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…
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
More top tens coming soon …
