MY SIX BEST BOOKS

TERRY WAITE, 78, was the Church of England hostage negotiator held captive in Beirut by Hezbollah from 1987 to 1991. He wrote a memoir of his time, Taken On Trust. His latest book Solitude (SPCK, £16.99) is out now. THE MEMORY CHALET

by Tony Judt

Vintage, £10.99 Judt was a great social historian who was completely immobile in his later years when he wrote this remarkable book, looking back on his life. He was a man of deep feeling and many contradictions. To a lesser extent, I know what it’s like to be confined and your mind does go back. WAR AND PEACE

by Leo Tolstoy

Penguin, £9.99 A wonderful survey of the Tsarist era in Russian history and the gradual decline of the families.

It’s a Russian Forsyte Saga really. The 1972 BBC production, when Anthony Hopkins played Pierre, brought it to life for me. DON QUIXOTE

by Cervantes

Penguin, £9.99 The story of a chap who goes on crazy journeys believing he’s a knight and fighting evils around him. It’s from this book we get the saying “tilting at windmills”. He thinks the windmills are giants so he fights them. It’s a rambling fantasy and very funny. THE MASTERS

by CP Snow

Out of print The Strangers And Brothers series traces the character Lewis Elliot from 1914 to the 1960s. I was fascinated by this novel about his time in Cambridge, where I had a fellowship. It rings true: the petty jealousies and fighting for position. JUST WILLIAM

by Richmal Crompton, read by Martin Jarvis

BBC audiobook, £13.25 I read the William books as a child and was irritated by the slang he used. But read by Martin Jarvis, it’s perfect. The schoolboy humour in William struck a chord with me. GREAT ESCAPE STORIES

by Eric Williams

Out of print A very old book about escapes in the Second World War. When I was in captivity, I didn’t have books for years. Then I had a guard who brought me this.

He couldn’t read English and I laughed out loud when he dropped it in. It wasn’t much use to me but it was fun to read.