BBC presenter James Naughtie: My six best books
JAMES NAUGHTIE, 64, was a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme from 1994 to 2015.
James Naughtie was a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme from 1994 to 2015
MASTER OF THE SENATE: The Years Of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro Pimlico, £30
I devour political biographies and I’m mildly obsessed by this one which has now run to four volumes. Covering the 1950s when Johnson was running the Senate, this book offers a real insight into American politics.
MOBY-DICK by Herman Melville Penguin, £7.99
I read this first in abridged comic form but I go back to it time and again. It’s elemental and sprawling – there are chapters devoted to dismembering a whale. I’m not at all bloodthirsty but the mixture of adventure and self-examination is gripping.
THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS by PG Wodehouse Arrow, £8.99
I’m an incurable Wodehouse devotee and this is probably his funniest. There are moments of escapist bliss in here. It’s like a perfect comic sketch and his use of language is sublime.
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY by John le Carré Sceptre, £8.99
I read crime fiction to relax and this is the best-plotted espionage thriller of them all. I’ve always enjoyed the craft of spinning a yarn and keeping a secret but books like this are also about humanity and people making choices.
THE POEMS OF NORMAN MacCAIG by Norman MacCaig Polygon, £20
MacCaig is the poet who speaks to me most clearly of the Scotland I know. I was lucky enough to hear him reading many times. He had a strange gritty reserve but also a passion about landscape and the way people lived. I find his poetry constantly energising.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens Penguin, £9.99
There’s a rumbustious life-loving quality to Dickens that is unbeatable. Here we follow Pip as he encounters a mysterious world. The book shows an understanding of the wicked ways of the world but also great tenderness.
He is a host of Radio 4’s Bookclub and the BBC Proms. His new novel, Paris Spring (Head of Zeus, £14.99), is out now.