Juliet Stevenson’s favourite books

I first fell in love with Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy as a teenager. It’s a work of consummate beauty and I can never imagine tiring of it. 

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The Child In Time by Ian McEwan broke my heart. It’s the story of a father whose 3-year-old daughter is kidnapped while his back is turned in the supermarket. As a mum, I found it almost unbearably sad.  

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To The Lighthouse is a wonderful piece of writing. Virginia Woolf uses words as a painter uses colour. She’s very sensitive to the nuances of people’s personalities, the little verbal ticks. 

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Poetry is a great passion of mine. I never seem to have the time to read as many novels as I’d like to, but most days I will sneak in a quick poem while I’m in the bath.

Twenty Love Poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is exquisite. Alan Rickman’s character recites his poems to mine in Truly Madly Deeply, so I have a long and meaningful relationship with them.

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As an actress, I appreciate Zadie Smith’s pin-sharp ear for a dialogue.

On Beauty is about a middle-aged couple left reeling after the husband has an affair. I adored the character of Kiki, his wife – a feisty older woman is a rare thing in modern fiction. 

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