Best books… Clarissa Ward

CNN’s chief international correspondent chooses her five favourite books. Her memoir, On All Fronts (Penguin Press £20), which documents her reporting on everything from the 2004 tsunami to the Syrian uprising, is out now In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman, 2014 (Picador £9.99). This epic novel touches on so many of the big themes of recent history – from 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan to the financial crisis of 2008. It addresses class and privilege in a refreshing and thoughtful way, and the characters are so vivid that they haunted me for weeks after I finished reading it. Electrifyingly brilliant.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, 1951 (Penguin £8.99). Every American reads this coming-of-age novel at least twice. The first time it made me laugh; the second time it made me cry. Both are correct responses. You cannot help but love the rebellious protagonist, Holden Caulfield, with his visceral aversion to “phoney” adult society. Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War by Deborah Copaken Kogan, 2000 (Random House $18.00). As a journalist starting out on the overnight assignment desk (the very bottom of the totem pole), I found this book thrilling. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, Kogan seamlessly weaves her story, including her romantic entanglements, with the stories she reported on.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 1869 (Vintage £10.99). I studied Russian literature at university and always favoured Tolstoy over Dostoevsky. War and Peace is quite possibly the greatest novel ever written. I still often think of Natasha and the peasant’s dance. It’s amazing when a scene remains vivid in your mind for so long after first reading it.

Lenin’s Tomb by David Remnick, 1993 (Vintage, out of print). Remnick writes so beautifully about the pain and promise of the glasnost and perestroika era that precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union. More importantly, he captures Russia and its people with depth and sensitivity.