WHATBOOK..? STUART MacBRIDE

. . . are you reading now?

MEMORANDUM by Anders de la Motte. I’m only on page 73, but so far so good. We’ve got a cop with no memory, a former thug investigating his brother’s death and a sinister conspiracy of some kind. And, thankfully, none of it’s been explained yet in a big expositional lump. I like it when writers trust their readers to think for themselves.

. . . would you take to a desert island?

MY GRANDFATHER gave me The Scientific American Boy by A. Russell Bond when I was seven. Published in 1906, it’s full of useful info on how to build bridges, canoes, snow shoes (you can’t trust the weather on a desert island), make your own tent, grass house, or log cabin . . . No power tools needed!

. . . first gave you the reading bug?

THE House At Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne — I spent many happy hours exploring the Hundred Acre Wood with Pooh and Piglet. I know a lot of serious, grown-up writers who look down their noses at children’s literature, but these are the books that stay with us our whole lives.

. . . left you cold?

AS DOSTOEVSKY’S been dead for 135 years, I’m sure I won’t hurt his feelings by comparing Crime And Punishment to a slow uphill slog with an angry badger duct-taped to my back. I’m not sure if it was a bad translation or not, but I struggled for two years with that book before giving up.