Books

I thought it would be easy to choose my Top 10 books, but it has been anything but. My list quickly expanded well beyond the limit I’d set myself, and I was soon faced with a list of nearly 30 books.

At one point I thought of breaking them down into different categories – for example, there are no sports books in my final selection – but I decided, as a starting point, to choose these 10.

There may be more added in the future.

• The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck
  A beautiful and moving book with an ending that would make anyone cry – well, I had a tear or two in my eyes. Everything about The Grapes of Wrath is perfect, and Steinbeck’s writing is just incredible. His description of the food that is cooked and eaten on the road makes your mouth water. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Everyone should read this at least once in their life.

• The Cone Gatherers: Robin Jenkins
  Scotland’s greatest writer, and his greatest book. I would make it compulsory for this book to be taught in Scottish schools – I certainly wish we’d studied it when I was at school – as it would introduce a lot of people to the genius of Jenkins. He also wrote one of the best football fiction novels I’ve ever read – The Thistle and the Grail – but The Cone Gatherers should be recognised, not just as a classic Scottish novel, but as a great novel full stop.

• The Sportwriter: Richard Ford
  The first part of Richard Ford’s brilliant trilogy featuring Frank Bascombe, I read this book when I was roughly the same age as Frank was in the book, which is why I think it resonated so strongly with me. The Sportswriter is not a book about sport but about a man trying to find a sense of identity while struggling with the pressures of life. Read it, along with Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and enjoy.

• A Suitable Boy: Vikram Seth
  It’s a big book and was a bit intimidating the first time I picked it up, but it was one of the easiest and most enjoyable books I’ve ever read. It’s set in post-independence, post-partition India, and tells the story of a mother’s search for a suitable boy to marry her daughter. It’s a wonderfully entertaining tale and will keep you captivated from start to finish. Don’t be put off by the size! It doesn’t matter.

• The Road: Cormac McCarthy
  This book is simply incredible, one of the best books I have ever read. I couldn’t put it down. It made me want to write something moving and meaningful though at the same time I realised I would never be able to produce anything that gets anywhere near the standard of Cormac McCarthy in The Road.

• The Three Musketeers: Alexandre Dumas
  A swashbuckling adventure that I always find entertaining and certainly inspirational when it came to writing Saints and Sinners. I think The Three Musketeers is the absolute benchmark for historical adventure novels and I find myself going back to it again and again. I’m still striving to reach that level.

• Charlie & the Chocolate Factory: Roald Dahl
  My favourite book from childhood, and I always wish I could find a Wonka Bar that tastes as good as how they sound in the book. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a wonderful tale and I even enjoyed both of the film versions of the book.

• The Clan of the Cave Bear: Jean M. Auel
  I read this book on holiday and it blew me away. It’s one of the few times I’ve read a book and been so absorbed and engrossed in it that I’ve never wanted it to end. It’s the first book in the brilliant Earth Children’s series, and it remains my favourite. It’s an unexpected treasure.

• Me and Ma Gal: Des Dillon
  A brilliant book by a brilliant Scottish writer. Me and Ma Gal is another book that should be taught in our schools and also heralded throughout the land. It’s a brilliantly captivating novel that is funny at points and chillingly dark at other times.

• Oliver Twist: Charles Dickens
  Every list of favourite books should include a novel by Charles Dickens. It was a tough choice between Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, but I went with Oliver Twist just because it was the first Dickens novel I read.

You can email me at author@paulcuddihy.com and let me know what you think of my choices, or if you want to let me know what would be in your Top 10.