Best books… Arthur Mathews

The co-writer of Father Ted chooses his favourite books. His own new book, The Cummings Files – Confidential: Thoughts, Ideas, Actions by Dominic Cummings (Faber £9.99), is a spoof diary of the former special adviser

Zany Afternoons by Bruce McCall, 1982 (Knopf, out of print). McCall’s collection of his humorous illustrated pieces for The New Yorker, National Lampoon, etc. A great artist and a very funny writer.

Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown, 2017 (Fourth Estate £9.99). Brown’s hugely entertaining book about Princess Margaret contains many marvellous anecdotes. I could also have happily included Brown’s One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time, another absolute joy.

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth, 1969 (Vintage £8.99). Look! A novel! (I don’t read many.) Roth’s account of Portnoy’s revelations to his psychoanalyst is a tortured tale of sexual frustration. I remember laughing very loudly at one particularly explicit passage. If you’re going to be rude, really, really go for it.

Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi, 2007 (Norton, out of print). Bugliosi’s exploration of the JFK assassination centres on debunking conspiracy theories; it lists 42 organisations and 214 individuals accused of killing the president. He has a good line about Oliver Stone’s ludicrous JFK movie: “Not everything about JFK is inaccurate – he does get the name of the victim and the date of the assassination right.”

The Green Flag by Robert Kee, 1972 (Penguin £16.99). Kee’s magisterial three-volume account of the story of Irish nationalism was written in the early 1970s, just as the conflict in Northern Ireland was entering a particularly violent phase. He later made a popular TV series, Ireland: A Television History, based on the book.

Edward Bawden and His Circle by Malcolm Yorke, 2005 (ACC Art Books, out of print). This is a wonderful book featuring Bawden’s fabulous book illustrations, war paintings and etchings alongside the work of many of his fellow artists who also lived in the Essex village of Great Bardfield in the 1950s.

Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop on 020-3176 3835. For out-of-print books visit biblio.co.uk