Best books… Adrian Edmondson

The actor, comedian and author chooses his five favourite novels. His latest book, Berserker!: An Autobiography (Pan £10.99), is out now in paperback

The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson, 2022 (Pan £9.99). In a chaotic, crumbling house in north London, an ageing, selfobsessed tyrant wants everyone and everything to shout that he is a better artist than his wife. But he isn’t, and he “tends his grudge like a sacred lamp”. A vicious and darkly funny novel, with a deeply satisfying comeuppance.

Leviathan by Paul Auster, 1992 (Faber £9.99). I hadn’t heard of Auster until I saw his recent obituary and was recommended this as a starting point. It’s set in 1980s America but reads like film noir. Narrated by his friend, it tells the story of an author who loses faith in his writing and turns to direct, violent action as an art form. Bizarre, but strangely plausible. I’m already onto the next one.

Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan, 2020 (Faber £9.99). A loving examination of a male friendship. It starts with a group of young Glaswegian teens having a wild weekend at a 1980s post-punk festival in Manchester, and ends with a visit to Dignitas a few decades later. Heartbreaking yet joyfully triumphant.

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, 1988- 2013 (Pan £9.99-£10.99 each). I read all five back to back and was bereft when there were no more. It’s a family saga that runs through the Second World War and into the 1950s. Everything is in decay – the old order, the business, the house, marriages, the world in general. There’s a cast of whining, priggish, selfish wastrels, bullies and sops – and it’s extraordinary how she makes them all so lovable.

Weirdo by Sara Pascoe, 2023 (Faber £9.99). Most comedians write thinly disguised drama scripts with themselves as the main character, but this is the real deal. We’re trapped inside Sophie’s over-analysing head, and she’s trapped in a more or less permanent state of paranoia. Feverish and savagely funny.