JOHN MCKENNA, Food writer
When I'm not writing a Bridgestone Guide, I read quite a lot, and while I try to be judicious, a weakness for Neil Gaiman's illustrated comic books reveals my shallow fantasy life. I read for pleasure, but with a mind to enjoying books that will tell me things I don't know. Which, I suppose, makes it kind of work. I read anytime I get the time, which makes waiting in doctor's surgeries very pleasant.
At the moment, I'm reading The Hare with Amber Eyesby Edmund de Waal, the story of an inheritance of 264 Japanese wood and ivory netsuke carvings and their history. It's adorable, droll and very artistic, and one of the best things I have read in yonks, largely thanks to a very Zen style of writing, a clear example of the influence of Japanese culture on the author.
I just finished Hellhound on his Trailby Hampton Sides, the story of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr by James Earl Ray. It's a fabulous picture of America – of cotton and Memphis. I didn't like Greil Marcus's Listening to Van Morrison,but it did bring me back to his music. Over the next while I'll be going back to Gavin Pretor-Pinney's The Cloudspotter's Guide and his The Wavewatcher's Companion. I'm also looking forward to Kevin Connolly's book, Yeats and Sligo, and to Rene Redzepi's Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine. These Nordic chefs are going to be the news for the next decade.
As told to Tony Clayton-Lea
