During 2026, the National Year of Reading, we ask our teachers of all things literary, just what they recommend as a good read, and which books inspire them in their teaching.
Kim Sherwood, Lecturer in Creative Writing
Which book do you love using the most in your teaching and why?
I’ve taught Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway in settings as varied as prison libraries, schools and university seminars. I love seeing how different readers invest so deeply in different characters. I also love how Woolf’s narrative techniques still inspire and shock over a century after publication. A book that’s always modern.
Which book to you return to for inspiration and personal enjoyment, or do you never return to a title once you’ve read it once?
I’m a big re-reader! I think novels speak to us in new ways as we age. I think the book I’ve probably reread most in my life is Ian Fleming’s From Russia With Love. But really, it would be the whole Fleming catalogue, as inspiration for my James Bond trilogy. For comfort reads I return to Sir Terry Pratchett and Georgette Heyer.
What is your favourite quotation from a character in a book, or directly from the author that inspires you?
My favourite line of any novel is the opening sentence of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale:
‘The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning.’
The idea I most resonate with from an author is Virginia Woolf’s quest for the ‘facts that engender’. I’m a very research-driven novelist and that’s what I’m looking for, the bit of detail that sparks everything.
Which literary book do you wish you had written?
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall – a girl can dream.
What books are in your top ten reads?
Ooh that’s hard…
- Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel (slightly cheating as that’s three)
- From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
- Orlando by Virginia Woolf
- A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
- NW by Zadie Smith
- How to be Both by Ali Smith
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard
- Venetia by Georgette Heyer
- 61 Hours by Lee Child
What are you reading for personal enjoyment at the moment – and would you recommend it to your students?
I’m currently in an Agatha Christie phase – how could you not recommend Agatha Christie? I was inspired by seeing Ken Ludlow’s stage adaptation of Death on the Nile. I’ve now read the novel, which is very different, and I’m reading Lucy Worsley’s recent biography of Christie as a follow-up. I’m learning a lot I didn’t know – including that Christie is Britain’s most successful female playwright!
Future reading
The final novel in my James Bond trilogy, Hurricane Room, is out in May. I’m excited to celebrate publication with a launch event at Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh on 19 May 2026. Tickets are available now.