If Pandora Sykes speaks about cultural recommendations, we pay attention. She has some insight into what is deserving of our attention as a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022 and the former host of the sadly defunct The High Low podcast. It is therefore not unexpected that when she appeared on the Stylist Live Sessions podcast (which was filmed via the Stylist Live 2022 stage on Friday, November 11), we immediately pulled out our phones and noted each and every suggestion she made.
Sykes also discussed the books that affected her throughout her youth, adolescence, and adulthood and changed her way of thinking, from the writings of Enid Blyton to Jilly Cooper.
Cooper and Marian Keyes, according to her, were her “comfort authors.” She informed the crowd, “We Need To Talk About Kevin (by Lionel Shriver) was another book that really had an influence on me. It simply stuck with me. The first philosophy I read, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera, had the same effect on me. Then there is David Nicholls’ One Day, which is a textbook illustration of a brilliantly written book that has achieved enormous economic success.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart are on her list of books to read, nevertheless. I have about ten novels on my bedside table that I’m reading right now, and ten more are on the bedroom radiator. Then there is another shelf with 10 more books outside my bedroom. Similar to a triage,
Sykes also revealed to the audience that he has loved reading since he was a young child. I was one of those persons that required a lot of alone time but was boisterous around other people, she admitted.
“I enjoyed books because they made me feel secure and rejuvenated. Your thoughts may wander when watching TV or listening to a podcast. But with a book, you have to completely lose yourself in someone else’s narrative, and I enjoy that. being external to oneself
What book should everyone read in 2022? Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is recommended by Sykes. She continued, “It’s about two adolescents who meet in a hospital, who are hooked with gaming, and who develop an amazing company together. “Even though I have no interest in video games, it performed the most incredible job of bringing you into this world and demonstrating the kind of compassion and solidarity that is truly, very uncommon.”
Fans of Sykes’ work, however, have a lot more to anticipate. She announced the joyful news of the January start of her newsletter of book and article recommendations, as well as the upcoming documentary script.
