2001. Stanley Kubrick’s interstellar voyage is one of those very rare things:
a film as good as the book that spawned it. But that isn’t why it’s on my list.
It’s here because, as a piece of work in its own right, it is perfect. What the
film lacks in dialogue, it makes up for with its mesmerising visuals,
intriguing past/present/future plot and incredible soundtrack. I have watched
it over and over again, and have never once been bored. *NB: Other films that
stand up to their papery counterparts, in my opinion, include The Shawshank
Redemption, The Shining, Fear and Loathing, and, more recently, The Life of Pi.
Crime and Punishment. Despite
paragraphs that last forever and the confusion caused by each individual
character possessing a bewildering array of names, persevering with
Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece is one of the most rewarding literary missions you
can undertake. As the novel crackles towards its climax, Dostoyevsky somehow
manages to make you feel every gut wrenching twist and turn as if you were the
one with blood on your hands. It is incredible and highlights how powerful the
written word can be.
George Orwell. No award for
originality here but Orwell is probably the main reason I wanted to be a
writer, and at least a contributing factor to my becoming a full-time smoker.
As a teenager, reading books like 1984, Down and Out in Paris and London,
Animal Farm and the less-frequently lauded Coming Up for Air, it felt almost
impossible to want to do anything in life other than aim to become a lesser
version of George Orwell.
Jarvis Cocker. Though my
Sheffield roots make me slightly biased, I think Jarvis Cocker is one of the
greatest writers of his generation. He is the perfect antidote to
pretentiousness, highlighting on album after album that pragmatism and wit are
more effective than longwinded snobbishness. I thoroughly recommend his
collected lyrics book, ‘Mother, Brother, Lover,’ to anyone not entirely
convinced of Cocker’s earthy genius.
Surrealism. There’s nothing in
literature I like more than an unreliable narrator. And I think the art world’s
closest matching version of this comes from the surrealists. Though frequently
starved of praise from the higher brow members of the artistic community, I
love the freedom present in the work of people like Dali, Ernst and Magritte. I
have always imagined the stories that could be set in their otherworldly
locations, particularly in those weird endless deserts.
