The Books That Made Me

'They call Joseph Mitchell the James Joyce of Manhattan, for good reason. Spellbinding.'

Stephen Uzzell

The book I am currently reading

It’s always ‘books’ plural. Afraid I’m serially unfaithful. At the mo I’m dipping between three nonfiction works: Bertie: A life of Edward VII by Jane Ridley, Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition by Stephen Teo and The English Heretic Collection: Ritual Histories, Magickal Geography by Andy Sharp, wondering if I can cross-pollinate all three for a new novel. The Crown as scripted by Thomas Pynchon, with kung fu action choreographed by the team behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Maybe.

 

The book that had the greatest influence on me

Catcher in the Rye. The first book to make reading a genuinely radical experience. As a teenager, it was like Holden Caulfield had found a portal into my brain. We have been best friends ever since.

 

The book I think is most underrated

The North Water by Ian MacGuire. Imagine a hellish Moby Dick, on a ship populated by a rogues’ gallery of psychopaths and crooks. Not enough people read it. But has apparently been made into a BBC series, so hopefully that’s about to change. Get the book first for the visceral majesty of MacGuire’s language.

 

The book I’m most ashamed not to have read

Huge swathes I have no interest in at all. But I don’t do shame. Have never read any of the so-called Russian Masters, for example, and I’m perfectly fine with that. Life’s too short. Would rather re-read Get Shorty.

 

The book that changed my mind.

HHhH by Laurent Binet, a mind-meldingly meta account of Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. Convinced me that historical fiction did not have to be a bore. A huge influence on my own I Am Juden: Undercover in the SS, although I ultimately told the story in a very straightforward way, compared to Binet’s fireworks.

 

The last book that made me laugh

Recently I have been returning to the Jeeves and Wooster stories. A tonic for these terrible Covid times. Two more recent suggestions if, like me, you’ve been in need of cheering up: Mr Wilder & Me by Jonathan Coe and Less by Andrew Sean Greer.

 

The book I give as a gift

The Bottom of the Harbour by Joseph Mitchell, a collection of non-fiction stories and encounters, each connected with the waterfront of mid 20^th century New York City. They call Mitchell the James Joyce of Manhattan, for good reason. Spellbinding.

 

The book I’d most like to be remembered for

Is that another way of asking what I think my best is? So far, of the half a dozen completed, I Am Juden. The subject matter of the Holocaust forced me to raise my game. At least, I hope it did.

 

My earliest reading memory

Elephants Don’t Sit on Cars by David Henry Wilson. Beautifully surreal and gentle children’s book about a young boy in a perpetual state of wonder at the magic and mystery in the world. To this day I try to see life through his eyes.