Book lover: Felicity Price

Christchurch author Felicity Price. Photo / Supplied

Christchurch author Felicity Price is the author of more than six books. Her latest novel Head Over Heels, Black Swan, $29.99) has just been released.

The book I love most is... my new novel Head Over Heels, which has just arrived in my mailbox and I can't stop holding it, opening it, looking at the pages and touching it again to make sure it's real. Before it arrived, I'd find it hard to pick my favourite between Fiona Farrell's Book Book, a vastly underrated Kiwi gem, and Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, a wonderful satire on journalists and journalism, which was my career for many years. And then there are the books I adored when I was younger and hope to read again: Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Not to mention my childhood favourite, Arthur Ransom's Swallows and Amazons.

The book I've just finished reading is... Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which I found at various times absorbing, clever, entertaining, draining and a wee bit long. As soon as I get a few moments to myself, I want to start on The Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux, which my brother tells me is the best book ever.

The book that changed me is... Alison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It because it showed me I wasn't the only mum trying to juggle with jelly, cope with vast doses of maternal guilt and have no time for herself. It gave me permission to write about my own experiences.

The book I wish I'd never read... is Jane Smiley's Thirteen Ways Of Looking At The Novel. I loved A Thousand Acres and this book is equally great.

But her tour of 100 novels (and more) made me realise how insignificant my achievements are in the scheme of things, and how many good books I've still got to read.