enough I’d find my own Stig!

3) The Night of the Hunter by William Davis Grubb. I defy anyone not to be utterly blown away by this thriller. Questionable conscience, good and evil and desperation are all to the fore in this masterpiece and the film version is one of the greatest pictures ever made.

4) There are authors and then there’s Roald Dahl. The sheer inventiveness, energy, and desire to bring a sledgehammer crashing down on political correctness makes him compulsive reading.

Julian Cole – author of crime and history novels set in York, former columnist at the Press and lecturer at Leeds Trinity University.

1) The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, a beautiful and brilliant book about walking that takes a poetic trample over our oldest paths and routes.

2) Heavens, that’s a long time ago. Swallows and Amazons perhaps by Arthur Ransome, although I couldn’t tell you why now.

3) The one I am reading now: All The Beautiful Lies by the American writer Peter Swanson: a twin narrative tale in which the thrills unfold slowly but with shocking impetus.

4) Not sure I have an all-time favourite. But I’ll pick Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels as I’ve read so many of the damn things. Or Graham Greene because of The Power and The Glory.

Jane Austin – York-based author whose latest novel, News from Nowhere, was inspired by family letters sent from the Western Front.

1) The book I shared with family and friends last Christmas was Mary Beard’s Women and Power – A Manifesto. This short, pithy book speaks volumes about how history has treated women from the classical world to today. In this year when we celebrate the vote for (some) women, Mary Beard is a clear and refreshing voice, calling for the redefinition of power.

2) Growing up in the 50s, my favourite book was Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, about a family of miniature people who live in the walls and under the floors hidden from “human beans”. As a child, I was a proud member of the Boots Book Lovers’ library in Allerton Road, Liverpool, and knew the thrill of walking upstairs to a book-filled room and whole shelves of books for children. It felt like stepping through the wardrobe into another world.

3) Plenty to choose from! Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, knocked me sideways for its truth telling through stories. It gives a devastating insight into the human cost of slavery, more powerfully than any film. When the book tells us that in North Carolina, slave patrollers “required no reason to stop a person apart from colour”, it becomes a novel of our time. It’s the backstory of injustice done to African-Americans and immigrants, which continues today.

4) My all-time favourite author has to be Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, books which chart the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. Mantel is a writer who totally inhabits her characters, from their secret desires to the chafing of rough wool on skin; she shares her intimate knowledge of people we can only ever know through art.

Ian Kelsey – former Doctors, Coronation Street and Emmerdale star, who was born in York.

1) My book I have shared over the years is Michael Caine’s first autobiography, What’s It All About. It is full of behind-the-scenes stories from some of my favourite films, but the underlying message in the book is how to conduct yourself, not only on a film set for the first time, but throughout your whole career. I have used tricks and tips from this book every time I have stepped onto the studio floor.

2) I am not a great reader. I can still remember the fear and the sweaty palms as it was coming to my turn to read out loud a paragraph in class at Lowfields, so I don’t have a novel that reminds me of my childhood. The book I do remember was a collection of poems by Spike Milligan. I loved the humour in the book and it has influenced my sense of humour ever since.

3) I was on tour with The Shawshank Redemption and getting used to being in a lot of strange cities looking for something to do during the day, yet conserve ones energy for that night’s performance. I stumbled upon a lovely book shop in Bath and asked the owner to sell me a book she thought I might like. The book she gave me was The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. I’m so pleased she did as I couldn’t put it down. How Jonas Jonasson describes what happens next to this old man is hilarious. You literally can’t wait for the next page to find out what he gets up to next.

4) My favourite author has to be Ian Fleming. I can pick up any Bond book at any time, anywhere, and be instantly lost in my version of how Bond would look – quite similar to me of course!

David Bradley – York-born Bafta-winning star of Broadchurch and Doctor Who.

1) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. An Astonishing and uplifting true story of a man who, having been rescued after a climbing accident in the mountains of Pakistan, devotes his life to helping the villagers who saved his life by building schools for girls in an area fraught with danger in Taliban territory. It challenges preconceptions and inspires in a surprising way.

2) I didn’t get round to reading books till I was in my teens, then it was Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Dr No, From Russia with Love, Diamonds are Forever, the lot!

3) The last book I couldn’t put down would be Keith, the autobiography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. A fascinating and wacky account of life on the road, but also a great and thoughtful insight into how he does what he does.

4) My favourite author is Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Sci -fi with philosophy and hilarity. His novels, Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5, Breakfast of Champions, and many more – I devoured them all!

Tim Murgatroyd – former York University teacher turned author, who has written three novels set in medieval China and three books of poetry.

1) Our lives are stories and we add a little bit more to them each day. Really, really great books seem to connect with countless of people’s daily stories, often over hundreds of years. I’d like to share Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It’s a tale of folly, kindness, greed and redemption that casts a bright light on how to live (and love). It’s warm and scary and funny and it has a gripping twist at the end.

2) One that made a huge impression on me when I was aged around ten was J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The epic journeys and landscapes, the heroism in the face of terrifyingly dark forces, gripped my imagination and still does. It is a tale of “little people” – in all senses of the word – who go on a quest and find inner resources they never imagined they possessed.

3) For many years I have had a policy of not ploughing on through books I find boring. So in that sense, every book I read is one I can’t put down. Recently I have been re-reading Shakespeare plays not picked up, in some cases, for 30 years. King Lear had me completely hooked so I read it in a single setting and – to the amusement of my family – performed some of the wonderful speeches to the goldfish when I got really excited! I love its astonishing language, its complex messages about the futility of worldly power and how love, loyalty and respect are ultimately stronger.

4) Now that is a hard question! It could be Dickens or Turgenev, Shakespeare or Khaled Hosseini, Wordsworth or Austen and a hundred other great writers in between. I think, if pushed, I would have to settle for Dickens. His massive body of work has given me some of my finest reading experiences. I’m also sure his vital messages, based fundamentally upon the idea that in order to have a better world we as individuals need to live better, is a feast of wisdom and comedy for all phases of life.

Rosemary J Kind – Yorkshire author, whose latest novel, New York Orphan, was published last year.

1) It would have to be Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Most people only know the film, but the real story is intensely powerful and raises many moral dilemmas. The stage show comes much closer to the book, but even that falls short. As a book it is rather longer than most people would choose to tackle, but it is an inspiring story of personal sacrifice and the amazing lengths a man will go to in order to do right.

2) There were many, but if I have to choose one then it would be Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas. It was there I learnt so many lessons about writing that have stood me in good stead. Dylan Thomas conjures clear pictures from few words and brings characters to life through their actions and the scenes as well as their dialogue.

3) That was definitely The Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer. I had always avoided his books as I had no wish to contribute to his royalties. I was offered the first one free and regrettably, I discovered that he is a master story teller and was compelled to buy all the other books in the series.

4) Charles Dickens is such a master of characterisation that for me he stands out. His ability to name characters is unsurpassed and the details he provides to the reader make it possible for them to be pictured clearly. I’m currently reading Our Mutual Friend and will laugh every time I think of Mr and Mrs Veneering who are, as you can imagine, very superficial. His whole body of work is a treasury I love to dip into regularly.

Anneliese Emmans Dean – York children’s author, poet and photographer.

1) Just one? Impossible! My family and I are forever sharing books with each other. Always the latest good story one of us has just read. As my sister-in-law lives in France, she often sends us French books we wouldn’t otherwise have come across – a memorable example being The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas (now available in English). It gets my prize for the best titled book I’ve read since I was a child.

2) When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. Of all the many books I read as a child, this one made the deepest impression on me. It tells the story of a Jewish girl escaping Nazi Germany with her family. I can still feel today the outrage and pain I felt at this family having to leave their home; and I can still remember how my heart was warmed by the kindness some people showed them on their journey to safety.

3) A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare. I met Horatio Clare when we were both appearing at a Ryedale Book Festival event last year, and I bought this book of his there and then at the festival book stall. I’m not usually attracted to travel writing, but I picked up this book as it is about one of my loves: birds – specifically, the journey that a swallow makes from its African wintering grounds to us here in Britain. The language is beautifully poetic, and the text fiercely intelligent, cultured, vivid and honest.

4) Sorry – I can’t answer that. The joy of reading for me is to be found in flitting from one author to another, from one time period to another, from one genre to another, from one country to another, from one language to another. Variety is the spice of life – in books as in most other things.

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