These are a few of my favourite things… beginning with C!

Simon at Stuck-in-a-Book has come up with most wonderful meme, whereby we have to come up with some favourites, based on a particular letter – and that can be harder than you think! I have been allocated C, and after a lot of head scratching have come up with the following. Although these are favourites beginning with that particular letter, I’m not sure if I could ever pick one favourite *anything* – but for today, these will do!

Favourite book:

I’m going to pick “Cosmicomics” by one of my favourite authors, Italo Calvino. This is a bit fat collection of short pieces which I reviewed here, and they’re absolutely wonderful: short pieces musing on the universe, telling strange little stories and twisting our perceptions of what’s real and what isn’t. Originally published in a couple of translated volumes in this country, they were finally collected in The Complete Cosmicomics and you could do no better than start reading Calvino with this book!

Favourite author:

I suppose it’s fairly inevitable therefore that my favourite author with a C will be (Italo) Calvino! His book “If on a winter’s night a traveller” is a volume I would have to have with me on a desert island. It changed the way I read and the way I looked at books, and I developed a huge author-crush on Calvino (which I still have, if I’m honest). On Mount TBR is a lovely big volume of his letters, still in its shrink-wrapping – and I really hope to sink into it over the summer holidays!

Favourite song:

I’m going to pick a song that begins with C – (A) Child’s Christmas in Wales, by a musician whose name begins with a C – John Cale. Cale is a long-term obsession (I’ve seen him live at least 6 times) and his work is always challenging, exhilarating and different from anyone else. This song, though it shares the title of a Dylan Thomas book, doesn’t really have much to do with the latter although they have the common Welsh heritage they’re celebrating. Cale is a favourite musician and this song is one of his best.

Favourite film:

I’m not a huge film buff, if I’m honest, and I do tend to prefer older movies. Cabaret is definitely a long-term fave, not the least because of the presence of the wonderful Liza Minnelli. And seeing it again as a more grown-up person, I appreciate the sadness behind it as the civilised world disintegrates.

Favourite object:

A hard one. Chocolate? (I’m not supposed to eat it). Cups? (I love tea). Cheese? (Likewise). I think I’ll cheat a little and go for Chair (reading!) – because I don’t have a dedicated reading chair and I would very much like one!

This was a fun and thought-provoking meme – thanks Simon!