MY SIX BEST BOOKS

KATE GARRAWAY, 50, is an ITV breakfast-time host who has fronted GMTV Today and Good Morning Britain. Her book about turning 50, The Joy Of Big Knickers (Blink, £8.99), is out in paperback next week. BIRDSONG

by Sebastian Faulks

Vintage, £8.99 My all-time favourite. He was a journalist so his language is unflowery yet wonderfully romantic. It’s a love story set in the First World War, a mesmerising period for me. My grandfather lost his parents in the war. His dad died digging tunnels, described so well that you’re there, then his mother died of a broken heart. THE BOLDS

by Julian Clary

Andersen Press, £6.99 This is a brilliant piece of children’s literature. My son particularly finds it hilarious. The Bolds are a family of hyenas masquerading as humans and living in Teddington. It looks in a very funny way at how we judge people. MARGE AND THE GREAT TRAIN RESCUE

by Isla Fisher

Piccadilly, £5.99 I’ve just read this to my children. Marge is an eccentric babysitter with coloured hair who can’t resist an adventure. At bedtime we read two pages each and I do different voices. WUTHERING HEIGHTS

by Emily Brontë

Vintage, £6.99 The book I loved when I was a child. We were camping in Brontë country and the way she describes the landscape turned a wet holiday into a brooding, romantic storm of excitement. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

by Jane Austen

Vintage Classics, £7.99 I didn’t like this at school. I found it annoying and petty but I feel awful about that. I see it differently now. I came to it after watching the TV version which found the humour and passion beneath. DREAMS FROM MY FATHER

by Barack Obama

Canongate, £9.99 A great example of a genre I love: political autobiographies. I know the politics is often skewed and they’re representing their own history in the best light but people who have risen to power and struggled to do good work in public life are fascinating.