Taylor Jenkins Reid: ‘Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy are unbeatable’ | Books

My earliest reading memory
When I was around nine, my dad said I was old enough to take on the responsibility of reading bedtime stories to my younger brother. And so, one night at a time, I read him all of The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary and then Bunnicula, by James and Deborah Howe, a book about a vegetarian vampire rabbit that we both loved. I was so incredibly proud to be the one telling him the story. I felt so grown up.

My favourite book growing up
Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball. I picked it up when I was about 12, after years of watching I Love Lucy reruns as a kid. I read it voraciously, devouring everything I could about her. She set me on a path of falling in love with classic Hollywood.

The book that changed me as a teenager
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby opened up a whole world of literature for me that I was just discovering in the mid-90s.

The writer who changed my mind
I thought I didn’t like sci-fi until I discovered Octavia Butler. Kindred defies genre, but it taught me that I’ll go anywhere in a story if I trust the writer.

The book that made me want to be a writer
The World According to Garp by John Irving taught me the power of the voice of a novel. After finishing it, I was walking home from a train station, and I could hear Garp’s voice narrating my walk. I love all forms of storytelling, but only a novel can live in your head like that.

The book I came back to
I read Alice Walker’s The Color Purple in high school, but it wasn’t until I returned to it almost two decades later that it truly shook me. Some of my favourite books are ones I put down the first time around. The story has to find you at the right time.

The book I reread
I’ve read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice so many times, but I am also ravenous for any adaptation or retelling. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, as archetypes, are absolutely unbeatable.

The book I discovered later in life
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I only picked it up a few years ago and was angry that I’d waited so long. On every page, I marvelled at the restraint. To tell such a rich story, with such complexity, and observe it through the eyes of a character that doesn’t emote much on the surface … I loved it.

The book I am currently reading
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by the incomparable Tia Williams. No one can level a one-liner like her. One of the funniest, warmest, coolest writers working today.

My comfort read
Whenever I want to read a book I know will be good, I go to Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Her genres are ever changing, her ability to take on a wild story each time is incredible. You never know what she’s going to do, but you know it will be a page-turner. I cannot wait for her next book, The Seventh Veil of Salome. Fifties Hollywood, two starlets, the role of a lifetime … what more could you want?

Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones and the Six (Hutchinson), will be the international author of the day at the London Book Fair on 12 March.

My earliest reading memory
When I was around nine, my dad said I was old enough to take on the responsibility of reading bedtime stories to my younger brother. And so, one night at a time, I read him all of The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary and then Bunnicula, by James and Deborah Howe, a book about a vegetarian vampire rabbit that we both loved. I was so incredibly proud to be the one telling him the story. I felt so grown up.

My favourite book growing up
Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball. I picked it up when I was about 12, after years of watching I Love Lucy reruns as a kid. I read it voraciously, devouring everything I could about her. She set me on a path of falling in love with classic Hollywood.

The book that changed me as a teenager
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby opened up a whole world of literature for me that I was just discovering in the mid-90s.

The writer who changed my mind
I thought I didn’t like sci-fi until I discovered Octavia Butler. Kindred defies genre, but it taught me that I’ll go anywhere in a story if I trust the writer.

The book that made me want to be a writer
The World According to Garp by John Irving taught me the power of the voice of a novel. After finishing it, I was walking home from a train station, and I could hear Garp’s voice narrating my walk. I love all forms of storytelling, but only a novel can live in your head like that.

The book I came back to
I read Alice Walker’s The Color Purple in high school, but it wasn’t until I returned to it almost two decades later that it truly shook me. Some of my favourite books are ones I put down the first time around. The story has to find you at the right time.

The book I reread
I’ve read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice so many times, but I am also ravenous for any adaptation or retelling. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, as archetypes, are absolutely unbeatable.

The book I discovered later in life
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I only picked it up a few years ago and was angry that I’d waited so long. On every page, I marvelled at the restraint. To tell such a rich story, with such complexity, and observe it through the eyes of a character that doesn’t emote much on the surface … I loved it.

The book I am currently reading
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by the incomparable Tia Williams. No one can level a one-liner like her. One of the funniest, warmest, coolest writers working today.

My comfort read
Whenever I want to read a book I know will be good, I go to Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Her genres are ever changing, her ability to take on a wild story each time is incredible. You never know what she’s going to do, but you know it will be a page-turner. I cannot wait for her next book, The Seventh Veil of Salome. Fifties Hollywood, two starlets, the role of a lifetime … what more could you want?

Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones and the Six (Hutchinson), will be the international author of the day at the London Book Fair on 12 March.