Mick Jackson: The Book That…
As his latest novel hits the bookshops, we find out what books have made a significant impression on Mick Jackson.
Made me laugh…
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan – I read this when I was sharing a room with my brother. He used to fall asleep before me. I remember laughing so hard I had to bury my head in my pillow so that I didn’t wake him up.
I first loved…
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Something of a cliché these days, but true.
I keep by my bedside …
Coasting by Jonathan Raban and Great Plains by Ian Frazier.
I want to read next is…
The Wonder Book of Science (a 1950s children’s book I recently picked up in a charity shop).
I loved as a child…
Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven stories.
Made me cry…
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery.
Changed my life…
The Tokyo-Montana Express by Richard Brautigan. It’s such an eccentric, heartfelt book. I kind of fell in love with the author and he’s been something of a hero of mine ever since. But it also made me appreciate that books can take just about any form you like as long as you write them with conviction.
I will read to my children…
That’s Not My Puppy / Train / Car etc by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells, and pretty much anything by Eric Carle.
I would read on holiday…
The Good Beer Guide edited by Roger Protz (Camra’s guide to the best British pubs).
I would read at Christmas…
Whatever I’ve just been given as a gift – usually the latest instalment from Clive James’s autobiography (by the way, there’s no irony here – I’m a big Clive James fan).
Kept me awake at night…
Flannery O’Connor.
Mick Jackson’s second novel, Five Boys (2001), was described in the Sunday Times as ‘vibrant, happily eccentric and a joy to read’. His previous novel, The Underground Man (1998), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award, and was the winner of the Royal Society of Authors’ First novel Award. He is also the author of the acclaimed oddity, Ten Sorry Tales (2005). His most recent novel, A Widow’s Tale, is out now in paperback.
