Kate Weinberg's Desert Island Books
Featuring the short story collection that was one of Kate's first great loves, and the cult novel that's so good, it's become something of a cliché...
I read There’s Nothing Wrong With Her by Kate Weinberg in one propulsive sitting, completely unable to put it down. A raw, unflinching and unique book, it tells the tale of Vita Woods, who finds herself trapped in a pit of exhaustion and isolation, battling an undiagnosed illness that has left her bedridden and disconnected from the world.
Inspired by her own experience of long-Covid, it’s as haunting as it is illuminating. Kate’s interview with Country & Townhouse, on how ghosts of ex-boyfriends and a 16th century poet inspired also served as inspiration, is also an excellent read.
You can buy There’s Nothing Wrong With Her from Bookshop.org, or why not consider becoming a paid subscriber to my Substack? You’ll be automatically entered into a weekly draw to win a book from my Desert Island Books guest!
Featuring the short story collection was one of Kate's first great loves, and the cult novel that’s so good, it's become something of a cliché, read on to find out which books Kate would take with her to the sandy shores of a desert island…
For Esme with Love and Squalor by J.D. Salinger
This short story collection was one of my first great loves. I have probably read the title story over twenty times, and each time it produces the same magical, bittersweet rush, a particular feeling that should have its very own word (complete with a Salinger trade-mark) because no one else delivers it quite like him. At the end of each of the stories you are hit by this same heady mix of beauty, sadness and hope; in some cases by the end of the first page.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Cassandra Mortmain, the young teenage heroine of this touching and deliciously funny novel has one of my favourite voices in literature. Written as a diary, it kicks off with her telling us she is scribbling the first entry while sitting in the kitchen sink (in a tumbledown castle in Scotland). It’s the perfect start. Within the first paragraph you feel Cassandra is not only your friend, but somehow a version of yourself. Every time I read this eccentric, romantic coming-of-age tale I grow up and fall in love, alongside, and with her, all over again.
Le Grandes Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier
This otherworldly novella is narrated by François, another teenage narrator, who tells a double love story: His intoxicating friendship with a mysterious new boy, Augustin, who arrives at his small local school in France. And Augustin’s heroic, restless and ultimately destructive search for the love of his life, Yvonne. All the impossible longing of the romantic soul, set against the constancy of a loyal friendship is explored in this surreal tale which breaks my heart every time I reread it.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
This cult novel has become something of a cliche, but I’m including it because it had such a profound effect on my life. And not all good, either. The gripping plot centres around a murder committed by a group of Classics students at a Liberal Arts college in New England. But it was the characters that enthralled me and also created impossible expectations around the glamour and intensity of university life. Which made the reality of my three years as an undergraduate - a lot of pasta à la canned tuna and waiting around for Something Big To Happen – feel like a dreadful anti-climax. On the other hand, it’s kind of a masterpiece, and it directly inspired my first novel, The Truants, so all is forgiven.
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
Non-fiction books rarely explore the inner life, which, in the end, is the thing that interests me the most. So I often struggle to find ones that I love as much as novels. But this book, written by the Booker-Prize winning author and creative writing professor George Saunders, is a brilliant exception. Saunders uses his analyses of some classic Russian short stories to explore both the craft and magic of creative writing. But as a lesson in humanity, told with warmth, wisdom and empathy… well, it's a masterclass.
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
I tell everyone I love to read this book. And I’m always amazed by how many people haven’t heard of it. It’s short, but seems to contain a whole life within it. The life and times, told in kaleidoscopic shards, of a celebrated but maverick historian, Claudia Hampton. Claudia is a deeply flawed heroine. She’s selfish, a bad mother, and, to put it mildly, has a very unhealthy relationship with her brother. Which is what makes the love story buried in the heart of the book so achingly beautiful.
The Confessions of Franne Langton by Sara Collins
One of the most exciting novels I’ve read in the last few years, this book hits that sweet spot between a nail-biting story but with haunting characters and themes. Frannie is a female servant and former slave who fell madly in love with the laudanum-addicted wife of her cruel master. The book opens with her standing trial, accused of their bloody double murder. One of my favourite classics growing up was Jane Eyre: This is like reading that novel through the grotesque distortions of a fairground mirror. Historical fiction brought urgently up to date.
Bad Blood by Lorna Sage
My favourite memoir, by quite some distance. It’s a shortish book, which only covers the first 18 years of Lorna Sage’s life, when she was brought up in the parish by her philandering vicar grandfather. I had the great privilege and joy of being taught by her as a postgraduate; I sometimes wonder, and often doubt, if I will ever come across such an irreverent, intellectually sparkling mind again. But at least I have this book to hold on to, which is packed with her particular brand of lacerating insights and humour.