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Nick Hornby Central library in Holloway with Cllr Ruth Polling, Borders Angel manager Nicky Boardman and Islington’s head of libraries and cultural services Rosemary Doyle |
Author Hornby votes for Dickens in books ballot
Fever Pitch writer reveals how he discovered classic after school
HIGHBURY author Nick Hornby said school killed off his interest in literature, making books appear boring – and revealed how it is only now as an adult that he can really enjoy a good read.
The best-selling author was speaking at Central library in Holloway, as Islington Council and Borders bookshop launched Love Books, in which residents are being asked to vote for their favourite reads.
Mr Hornby, author of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity, voted for Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.
Mr Hornby said: “I really struggled with Dickens when I was 14 or 15, but as an adult Dickens has become much more enjoyable.
“That’s why I say adults who struggled with Charles Dickens when they were young should re-read him now to appreciate his fantastic qualities.
“I think Great Expectations is his best book. It’s a genuine page-turner, it’s funny and sad, and the sheer energy of the author – all those minor characters, every single one of them memorable – is something to behold.”
Anne Tyler’s Accidental Tourist was another of Mr Hornby’s favourites.
“She was one of the authors who made me want to write when I was in my late 20s,” he said, “so it’s a very important book. Tyler spoke to me directly after I went through an education system in which books were somehow boring.”
As a child Mr Hornby said he enjoyed Enid Blyton, Jennings and Just William.
“More recently I read the first couple of Harry Potter books,” he said. “JK Rowling has a fantastic visual imagination but I’m still slightly mystified by adults on the Tube reading Harry Potter number seven.”
For Councillor Ruth Polling, Islington Council’s executive member for leisure and equalities, Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal was her favourite read.
“I like thrillers with good twists,” she said. “I’m currently reading Panic by American Jeff Abbott about a guy whose perfect life is suddenly torn apart when he finds his mother dead on the floor. It turns out that nothing was as it seemed.”
Nicky Boardman, general manager at Borders in Angel, voted for the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier, and Clay by Michael Chabon, the sweeping story of a Jewish teenager who escapes the Nazis to set up his own cartoon comic.
Rosemary Doyle, head of libraries and cultural services, voted for Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen as her all-time favourite and recently enjoyed The Island by Victoria Hislop.
Votes can be cast at any of Islington’s libraries or at the Borders bookshop until the end of November.
Votes will be added up to find the borough’s top 25 books and two lucky voters, chosen at random, will be given all 25 titles.
Ballot boxes are going into all of Islington Council’s 10 public libraries, as well as those run by the council at Pentonville and Holloway prisons.
There will also be a “roving box” that will tour the borough. In addition to the main competition, younger readers can also vote for their favourite books.
There are two age categories, 6-10 and 11-16, and in both categories one lucky winner will be given their top 10 books. |
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