Fiona Watson on reading the Narnia books as a child, her favourite book of the year and being inspired by Hilary Mantel.
The first book I remember reading:
The one that springs to mind is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as I read all the Narnia books when I was nine or ten. A rambling country house that leads to a magical kingdom, with children as the heroes, what’s not to like when you want to escape suburban monotony?
A book I recommend to everyone:
I’ve given this book to numerous people and it’s also the best one I’ve read this year. Super-Infinite: the lives and poems of John Donne by Katharine Rundell. I’m not a poetry buff but most of us know something of Donne. This is a compelling evocation of a man of infinite contradictions and a passionate grasp of human nature.
The book I am most looking forward to:
I’ve recently added Landlines by Haynor Winn to the pile beside the bed. I loved her Salt Path, the story of how she and her terminally-ill husband negotiated pain, homelessness and England’s archaic access laws to complete the south-west coastal path. She writes with such honesty and passion and is living proof that walking is one of the best therapies around.
A book I didn’t finish:
I was intimidated by the sheer size of V S Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas, but thought a week’s holiday in Madeira last autumn would help me crack it. It’s certainly brilliant, evoking grinding poverty and what one might have to do to escape it so vividly I could almost taste it. But I just didn’t like Mr Biswas enough to spend more time with him when I got home.
An author that has inspired me:
I was so saddened to hear of the death of Hilary Mantel. As a historian, I adored her commitment to research and being faithful to the facts. As a reader, I fell straight into the complex, visceral worlds she created with such skill and empathy.
The book I am reading now:
Rose Nicholson by Andrew Greig. When I’m finished, it may well be my favourite book of the year. I often find novels focused on the early years of Scottish Protestantism to be far too dismal. But Andrew Greig, like Hilary Mantel, focuses on the foibles and nuances of his characters, their essential humanity, to bridge the gap between us and them with consummate skill.
Fiona Watson is a medieval historian and writer specialising in medieval warfare in particular, and Scottish History more generally. A former senior lecturer in History at the University of Stirling and presenter of the 2001 TV series, In Search of Scotland, she now ventures into historical fiction to make the most of the limited evidence for medieval Scotland. Lies of the Flesh by F.J. Watson is out now, published by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn, and can be bought here.
Read more of The Good Books here.
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