Laura Whitmore
As she releases her first book, No One Can Change Your Life Except For You, the presenter shares the reads that have shaped her life
MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE BOOK IS…
Death Of A Naturalist by Seamus Heaney, which is a poetry collection. I love poems because I constantly go back to them, and reread them over and over again. This was Heaney’s first major published volume. It consists of 34 short poems, largely about childhood experiences and the formulation of adult identities, family relationships and Irish rural life. The collection begins with one of Heaney’s best-known poems, Digging, which is one of my all-time favourites.
MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER FROM A BOOK IS…
Jimmy Rabbitte from Roddy Doyle’s
The Commitments. I just love the dialogue in Roddy’s books. It makes me feel like I’m back in Dublin (in fact, Dublin is almost a character in his books). Jimmy Rabbitte is a music fanatic, trying to manage up-and-coming Dublin band The Commitments, and help them fulfil their goal of bringing soul to the city. Jimmy is a chancer.
I love chancers! I also love his passion for music and his banter is hilarious.
THE ONE BOOK I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ IS…
Animal by Sara Pascoe. Sara is a brilliant comedian, but this is far more than a funny book. I think I learned more from this book than any other I’ve ever read! She considers love, her body and having babies to offer provocative perspectives on the world. It’s funny, sad, engaging and enlightening.
MY FAVOURITE LINE FROM A BOOK IS…
‘There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you’, from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Never a truer word spoken – we all have stories to be shared.
THE BOOK THAT GOT ME THROUGH A DIFFICULT TIME WAS…
Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig. It’s about making the most of our time on Earth, something we can all take for granted, and is based on Matt’s experience of depression. It’s a moving yet joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive.
THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY WAS…
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It follows his bestselling debut, The Kite Runner and tells the story of Mariam, an illegitimate child who suffers from both the stigma surrounding her birth and the abuse she faces throughout her marriage. I bawled my eyes out reading this; proper ugly crying on a bus! When I read it again in lockdown, at least I was in the privacy of my own home.
MY FAVOURITE BOOK AS A CHILD WAS…
Matilda by Roald Dahl. I was probably around five years old, like Matilda, when my mum read it to me for the first time. I adored the illustrations by Quentin Blake that brought big characters, such as Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey, to life. It’s a book that made me fall in love with reading books.