6 books that influenced Ken Follett's prolific writing life
Ryan B. Patrick | CBC | Posted: September 28, 2017 7:29 PM | Last Updated: November 1, 2017
Ken Follett's thrillers and historical novels have been published in 33 languages and have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide. His latest novel, A Column of Fire, is an epic story of a 16th century England torn apart by power struggles and religious conflict. Against this historical backdrop, young Ned Willard and Margery Fitzgerald are lovers who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.
Follett describes himself has an avid reader; here are six books that have helped shape Follett's career as an author.
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
"When I was 12 years old, I read Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming. I became a James Bond fan immediately. A decade or so later, when I began to write novels, my aim was to give my readers the same intensity of excitement that I had felt reading Fleming. I still love those books and Bond is probably the most enduring fictional character in all of 20th century literature."
The works of Shakespeare
"Around that same age, I discovered Shakespeare. My local public library had single-play volumes, slim and therefore not too daunting. Reading a play takes much less time than watching a performance. I read them for the stories, mainly, but I was vaguely aware that the drama was enhanced by the poetic techniques the author used. Nowadays I go to productions of Shakespeare plays about six times a year."
The Holy Bible (King James Version)
"In my family, we used to read the Christian Bible every day. As a teenager I read every word, following a course of home study in which I had to answer questions on one book before going on to the next. Although I'm no longer a believer, I still love the majestic prose of the King James translation, much of which was written by William Tyndale, one of the greatest of English stylists."
Father and Son by Edmund Gosse
"In the trauma of questioning my parents' most cherished beliefs, I was helped by Father and Son, a memoir by Edmund Gosse, who like me was brought up in the Plymouth Brethren then came to question and finally reject fundamentalist Christian dogma."
The Winds of War & War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
"Herman Wouk's novels The Winds of War and War and Remembrance taught me that history can be woven into fiction in a way that is both exciting to read and true to the facts, which is what I tried to do in A Column of Fire."
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
"I've enjoyed science fiction since boyhood, but my favourite writer is Peter F. Hamilton, whom I discovered when I read The Reality Dysfunction about 10 years ago. I wish I had his imagination."