Author Nick Harkaway has revealed that being forced to read Charles Dickens' Great Expectations as a teenager nearly turned him off reading for life. The son of the late spy novelist John le Carré, Harkaway said he loathed the classic novel at 14, finding it incomprehensible why schools would set a book about an alienated child for teenagers.
In an interview, Harkaway explained that he secretly believed Rivendell from The Lord of the Rings was based on his childhood home in Cornwall, which it clearly wasn't. His favourite book growing up was Finn Family Moomintroll, which he described as the most perfect of Tove Jansson's Moomin books.
The book that changed his mind about literature was Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists, a stunning novel that showed him how books about terrible things can be uplifting. He also credited David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas with infuriating him into starting a new novel, and Michael Chabon's work with filling him with creative envy.
Harkaway said his father gave him a leather-bound copy of A Murder of Quality when he was very young, and the beauty of the object made him believe in the magic of words. He later came back to Great Expectations, acknowledging it is a brilliant book but arguing it should not be forced on teenagers.
He also revealed his comfort read is Spook Country by William Gibson, and he is currently reading Matt Wixey's Basilisk as well as Amari and the Despicable Wonders with his children.
