"One of the books I found in the bookshelves flanking the fireplace in our living room. I was 12 and interested in the world of adults and the secrets they kept from children. I still remember a steamy scene involving an eagle, one I must have read hundreds of times. Fortunately, my parents placed no restrictions on what books I could read. In our house reading was a good thing."

"I don’t know if you know this but I’ve found that if you sat at a table with eight or nine of the worlds best chefs — from France, Brazil, America, wherever — and you asked them where they’d choose if they had to eat in one, and only one country, for the rest of their lives, they would ALL of them pick Japan without hesitation. We both know why."

"I mean, Jesus Christ, it’s Madame Bovary. This is a novel that I adored when I read it. It was beautiful, scandalous, tortured and sympathetic. Then, while I was researching Guy de Maupassant for my first novel, The Clasp, I wound up reading a good deal about Flaubert as well. It’s impossible not to— the latter was the former’s mentor. So I have found myself revisiting Emma Bovary in recent years."

"Found my Dad’s old copy in the basement when I was in seventh grade. I’ve read it many times since. It’s always a pleasure spending a few days learning from brother Malcolm. You can feel the depth of his care and his sincere hope for your survival in every page. If he wasn’t a friend and a hero before you started reading, you’ll have to make some room for him."

While I was stimulated by the Communist Manifesto, I was exhausted by Das Kapital. But I found myself strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society, which, to my mind, was similar to traditional African culture where life was shared and communal. I subscribed to Marx’s basic dictum, which has the simplicity and generosity of the Golden Rule: “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs.

"I was working at a funeral home when I found this novel. Being 14, I did a lot of thinking about death, and, conversely, how to live. Love in the Time of Cholera made me feel as if I were walking next to the characters as they laughed, loved, lived and died in a world filled with spirits. Márquez raised my consciousness by taking me gently into other realms."

"This is the film in which Rohmer’s mapping instinct went into overdrive. Perhaps even more so than The Sign of Leo, this film feels like it’s primarily about the spaces of Paris, and only secondarily about its main characters. Very interesting shooting technique too – Rohmer and his tiny film crew just went out onto the street with the main actors, followed the story, and found locations as they went along."

"At the moment she’s in the news for all the wrong reasons [the 71-year-old Mitchell was recently hospitalised after being found unconscious at her LA home]. So I would like to get it on record that I’m a fan. The emotional content is great, but the sheer musicality of it all is amazing – it’s written on a dulcimer, one drone string, which really appeals to me a lot"