Recommended reading

Just finished a book by Timothy Findley, the Canadian novelist, called 'Not Wanted On The Voyage.' It was recommended to me by the marvellous Orla Melling when the two of us found ourselves contributing to an anthology of essays which will be published to promote the launch of Philip Pullman's 'Dark Materials' movie.

Orla plans an analysis of Pullman's literary influences. My essay, a History of Hell, was triggered by the extraordinary image of a senile God in the final volume of his trilogy. Orla (who is frighteningly well read) pointed out that essentially the same image was used by Findley in his novel, so I hunted down a copy for research...

...And found myself reading one of the remarkable books I've ever come across. It's the story of Noah's Ark as you've never heard it before, harrowing, funny, emotional, memorable and, above all, thought provoking. I cannot recommend it highly enough.