TOP 13 Ben Barnes' Favorite Books
Ben Barnes
Delve into the literary preferences of Ben Barnes as he shares his cherished reads. Among his favorites are Graham Swift's Waterland, Thomas Hardy's classic Far from the Madding Crowd, Philip Pullman's epic trilogy His Dark Materials etc. These books reflect Barnes' appreciation for diverse genres and thought-provoking storytelling.
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Waterland
After much deliberation, he spots a copy of Graham Swift’s Waterland, and remembers the character of Mary: “I remember feeling like I was the boy in it and living vicariously in that awakening type of relationship in that book.”
Far from the Madding Crowd
Also in the pile are Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, and Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, in an edition that’s one of a number of books from his university days on his bookshelves.
His Dark Materials
Also in the pile are Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, and Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, in an edition that’s one of a number of books from his university days on his bookshelves.
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, which sit alongside Birdsong as those rare books that made him cry.
Solve For Happy
Over the past year, he’s also been drawn to books about what he calls the “psychology of happiness”, such as Mo Gawdat’s Solve for Happy.
A Promised Land
He’s currently reading Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, and is astounded: "[It’s got an] absolutely thrilling first third."
Normal People
and Sally Rooney’s Normal People (“I love the quiet insightfulness of it”).
Humankind
Humankind by Rutger Bregman (“the optimist’s salve to put on the Sapiens’ wound”)
An American Marriage
He’s moved away from prison stories for recent favourites, which include Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage ("[it] really made me feel like I was having an experience in someone else's shoes”).
Papillon
Others include George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Henri Charrière’s Papillon. All are books, he points out, about prisons of a sort; he’s drawn to narratives (and roles) “about disenfranchise and struggle with a very faint kernel of hope.
1984
Others include George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Henri Charrière’s Papillon. All are books, he points out, about prisons of a sort; he’s drawn to narratives (and roles) “about disenfranchise and struggle with a very faint kernel of hope.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
“If I could go and read Ivan Denisovich sitting on a prison floor, I'd probably do it,” he says, referring to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which he read when he was about 14. “When I go on holiday, I take Bill Bryson because he's writing about travel and he's making me giggle.”
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Atonement
Barnes describes it as a sensory experience: he confesses he likes to smell new books when he gets them, demonstrating with a recently purchased copy of Atonement by Ian McEwan, a favourite that he plans to reread.
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