Saved from the Waves: The Deckchair editors

Our turn to dive in...

Victoria Hepburn - Deckchair Editor

1) Epic of Gilgamesh
I love mythic texts and this takes my mind to another place completely.

2) White Noise  -  Don DeLillo
Sarcastic look at the nasty consumer world and all its wonders and disasters.

3) Midsummer Night's Dream  -  William Shakespeare
Yes, I am a geek but who can resist the magic of Shakespeare.

4) Whole Story and other stories  -  Ali Smith
A fantastic writer showing how wonderful it is to write. Each story describes the moments with such intimacy as to reveal Smith's love affair with words and to enflame the readers' passion for books.

5) Therapeutic Dimensions of Creative Writing  - Celia Hunt
This got me into writing in a big way!
_________________________

Sheila McWattie - Deckchair editor

1) Break of Day - Colette
Reminds me of living beside a canal in Amsterdam and taking it easy for once.

2) Zami - Audre Lorde
A wonderful, authentic, early inspiration.

3) Trumpet - Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay's beautiful, multi-layered novel helped me decide to write my first novel in different voices.

4) The Cutting Room  - Louise Welsh
A great story, brilliantly told AND set in Glasgow!

5) Born Free - Laura Hird
For showing me how it's done.  
_________________________
John Riches - Director, QueenSpark Books
1)  Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
I see this book as a profound study on the vagaries and horror of war, alongside a deeply-held pessimism about the human condition. Whilst that might sound depressing, this book never fails to amuse and inspire me.

2) Live from Golgotha - Gore Vidal
Obscene, irreverent, prophetic, very funny, and perplexing. If you're squeamish about circumcision, don't even go as far as page one...

3) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
I read this in an overnight train cabin, from Euston to Fort William, accompanied a bottle of whisky, this seemed to add to the gothic atmosphere. It is terrifyingly intense, and so gripping that, as they say in the cheesiest of blurbs, 'I couldn't put it down until I'd finished'.

4) The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy, and the New Fundamentalism - Dick Taverne
A book that changed my life. Taverne exposes the downright deceit with which the Green and Organic movements have advanced their cause. Perceptively noting that, in their hearts, most people instinctively feel that a) 'organic' equals 'good' and b) that the green movement is on the side of 'the people' against big business - and that it is this sentimentalism, and not any sort of scientific proof, that enables them to peddle a whole bunch of falsehoods.

5) The Golden Age - Gore Vidal
To be honest, his books should all be in my top five, as I think Vidal's range, intelligence and vision is unsurpassed by any other 20th Century writer.  In an unforgettable conclusion, Vidal pompously places himself in the narrative in conversation with his central character, and manages to not only make it believable, but make my heart soar at the sheer bloody cheek of it.
_________________________

Rosemary Allix -  Administrator, Queenspark Books

1) The Good Companions - J.B. Priestly
I've read and re-read this book over the past 40 years. Such a comfortable read, nostalgically capturing those pre-war days when every problem could be sorted out over cake and scones in the nearest tea shop. Perhaps life will be that simple again after the deluge?

2) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Murakami is a recent discovery. With so many books swept away in this flood, hopefully there will be an opening for new novelists like me! The combination of off-the-wall subject matter and simple writing style is what I aspire to, so I need to study Murakami who, for me, is the expert.

3) The Darling Buds of May - H.E. Bates
Bates is another writer whose skill and technique is superb. I love the humour of the Larkin stories. Another book centred around comfort eating - bit of a theme developing here?!

4) Making Peace With the Environment - TYS Tulku Rinpoche Lama Gangchen
In an environmental crisis I will need to remember the wisdom of my Lama Teacher. A book of tantric practices to pacify our unbalanced energies at all levels: internally, externally, environmentally.

5) Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway - Susan Jeffers
Possibly the best of the 'self help' books. I'm always recommending people to read it. The trauma of losing all my precious books will be a big personal challenge. Can I survive it? Yes, of course I can!