on my shelf
Designer and icon Vivienne Westwood reveals the books that have changed her life.
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
This beautiful and monumental book follows the people who were ruined by the Dust Bowl – a period of severe drought and dust storms in the US during the ’30s. Steinbeck travelled and lived with the migrants and wrote the novel within six months. It tells you so much about the US at that time, the suffering of the people and how they were exploited. I love the characters. The protagonist Tom Joad is a real hero: he’s willing to sacrifice everything for the people because he sees how they’re being treated and he believes in democracy. The lesson I take from it is the potential to grow with your experience, to be open to it and up for it, and to stick your neck out.
THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN by Aldous Huxley
To me, Huxley is the greatest English writer of the 20th century. I would never have become the person I am or have the mind that I have, had I not read his work. This is a riveting account of politics in 17th-century France – anybody who wants to know what Europe is about should read it. You have to be a fit reader but don’t let that put you off. Often when I’m reading I don’t quite absorb the message, but I carry on and try to work it out.
STONER by John Williams
This book was written in the ’60s but unexpectedly became a bestseller in 2013. Some people say it’s sad the protagonist, a farm boy who goes on to have an undistinguished career as a teacher, doesn’t recognise his full potential, but he does because he was true to himself throughout his life. It’s the most amazing account of a human being and I’ve never seen such a testimony to the genius of the human race. It’s incredibly profound.
THE STORY OF THE STONE by Cao Xueqin
This was my most important reading experience. It’s as if I’ve lived two lives – my own and those of the characters. It’s one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels and was written in the 18th century. It charts the decline of an illustrious Chinese Buddhist family. At the centre is Jia Baoyu, who was born with a magical jade in his mouth, but it also contains probably the most romantic heroine of all time, his love interest Lin Daiyu. The things they say to each other and the things they do!
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov
This is the last full book I read. It has a Faustian theme to it, which I enjoyed because I want to rework Faust to explain climate change – how Mephistopheles, the fabled Faustian demon, would be in the media – so at the moment my reading is focused on that. It’s about a time in Russia when people disappeared without a reason and nobody asked where they went. It’s also about magic and the devil; it’s stunning but hilarious as well.