| 1 | Best short stories I’ve ever read Dan Rhodes’ Anthropology. 101 stories of 101 words each, bloody classics.
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| 2 | My favourite opening line of a novel: ‘Granted: I am a patient in a mental institution’, the opener from Gunter Grass’s The Tin Drum. Beat that. |
| 3 | Best ‘film of the book’ The Shining, no? |
| 4 | Book I finished reading but wanted my time back afterwards In Praise of Idleness, by Bertrand Russell. But then, the work actually directed me to take that time back. |
| 5 | My favourite music to write to Rachmaninov’s Isle Of The Dead, and the Symphony No 3 ‘Da Pacem Domine’ by Aussie composer Ross Edwards. |
| 6 | What are you reading at the moment, and what are you listening to while you read it? Le Chien de Berger de Beauce, by Maurice Luquet, while listening to the dog whine and bark. |
| 7 | My favourite bookshop You’re putting me on the spot here. I like them all equally (except for Pan Bookshop, which I like more equally). |
| 8 | Most out of date or misleading author photo I’ve seen Mine, wittily scheduled for 10am the morning after a publishing party four years ago. If you’ve seen the picture, this explains it. Drool and facial scarring were airbrushed out. |
| 9 | Author I’d like to nominate for the Nobel Prize for literature Paul Auster, quite frankly. Maybe a joint prize with Siri Hustvedt. |
| 10 | Deceased author I’d like to get drunk with Donatien Aldonse Francois, Marquis de Sade. At the Prince of Wales in Balham. For starters, anyway. |
