MY LIFE IN BOOKS
Author Kate Forster has been widely read since she was a child – from romance to histor y, and the science of sleep!
I had access to my mother’s bookshelf and a very good library as a child, so I was exposed to books of all genres and for all ages. My mother cer tainly didn’t censor anything I read and as a result I loved reading. I read ever ything from Jilly Cooper to Charles
Dickens and Sidney
Sheldon. I also loved reading poetr y and the dictionar y, because I loved the etymology of words. Books that make me lose time when I read them are always the best. I’m not a literar y snob so I read a lot of romance – hence the Jilly Cooper – and self help, poetr y, and historical fiction such as Lauren Chater and Sarah Donnant.
As a child, I loved Trixie Beldon novels, Enid Blyton, Elizabeth Goudge books and E.Nesbit. I adored Swallows and Amazons, and the Malor y Towers books. Anything where children got to be adultlike in their decision making. I was an early dissenter!
I grew up on big bonkbusters. Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran, Sidney Sheldon. I loved them and my first books echoed these, but they have matured with the market and now I write my own thing in my own way.
Lace by Shirley Conran was a real page turner and created a new genre. It was so outrageous at the time of publishing.
When I need comfort, I always turn to poetry books. I love E.E. Cummings and Addonizio.
I thought Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker might be boring but it was so intelligent and readable. It made me work on my sleep and star t prioritising it, as I understand now how it impacts you when you don’t.
With its iconic opening line, I was entranced from the moment I started to read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier as a teenager. The terrifying Mrs Danvers and the ghost of Rebecca have stayed with me for years to come. One of the things I love is that we never know the name of the protagonist but we know the name of Max De Winters dead wife, for whom the book is named. It’s a wonder ful, compelling book that is still being read and enjoyed now.
Sugar – the once-anonymous online columnist at The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wild – is the person thousands turn to for advice. I return to this book when I need an infusion of hope and perspective and laughter and sometimes tears. The compassion and wisdom in this book spills over the pages and it is a salve and balm for those who might be feeling a little lost at times.