1: What was the book that most influenced your life -- and why?

2: What are your ten favorite books -- and why?

3: Favorite films?

4: Favorite music?

5: If you had a book club, what would it be reading -- and why?

6: What are your favorite books to give -- and get -- as gifts?

7: Who are your favorite writers, and what makes their writing special?

8: What are you working on now?

9: Give us three "Good to Know" facts about you. Be creative. Tell us about your first job, the inspiration for your writing, any fun details that would enliven your page.

10: What else do you want your readers to know? Consider here your likes and dislikes, your interests and hobbies, your favorite ways to unwind -- whatever comes to mind.












1:What was the book that most influenced your life -- and why?

Probably 'Alice in Wonderland' as it was the first book I remember picking up to read of my own volition, aged perhaps eight or nine. The Cheshire Cat's nonsequitous behavior, the Duchess, the 'off with his head!' Queen of Hearts, and croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs are as familiar to me as my own backyard. I think the mix of highbrow and nonsense greatly appealed to me; Lewis Carroll was an extremely intelligent man yet could make humorous connections in his writings that are as fresh, full of genuine charm and as delightful now as they were in the late nineteenth century. I still have that very same copy of 'Alice' in my library today.

2: What are your ten favorite books -- and why?

Always a tricky one this. Ten excellent books that I can read again and again (in no particular order)

1: 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Alice through the looking glass' (Lewis Carroll) Nonsense of the highest order, yet to be surpassed. Extraordinary invention on many levels. Read it as a child and later as an adult - you'll get different things from it. Special Mention: The Jabberwock wearing spats and a tunic in John Tenniel's excellent illustration.

2:'Three Men in a Boat' (Jerome K Jerome) A book that I still laugh out loud whilst reading. Fresh and joyous self-deprecating humor of lazy Victorian gentleman going for a cruise on the Thames in the late nineteenth century. I challenge anyone to read the 'Taking two cheeses by train' story without smirking. Special Mention: Montmorency the dog, cooking with a spirit stove and trying to open a tin.

3: 'Diary of a Nobody' (Bert and Weedon Grossmith) Again, a book of infinite charm written over a hundred years ago but still relevant to us today. Follow Charles Pooter, a middle class clerk as he attempts social climbing, dealing with his dissolute son Lupin and all the 'fads' of the time, with highly amusing consequences. Special Mention: The Pooter's odd friends, Cumming and Gowing, Parlour games, the bootscraper incident and the Mansion House Ball spelling mistake.

4: Slaughterhouse-5 (Kurt Vonnegut) A bizarre and surreal story that spans time-travel, the bombing of Dresden and conventions of Optometrists with a style, pace and verve that is extraordinary. Special Mention: The Tralfamadorian's centipede view of the life cycle of a human.

5: Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Much has been written about this book and it is all true. One of the finest, if not THE finest books of the twentieth century. Especially notable for the way in which the narrative unfolds as we go from character to character. The section where Milo Minderbinder explains to Yossarian how he can sell eggs cheaper than he bought them and still make a profit is quite simply a delight. Special Mention: The catch itself. It's the best there is.

6: To Kill a Mocking Bird (Harper Lee) Made a great impression on me when I first read it aged twelve and still makes me angry and frustrated after the verdict - you can feel the heat in the courtroom! Special Mention: The truth about Boo Radley.

7: The Little Prince (Antoine De St. Exupery) Allegorical children's book that continues to enthrall and delight. Oddly, St. Exupery wrote and illustrated this on a whim - the rest of his writing is good but does not reach the heights of 'Prince'. Perhaps because he wasn't trying and the door opened to his heart. Special Mention: The rose, the fox and the baobab trees. I never looked at one the same way ever again.

8: Summer Lightning (P.G.Wodehouse) I mention this one book although I dearly love all of Wodehouse's writing. 'Summer Lightning' is probably the most indicative of his work. A story set at Blandings Castle in Shropshire In the twenties, it has all the Wodehouse elements: Forbidden love trysts in the rose garden, idiot sons, fearful aunts, damaging unpublished memoirs, theft, intrigue, pretty dancers and an impostor - there is always at least one at Castle Blandings. Special Mention: Empress Blandings, winner of the Shropshire Fat Pig Competition - Lord Emsworth hopes.

9: Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh). Again, I mention this book but his others are equally as good; 'Scoop' being my next favorite. 'Decline and Fall' has an episodic quality that I enjoy immensely and snaps along with a dry humor to die for. Special Mention: Captain Grimes and Margot Beste-Chetwynde. Comic creations with depth and humor.

10: The Calculus Affair (Herge (George Remi)) I'm a long-time Tintin fan and he remains a big inspiration for story telling. 'The Calculus Affair' is one of the later books and probably the best. By this time Herge's illustrations, characterization and humor was never better. The story about secret inventions and kidnappings by foreign powers just snaps along at a breakneck speed. Tank, Helicopter and car chases - this book is like a movie on paper! Special Mention: The locations drawn in the book are for real. You can visit them.



3: Favorite films?

Again, in no particular order:

1: The Third Man - Orson Welles, murder, mystery and zinger lines in post-war Vienna
2: 2001 - A space Odyssey - Kubrick's Arthur C Clarke story. Overlong yet strangely compelling space saga.
3: Harvey - Hapless drunk James Stewart adventures with 6' 3" rabbit/pooka.
4: Always - Fire-fighting love story with Catalinas, Audrey Hepburn and Holly Hunter by Steven Spielberg
5: Some Like it Hot - The situation comedy par excellence from Billy Wilder
6: Sunset Boulevard - Cock a snook at Hollywood with style, verve, and the best line in movies: 'I am still big. It's the movies that got small!" - Billy Wilder
7: ChinaTown - Roman Polanski's film of a script by Robert Towne that is probably the finest ever written. Houston, Nicholson and Dunaway have never been better.
8: Raiders of the Lost Ark - High quality action-adventure which brings forth gasps and laughs with equal intensity - Steven Spielberg
9: The Man with Two Brains - A comedy with a wonderfully ludicrous plot concerning a brain surgeon and a serial killer who turns out to be Merv Griffin. Fantastic dead-pan buffoonery from Steve Martin
10: The Sting - Redford/Newman paired once again. Amusing, surprising and atmospheric. Scott Joplin would have been proud.
11: Strictly Ballroom - Simply told yet delightful ballroom comedy from Baz Lurhman
12: Blood Simple - "Dead in the heart of Texas". Thriller from the Cohen's with more twists and turns than a switchback
14:The Outlaw Josey Wales - Phil Kaufman the unsung hero of this post civil war epic from Clint Eastwood
15: Shakespeare in Love - Delightfully full of acting and Shakespearean in-jokes and more talent in cast and crew than you can shake a stick at.
16: Toy Story - Fun and hi-jinxs on the bedroom floor from Pixar. Lots about friendship and fitting in - and just great fun. Apparently Woody now does voice-overs for Tom Hanks
17: Richard III - Olivier hamming it up with a hideous false nose but immensely enjoyable nonetheless. And Gielgud as Clarence, too! Richard III made funny - only Olivier can do this!
18: Laurence of Arabia - David Lean could not have brought TE Lawrence's story to the screen any better. Peter O'Toole is stupendous - deserves the honorary Oscar like no other!
19: The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco's homage to Sherlock Holmes brought to the screen. Murder and mayhem in 13th century Italy. Get 007 on the case


4: Favorite music?

I have a very varied taste in music. Everything from Rap to Classical to Latino to bratpack to Jazz. I'm very fond of Vivaldi, much like Miss Havisham, and Mozart, Tchiakovski, Pachabel. Curiously, I also have an inexplicable soft spot for seventies music. Diana Ross, Blondie, ELO, SuperTramp, BeeGees - you name it.

5: If you had a book club, what would it be reading -- and why?

Any of the books on my favorite list - for the reasons stated.

6: What are your favorite books to give -- and get -- as gifts?

Favorite books to get are usually reference books as I do like facts. To give - my own ones. Is that pompous? I expect it is.

7: Who are your favorite writers, and what makes their writing special?

Any of those stated in the 'Favorite Books' section

8: What are you working on now?

The fourth book in the Thursday Next series.

9: Give us three "Good to Know" facts about you. Be creative. Tell us about your first job, the inspiration for your writing, any fun details that would enliven your page.

Fforde Ffact Number one: The names of my editors and agents are all hidden in the text of my books - sometimes as anagrams, other times spelt out but bisected by punctuation. My UK editor appears as the Welsh bookshop assistant 'Haelwyn the Book' in The Eyre Affair - she has the in-joke line: 'Every day I read stories, now I can be in one!'

Fforde Ffact Number Two: I got the idea for Pickwick, Thursday's pet dodo, from a visit to the Oxford Natural History museum. There was a stuffed dodo there and a withered foot and beak - the only physical evidence aside from bones that they were ever alive at all. I pondered for a bit and then asked the woman at the museum shop if I could buy a dodo home-cloning kit. She told me to come back in twenty years. That weekend, I wrote in Pickwick.

Fforde Ffact Number Three: The name of Thursday's Husband, Landen Parke-Laine, comes from what happens if you are playing monopoly and land on the first of the blue set - a US translation might be 'Landen Boarde-Walke'. Hence his parent's names, mentioned in 'Lost in a Good Book' are 'Houson Parke-Laine' and 'Billden Parke-Laine'.

10: What else do you want your readers to know? Consider here your likes and dislikes, your interests and hobbies, your favorite ways to unwind -- whatever comes to mind.

Likes: My partner, my children, bread & butter pudding, fresh bread, travel, movies, sculpture, books, Aeroplanes, dogs and wide open spaces.

Dislikes: Instant coffee, whelks, okra, marzipan, pompous people, traffic jams, Daphne Farquitt novels.

Interests: Stuff. Anything that we humans get up to. Art, history, archeology, architecture. Comedy, invention, satire. Broad interests!

Hobbies: Aviation. Big one this. I have a pilot's license and fly whenever I can, the flying wires of my 1937 Tiger Moth singing a delicate symphony in the slipstream above the hills and valleys of Wales.

Click here to go back to Questionarium