My six best books- Larry Lamb
LARRY LAMB, 65, is an English actor best known for playing Archie Mitchell in EastEnders and Michael Shipman in Gavin & Stacey
Friends in High Places: Who Runs Britain?
by Jeremy Paxman
Out of print
I didn’t appreciate how far the church, politics, the law, the military and universities are all a part of a system that has evolved over a thousand years and basically runs the country.
It was an education as much as an eye opener.
The Earth: La Terre
by Émile Zola
Penguin, £12.99
I was starting to spend a lot of time in Normandy and this book gives you an insight into the nature of the Norman peasants as people who live by the earth. I was about 40 when I read it in English. I could read it in French now.
I read a lot of Zola back then, in my early French period.
All The Pretty Horses
by Cormac McCarthy
Picador, £7.99
Having lived in America and worked in the construction business, those kind of country boys from the south-west were the sort of people I’d worked with but I’d never been down into their territory.
It’s evocative of the cowboy ethos. An amazing book.
Bright Shiny Morning
by James Frey
Harper, £8.99
The third in line after My Friend Leonard and A Million Little Pieces. His open-ended, constantly rolling writing style is so extraordinary.
He’s a brilliant storyteller. I found the book fascinating. It was an introduction to My Friend Leonard which was the most extraordinary. It turned me on to him completely.
The Audacity of Hope
by Barack Obama
Canongate, £9.99
I read this and Dreams From My Father. With Audacity you get an insight into his relationship with Michelle.
I read this and Dreams From My Father. With Audacity you get an insight into his relationship with Michelle
She’s really the essence of what America really needs and the best thing in the world would be if Michelle Obama became the next president.
Obama was very candid about being a human being, so unusual in politicians. Certainly I felt I got to know the man and more importantly the woman.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
Fourth Estate, £9.99
This book will take you on the most amazing journey. I had no idea whatsoever about the world of American comics in the Forties.
That’s the power of the man to create. I was so caught up with Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union that I grabbed hold of Kavalier & Clay.