Victoria Connelly

Writer Top Tens

If you’ve ever wondered what bestselling authors watch on TV or read in the bath, look no further. I’ve been asking some of today’s best-loved authors what their personal Top Tens are.

Rowan Coleman’s Top Ten

Book – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Film – Brief Encounter

TV Programme – Grey’s Anatomy

Actor – Johnny Depp

Song – Someone to Love by Queen

Quote – ‘Reader, I married him.’

Holiday Destination – Anywhere, I really need a holiday

Animal – Dogs

Dessert – Anything chocolate

Pastime- Sleeping

The Happy Home for Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman is out now – click the cover to find out more…

Visit Rowan’s website.

Chrissie Manby’s Top Ten

Book – The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

Film – Strictly Ballroom

TV Programme – Anything with Rick Stein in it

Actor – The incomparable George Clooney!

Song – The Way You Look Tonight – Peter Skellern and Grimethorpe Colliery Band version

Quote – ‘There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380 SL convertible.’ – P. J. O’Rourke

Holiday – Italy

Animal – Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Dessert – Tiramisu

Pastime- Dancing

Getting Over Mr. Right by Chrissie Manby is out now – click the cover to find out more…

Visit Chrissie’s website.

Jane Green’s Top Ten

Book – The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

Film – Truly, Madly, Deeply

TV Programme – Law and Order SVU

Actor – Javier phwoooargh Bardem

Song – Too many

Quote – ‘Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be’ Abraham Lincoln.

Holiday Destination – Nantucket

Animal – Cat

Dessert – Anything with caramel

Pastime – Gardening

Girl Friday
is out now.

Visit Jane’s website.

Paige Toon’s Top Ten

Book – Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha

Film – Strictly Ballroom

TV Programme – Kath & Kim

Actor – Brad Pitt

Song – Radiohead’s ‘Talk Show Host’

Quote – ‘If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, they’re yours. If they don’t, they never were.’

Holiday Destination – Australia

Animal – Dog

Dessert – Sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream

Pastime – Making my toddler laugh

Pictures of Lily
is out now.

Visit Paige’s website.

Jo Rees’s Top Ten

Book – Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind

Film – Election

TV programme – Still mourning ‘The Sopranos’. Love ‘Mad Men’

Actor – Damien Lewis

Song – ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ Carole King

Quote – ‘Sue Ellen, you’re a tramp, a drunk, and an unfit mother and that’s what my daddy said before he died.’ JR Ewing

Holiday destination – My tumble down rustic house in Mallorca

Animal – Lamb. Slow cooked with lots of red wine rosemary and garlic

Dessert – Lemon Tart if pushed. I much prefer starters

Pastime – Dancing around the kitchen with my 3 little girls.

Forbidden Pleasures
is out now.

Visit Jo’s website.

Vernica Henry’s Top Ten

Book – Time After Time by Molly Keane

Film – Con Air

TV Programme – Top of the Pops – RIP

Actor – John Malkovich

Song – ‘Butterfly’ by Crazytown

Quote – ‘I wouldn’t want to join any club that had me as a member’ – Groucho Marx

Holiday Destination – New York

Animal – Moose

Dessert – Tarte Tatin

Pastime – Cooking

The Beach Hut
is out now.

Visit Veronica’s website.

Scott Mariani’s Top Ten

Book – Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant

Film – Godfather 2

TV programme – Haven’t watched TV for nearly ten years, since my parrot chewed through the aerial wire and I never bothered fixing it…

Actor – Danny DeVito

Song – Grey Stone Chapel, as sung by Johnny Cash

Quote – ‘If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter’ – George Washington

Holiday destination – Bed

Animal – Siberian tiger

Dessert – Highland Park or Laphroaig, heretically on the rocks

Pastime – Finding ways to avoid writing

Uprising by Scott G. Mariani is out now – click the cover to find out more…



Visit Scott’s website.

Matt Haig’s Top Ten

Book – The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Film – Y Tu Mama Tambien

TV – This Week

Actor – Robert Downey Jr

Song – God Only Knows by the Beach Boys

Quote – ‘We are all failures, or the best of us are.’ – Was that Oscar Wilde?

Holiday – Sardinia

Animal – Dog

Dessert – Tarte au citron or a good old trifle

Pastime- Swimming oudoors

The Radleys by Matt Haig is out now – click the cover to find out more…

Visit Matt’s website.

Julia Golding’s Top Ten

Book – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Film – The Fellowship of the Ring

TV Programme – Dr Who

Actor – Ben Kingsley

Song – Land of the Silver Birch

Quote – ‘The world is charged with the grandeur of God’ and the rest of the poem!

Holiday Destination – Zanzibar

Animal – Red squirrel

Dessert – Gooseberry fool

Pastime – Hill walking

The Glass Swallow by Julia Golding is out now – click the cover to find out more…


Visit Julia’s website.

Jo Cotterill’s Top Ten

Book – Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Film – Sliding Doors

TV programme – Midsomer Murders

Actor – David Tennant

Song – Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship

Quote – ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’ – Oscar Wilde

Holiday destination – Maldives (I’ve never been but live in hope!)

Animal – Dog

Dessert – Practically anything with chocolate in

Pastime – Card-making

Sweet Hearts: Star Crossed is out now. Click on the cover.

Visit Jo Cotterill’s website.

Sam Mills’s Top Ten

Book – Grey Area by Will Self

Film – Dangerous Liaisons

TV programme – Have I Got News For You

Actress – Jennifer Connelly

Song – ‘Lay Lady Lay’ by Bob Dylan

Quote – ‘The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.’ Ernest Hemingway

Holiday Destination – India

Animal – Leopard

Dessert – Chocolate tart

Pastime – Gambling

Sam Mills is the author of ‘The Boys Who Saved the World’ which is currently
being made into a feature film. Visit www.tbwstw.com for more information.

Visit Sam at MySpace.

Adele Geras’s Top Ten

Book – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Film – Psycho

TV programme – The Wire

Actor – Marlon Brando

Song – Yesterday by the Beatles

Quote – Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. Mae West

Holiday destination – A city. Paris, Venice, Edinburgh

Animal – Cat

Dessert – Profiteroles

Pastime – Reading

A Hidden Life by Adele Geras is out now – click the cover to find out more…

Visit Adele’s website.

Deborah Wright’s Top Ten

Book – The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje

Film – Moulin Rouge

TV programme- Peep Show

Actor – John Malkovich

Song – Life On Mars by David Bowie

Quote – “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” Robert Frost

Holiday Destination – India

Animal – Cats, especially mine!

Dessert – Chocolate mousse

Pastime – Watching movies

Celebrity Mother is out now – click the cover to find out more…

Christina Jones’s Top Ten

Book – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Film – Rear Window

TV programme- Coronation Street

Actor – Phil Davis

Song – Summer of 69

Quote – “We’ll talk of sunshine and of song and summer days when we were young; Sweet childish days that were as long as twenty days are now.”

Holiday Destination – Jersey

Animal – Cat

Dessert – Pavlova

Pastime – Reading

Moonshine is out now – click the cover to find out more…

Visit Christina’s website.

Mike Gayle’s Top Ten

Book – The Wheels of Chance – HG Wells

Film – Gregory’s Girl

TV Programme – The Shield

Actor – Woody Allen

Song – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want – The Smiths

Quote – “Sometimes I wish I was a check-out chick. But then again I guess check-out chicks have problems of their own.’ – Kylie Minogue.

Holiday Destination – New York

Animal – Rabbit

Dessert – M&S Melt in the middle Chocolate Pudding (with cream)

Pastime – Talking with good friends

New Book – click the cover to find out more…

Visit Mike’s website.

Matt Dunn’s Top Ten

Book – Great Apes by Will Self

Film – When Harry Met Sally

TV Programme – Have I Got News For You

Actor – Halle Berry – though not for her acting ability

Song – Destiny by Zero 7

Quote – ‘It’s easy to make new friends, but a lot harder to make old ones’. Oscar Wilde

Holiday Destination – Madonna Di Campiglio – skiing

Animal – Baboon

Dessert – Tiramisu

Pastime – Tennis

The Good Bride Guide is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Matt’s website.

Louise Bagshawe’s Top Ten

Book – Lord of the Rings

Film – Star Wars

TV programme- Inspector Morse

Actor – Tom Baker

Song – Photograph by Def Leppard

Quote – Veni, vidi, vici – Julius Caesar

Holiday destination – Manhattan

Animal – Border Terrier

Dessert – Italian Gelato

Pastime – Reading

Passion is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Louise’s website.

Tilly Bagshawe’s Top Ten

Book – Rivals by Jilly Cooper

Film – Four Weddings and a Funeral

TV programme- Six Feet Under

Actor – Michael Kitchen

Song – Carolina in My Mind by James Taylor

Quote – On childhood, from The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot), Tom and Maggie remembering the days when they had: ‘clasped their little hands in love, and roamed the daisied fields together’

Holiday destination – Nantucket

Animal – Dog

Dessert – Hazlenut Souffle

Pastime – Sleep

Flawless is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Tilly’s website.

Katie Fforde’s Top Ten

Book – The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

Film – Shakespeare in Love

TV Programme – Gavin and Stacey

Actor – Alan Rickman

Song – Summertime (Porgi and Bess)

Quote – ‘I have never seen a spade’ (The Importance of Being Ernest)

Holiday Destination – Dominica or Ireland

Animal – Dogs (or cats!)

Dessert – Trifle, made by me without jelly etc.

Pastime – Reading.

Love Letters is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Katie’s website.

Carole Matthews’s Top Ten

Book – The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Film – Cabaret

TV Programme – 24

Actor – Keiffer Sutherland

Song – Appetite by Prefab Sprout

Quote – ‘Work as if you don’t need to, love as if you’ve never been hurt, dance as if no one is watching.’

Holiday destination – Maldives

Animal – Cat

Dessert – Chocolate ice-cream

Pastime – Reading.

The Difference a Day Makes is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Carole’s website.

Kate Harrison’s Top Ten

Book – The Wedding Officer, Anthony Capella

Film – The Commitments

TV programme- Spooks

Actor – Matthew MacFadyen

Song – Anything sung by Dusty Springfield

Quote – Life is the combination of magic and pasta, of fantasy and reality – Federico Fellini

Holiday destination – Italy

Animal – Otter (or, for round the house, a tabby cat)

Dessert – Molten chocolate pudding

Pastime – Baking

The Secret Shopper’s Revenge is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Kate’s website.

Lisa Jewell’s Top Ten

Book – The Colour of Money by Geoff Dyer

Film – Gregory’s Girl

TV programme- The Shield

Actor – John Cusack

Song – Time Will Pass You By by Tobi Legend

Quote – Youth is wasted on the young

Holiday destination – Italy

Animal – Lemur

Dessert – Chocolate cheesecake

Pastime – Reading

The Truth About Melody Browne is out now. Click the cover to find out more…

Visit Lisa’s website.

More top tens coming soon …

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