“MY FIRST love was literature and I grew up reading novels. Here are 10 books, in no particular order, that have affected me in a profound way,” said Guleraana Mir.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie: This is a story of where stories come from, and at the same time explores how Haroun and his father cope when Haroun’s mother leaves them for the neighbour. I love Rushdie’s use of Hindi words as names of characters and places alluding to the idea of censorship and silence. Anything Rushdie writes is magical, but this one is extra special.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: When Angelou was challenged to write an autobiography that could be considered ‘literature’, she delivered this. It demonstrates how a young woman’s love of reading helped her blossom into a resilient woman of colour in an America plagued by racism. Reading it growing up, I truly felt that if I just surrounded myself with books I could achieve whatever I wanted.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: I read this at school and remember thinking how despite intrinsically being a feminist novel, it didn’t read as something that was written by a woman. Dystopia for me up to that point was something men wrote, and this novel changed that for me.
2001 Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke: I have always been obsessed with space; at aged 10 I wanted to be an astronaut, until I remembered I get intensely travel sick! However I didn’t read the book until my husband insisted I’d love it. I did! Then I watched the Stanley Kubrick adaptation and it’s one of the few movies that I feel is as good as the book.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernières: This has everything you could want from a novel – excellent characters, history, comedy and romance. Reading it as part of my A-Level in English Literature, I enjoyed analysing the themes and language. I’ve read it several times since and each time I take away something new.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: I recently re-read this book as an adult and fell in love with it all over again. I don’t know if we truly understand America’s history of race and segregation in the UK, but this book really challenges prejudice by presenting a child’s perspective on morality and the justice system.
Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy: Set in 1980s London, this novel explores what it means to be a child of immigrants. Faith, the protagonist, has never been to Jamaica and doesn’t truly understand what her parents went through when they left. Even though I spent my childhood visiting Pakistan every summer, I still felt the same detachment from my heritage that she does and it was interesting to experience Faith’s journey.
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie: There are so many threads to the story and so many characters to identify with that I’ll never tire of reading it. The language has such richness to it that anyone interested in words can really immerse themselves in the pages.
All Men Are Mortal by Simone De Beauvoir. This is a pretty brutal assessment of human relationships and the way humans treat each other. De Beauvoir’s experience of philosophy and pioneering feminism come together to create an existentialist piece of writing. I didn’t think I’d like it, but it proved to be a captivating read.
Reading Lolita In Tehran by Azar Nafisi: This is another book about books. It follows an Iranian professor and her book club during the revolution, as intellectualism in Iran is dismantled. Azar’s own dedication to literature really fueled my love of books and the power of the written word. She risked her life to keep her book club going, and that is something I truly admire.
- Guleraana Mir is a UK-based scriptwriter. Her new show Coconut continues its UK tour from Wednesday May 16 to Saturday June 30. Visit www.thethelmas.co.uk and Twitter: @TheThelmas for more info.
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