The Books that Made Me - Mr Collins, Director of English

We are asking members of staff to share ‘the books that made them’.  Below are the choices of Mr Collins, Director of English

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The book that I am currently reading: I’ve been a sucker for crime fiction since my teens and it is the genre I return to most often; I’m currently reading “Broken Harbour” by Tana French, which is the fourth book in the Dublin Murder series, four standalone novels linked by setting and overlapping characters - well plotted, tense and beautifully written.

My favourite book as a child: an impossible question to answer (and not just because it was so long ago) - I was definitively one of those kids reading books under the covers by torchlight, and, like lots of children, I went through different phases; I had a fantasy period (almost obligatory for teenage boys) reading David Geddings and Raymond E Feist, my crime fiction addiction started with Agatha Christie, Stephen King introduced me to horror, Pratchett and, especially, Douglas Adams to the world of comedy and reading Watership Down by Douglas Adams was an intense experience but, if I had to choose one book, it would be A Rag, A Bone and A Hank of Hair - a dark dystopian sci-if chiller by Nicholas Fisk.

The last book that made me cry: these books are few and far between, it has to be said. I can only think of one: The World According to Garp - beware of the undertow. No spoilers.

The last book that made me laugh: this category is almost as sparse as the previous one - lots of books can provoke a wry smile (I recommend Christopher Brookmyre, who manages to combine crime and comedy expertly) and Catch 22 is a classic, but for making me laugh out loud, it would have to be The World According to Garp again - for a book to be able to do one of those things is unusual enough, to be able to do both - genius.

My comfort read: any well written crime novel - John Connolly`s Charlie Parker series is my absolute favourite - I buy them as soon as they come out and gobble them up immediately; Minette Walters, Reginald Hill, Val McDermid amongst others; I also really enjoy the Jack Reacher books - I know they’re formulaic and generic but they’re also very well plotted and easy to read, which is what you want from a comfort point of view.

The one book everyone should read: another question that is very difficult to answer. Obviously, everyone should be reading as much and as often as possible, and as widely as possible, there are thousands of brilliant books out there, and I am writing for a teenage audience, so I’m going to recommend a range:

• Northern Lights by Philip Pullman - read the first book and immediately went out and bought the other two books in the trilogy - stunning series.
• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - starts with the demolition of the Earth by bad poetry writing aliens and just sets off from there - brilliant.
• A Rag, A Bone and A Hank of Hair - see above.
  
• Roll off Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor - the black American experience enduring the Depression.
• Noughts and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman - provocative, thoughtful and very well written.

For older readers:

• Beloved by Toni Morrison - bleak, dark but beautiful account of slavery life.
  
• The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood - dystopian novel which seems so prescient.
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy - bleakly beautiful, or beautifully bleak.

The majority of the books that Mr Collins has recommended are available to borrow from the EPHS Libraries.