MY SIX BEST BOOKS
JASON FLEMYNG, 51, starred in the film Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and was also in From Hell and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. His TV credits include Primeval and The Missing. He appeared in Save Me which is out on DVD on May 7 and is available to pre-order. THE GOLDFINCH
by Donna Tartt
Abacus, £9.99 I had twin boys, then my eyesight started to go, so for five years I didn’t read – until I met actress Patsy Ferran, a voracious reader.
I got glasses and she started me off with this, an epic tale of a boy who is in an explosion at an art gallery and takes one of the paintings. It’s fantastic. THE TOBACCONIST
by Robert Seethaler
Picador, £8.99 A beautiful book about a young kid, alone and away from the people he loves, which is often what I tend to be. It’s set in pre-war Vienna and you know what’s going to happen next in Austria but the character seems not to so it’s really moving. ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
by Anthony Doerr
Fourth Estate, £8.99 About a blind girl and her dad who escape Paris during the German occupation. It’s about vulnerability and the power of positive thought, which I find very inspiring. I’ve always had a glass-half-full view of the world. A LITTLE LIFE
by Hanya Yanagihara
Picador, £9.99 About a group of friends in New York, from student days through to middle age. It’s about enduring friendships. With actors, you go from job to job but I’ve never been very nomadic. The group I’m tight with are the same people I was at college with and I love that. THE HOBBIT
by JRR Tolkien
HarperCollins, £7.99 The first time I felt like an adult. I didn’t have any money or possessions and was under the cosh of my mum but this was my choice: when I read it, what I thought the characters looked like, my opinion, and that was massively important. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Penguin, £8.99 I’m a diehard socialist and I’m fascinated with Russia. I’m very romantic about the revolution, which infuriates a lot of my friends. This made me feel like an intellectual. I couldn’t get through the other great Russian classics but this is basically a whodunit that’s easy to read.