Ever wondered which books the stars take to bed? Wonder no more, as a string of famous names reveal their favourite reads by female writers for a new Twitter campaign
There’s nothing like losing yourself in a good book, but how many books have actually changed your life? Jennifer Saunders, Susanna Reid and Dawn O’Porter are just some of the stars backing the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction’s £ThisBook campaign, to find the nation’s favourite books written by women.
Here are their picks. Now choose yours…
MARY BEARD, CLASSICS PROFESSOR
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
“Jane Eyre was the first ’grown-up book’ I ever read and, for a little while, I became Jane Eyre. It’s a book I’ve come back to over my life – so almost 50 years. I’ve read it again and again and it’s always been different.”
JENNIFER SAUNDERS, COMEDIENNE
Dust by Patricia Cornwell
“This book is not laugh-out-loud murder, it’s quite serious murder. It’s like being at an autopsy – but through a lot of glass.”
EDITH BOWMAN, RADIO DJ
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
“When I read The Lovely Bones 10 years ago, I had a massive connection with it because of my own loss. No book has brought out as much emotion in me as The Lovely Bones. In good ways and in bad ways, but in ways which are very necessary.”
SUSANNA REID, TV PRESENTER
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
“It makes you ask questions about the influence we have on our children, and how we subconsciously send messages to them which we’re not even aware of. It’s an exceptionally powerful book.”
SAFFRON BURROWS, ACTRESS
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
“I remember feeling incredibly connected to this tale of someone who’d lived a very different experience from me. It’s a book for anyone who wants to fall in love with storytelling, be moved by something and come to life afresh.”
SANDI TOKSVIG, PRESENTER
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
“I read this book when I was 11 and thought, ’That is what I want to do. I want to write funny things’. So honestly, this is the book that charted the course that my career has taken. It’s probably the book that changed my life.”
MARTHA LANE FOX, BUSINESSWOMAN
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
“Mary Barton flipped a switch in my mind forever. It had a big impact on my life because I’ve always been interested in social change and social responsibility. I read it as a teenager, when I was really trying to figure out things like: Is selling stuff OK? What’s consumerism about? What’s industrialisation? What is a good person?”
CAITLIN MORAN, COLUMNIST
Two Pence To Cross The Mersey by Helen Forrester
“Two Pence To Cross The Mersey told me what my life would have been like 50 years earlier and the result was horrible. I read this giving thankfulness for my life. That’s when I started to learn about the history of England and how things had changed.”
KATE MOSSE, AUTHOR
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
“Wuthering Heights is a novel I’ve read during each decade of my life, and it’s a different book each time: a ghost story, a story of obsessive love, a story of race and social expectation. And with this one novel, Emily Bronte released us from the confines of the domestic and changed the rules of what was acceptable for women to write.”
DAWN O’PORTER, PRESENTER
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
“I read it at 17 and it spoke to me more than any other book I’d read. I read it again recently, I’m 35 now, and it spoke to me just as loudly as it did when I was 17. It’s a reminder to be who you are, whatever stage in life you’re at.”
TANNI GREY-THOMPSON, PARALYMPIC MEDALLIST
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
“I don’t want to read books that resemble real life because I deal with a lot of real life every single day. That’s why I love reading genres like this; because it’s complete escapism from the day-to-day.”
JOANNA TROLLOPE, AUTHOR
The Towers Of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
“My copy of The Towers Of Trebizond is cherished. I feel it’s been around a lot of my life. I’ve certainly read it every decade. I also read it aloud to my children. I’ll read it aloud to anybody who will stand still long enough to be read to.”
:The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction wants readers to pick their favourite book written by a woman on Twitter, using the £ThisBook hashtag, or by visiting www.thisbook.com. The nation’s £ThisBook Top 20 will be announced in July.