MY SIX BEST BOOKS
SUE HODGE, 60, is best known for playing diminutive waitress Mimi in the long-running TV sitcom ’Allo ’Allo. Mimi’s Memoir, her book about the making of the series, is available now from suehodge.biz THE WOMAN IN WHITE
by Wilkie Collins
Penguin Classics, £7.99 When I was training as an actress, I enjoyed the Dickensian style of writing and this was one of the first mystery novels I’d read in that style.
There’s mistaken identity, letters going backwards and forwards and greed. Whenever I pick it up, I find something in it that I’ve missed. THE SHELL SEEKERS
by Rosamunde Pilcher
Hodder, £8.99 I wouldn’t describe myself as romantic but most people like a good story based on true love like this. Kim Hartman, alias Helga in ’Allo ’Allo, bought it for me as a holiday book.
The principal character treasures the title painting but her children want her to sell it so there’s dysfunctional family stuff in it as well. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY
by Helen Fielding
Picador, £7.99 I found this very comedic and fun, such as when her hair is described as having had a row with itself. There are lovely characters like the irritating mother and everyone fell in love with Mark Darcy.
Turkey curry at Christmas would never be the same again. THE ROCK
by Robert Daws
Urbane, £7.99 I’ve always admired Rob Daws as an actor. I love a good crime thriller because I like to try to solve it. I couldn’t put this novel of his down. It’s set in Gibraltar and has real pace. THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII
by Antonia Fraser
W&N, £14.99 A fantastic writer. I was interested in history at school and her books are a good refresher course on historical figures, especially the women.
Being a bit naughty and Mimi-ish, my favourite was Anne Boleyn because she came across as being made of the same stuff as Henry. THE LITTLE PRINCE
by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Egmont, £7.99 It could be the Peter Pan in me but this had such an impact.
A beautiful French writer, he describes that constant frustration in a child of never being quite understood by the grown-ups.
I still find it a magical book.