Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Simon Callow's six best books

Simon Callow is an actor, director, and writer. He has appeared in many films, including the hugely popular Four Weddings and a Funeral (he played Gareth). His books include Being an Actor, Shooting the Actor, a highly acclaimed biography of Charles Laughton, a biographical trilogy on Orson Welles (of which the first two parts have now been published), and Love Is Where It Falls, an account of his friendship with the great play agent Peggy Ramsay. His recent books include My Life in Pieces, which won the Sheridan Morley Prize in 2011, and Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World.

One of his six best books, as told to the Daily Express:
THE LITTLE PRINCE
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The author was a much-decorated French pilot whose plane disappeared during the war in uncertain circumstances.

The sweetly grave personality of a friend’s son provoked Saint-Exupéry’s masterpiece, a heart-stoppingly simple fable filled with memorably expressed truths about childhood, about human life and above all about love.
Read about the other books on Callow's list.

The Little Prince is among Sita Brahmachari's top 10 books that take you travelling, Maria Popova's seven essential books on optimism, and Dalia Sofer's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue