The power of books: 'I was dumbstruck by its beauty'

Following a report which found more people were reading books than ever before, Colin Murray decided to dedicate his late night BBC Radio 5 Live show to the power of books.

The presenter wanted to “celebrate the magic of books, the imagination of books, the power of books, the emotion of books and the humour of books".

As part of the show, people from the worlds of TV, literature, politics, theatre and law chose some of the books which made an impact on them.

You can listen to 'Celebrating the Magic of Books' here.

You can hear Colin Murray's 5 Live show on Mondays to Wednesdays - 22:30 to 01:00 UK time.

Chosen by EastEnders actress Emma Barton.

Emma says: “I've picked this book because actually it would be 20 years ago this month to the day when I performed in The Secret Garden musical.

"It’s very poignant, it was my very first job and I can’t believe it was 20 years ago. It was just the most amazing piece and if you haven't listened to the musical The Secret Garden please do so, it’s the most beautiful, beautiful piece of music and it’s the most beautiful book.”

Chosen by comedian and 5 Live presenter John Robins.

John says: “I picked up a copy of Cider with Rosie at a train station after leaving my headphones behind before a long journey.

“I'd always assumed it was a bit of a simple book and in many ways it is. It’s a book about the senses and seasons, the sounds of flies and the prickle of heat and it rambles along these bucolic lanes quite pleasantly, seemingly with little significance above the descriptions of wildlife and landscape.

“And then you get to the central chapter about his mother and I was aware as I was reading it that so much was being taken with this eulogy for this woman of frustrating contradictions and unreliable moods.

“The narrator is so distant from her at first that the flashes of tenderness and empathy creep up on you. He's making connections to her at the same time we are and it began to dawn on me that the whole book was leading up to this chapter.

“I was completely floored by it, dumbstruck by its beauty and, of course, in floods of tears.”

Chosen by poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

Benjamin says: "The first book that really shook me up was a book by Marcus Garvey. He wrote about pan-Africanism and he told people to have pride in themselves [because] if you didn’t you would come out of physical slavery and go into mental slavery for the rest of your lives. It just made me stand up and be proud to be myself."

Chosen by Baroness Warsi, Conservative member of the House of Lords.

She says: “I’ve chosen Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte which I first read as a teenager. It felt raw and wild both in the emotions expressed and the landscape that was presented as untamed. And of course the association of both Emily Bronte and the setting in Yorkshire, my home county, also made it very personal.”

Chosen by author Heather Morris.

Heather says: “I think that there’s going to be books that are going to come out of the current pandemic that will hopefully tell the story of resilience and hope and how individuals have managed to get through this really trying time.

“I’m going to mention a book as a book for inspiration, called Parting Words: Nine Lessons for a Remarkable Life. It’s a non-fiction book about a 100-year-old man. He just shares his nine lessons for a remarkable life. This man’s significance? He was the first man to prosecute the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials.

“The words are simple, they can touch you in a brief sentence and make a difference in your life.”

Chosen by John McDonnell, Labour MP.

John says: “[Arthur Ransome] wrote it after Swallows and Amazons but this is set on the Norfolk Broads. My family has a little hut on the Broads and a boat and we all enjoy sailing on the rivers and the Broads themselves."

Chosen by 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett.

Emma says: “I read this from being a young girl into my teens so many times. What I loved about Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, this amazing Judy Blue book, is it made me feel safe. It made me feel like I was reading about a girl who really had no limits.

“While Sally is dreaming about being a film star she’s also convinced that Adolf Hitler is alive and living in her apartment building which leads to some quite interesting situations.

“It’s safe to say she had quite the imagination on her and I also loved that. Always a book I came back to again and again.”

Chosen by author Geoff Dyer.

He says: “The one book people should read is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. For a long while I didn’t read it because there was a successful TV series and also because it was so incredibly long, it’s about a thousand pages.

"It’s one of those books where you start reading it but then, after a certain point you’re so immersed in it, you’re not even aware that you’re reading words on a page, you’re just living through the experience of the characters.

Chosen by documentary maker and journalist Benjamin Zand.

Benjamin says: “[This is a book] I like very much. I've read it again over lockdown a couple of times. It often helps ground me. I think it’s quite important this idea that life isn't really about being somebody. I think it’s quite important to remind people of that in this world of increasing desperation for fame.

“Ultimately I feel as though our role is to try and contribute to the communities we live in and to the world as a whole. What can we do for other people as opposed to what can we do for ourselves?

“And I think that question of to be someone or to do something is so important. If you live your life by a desire to constantly do something for others, instead of just being a somebody for the sake of it, you can’t really go wrong and you'll make the world a better place, eventually.”