My Six Best Books: Toyah Willcox
TOYAH WILCOX, 53, is a punk singer, actress and TV presenter.
She is married to the musician Robert Fripp and is best known for her singles It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free. She will be part of the Rewind The 80s Festival from August 19 to 21 at Henley-on-Thames. For more information go to www.rewindfestival.com
The End Of Overeating
by David Kessler
Penguin, £9.99
I love books about food and couldn’t put this one down. It’s about taking control of our insatiable appetites and the way the food industry has used sugar, salt and fat to cause compulsive eating. I couldn’t put it down.
Parallel Worlds
by Michio Kaku
Penguin, £10.99
I’m still halfway through this book about the science of alternative universes and the future of the cosmos and it’s just fabulous. It says our planet won’t live for ever but it does not matter because the universe will and there are parallel worlds within it. It blows my head off which is what I like from a book.
Outliers: The Story Of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell
Penguin, £9.99
This is all about timelines to success and readjusting our thinking. Gladwell argues that success is coincidence, that Bill Gates wouldn’t have had the success he’s had if he’d been born in another time. However, I think it’s more than that.
Talking Theatre
by Richard Eyre
Out of Print
Former National Theatre director Richard Eyre has interviewed actors and playwrights including David Hare and Tom Stoppard to get their take on theatre and what it means to them. If I am doing theatre it is a different experience every day but with the same words.
Victorian Pantomime: A Collection of Critical Essays
edited by Jim Davis
Palgrave Macmillan, £50
Pantomime is a vilified subject I have a huge passion for: I do it every year. This fabulous book traces it from its origins looking in depth at the performers, their travelling lives and the beginning of Vaudeville.
Under The Skin
by Michel Faber
Canongate, £7.99
I have read everything Michel Faber has ever written and love that his science fiction prose takes you to another world. In this an alien disguises herself as a human and drives up and down the A9 looking for hitchhikers. I can’t wait for it to be dramatised. I love horror and this is a book I give to all my friends.