#Next Stage is always amazing live but this one is a personal fav❤

[misakolove]

AAA🌈❤17th Anniversary 🌈❤ॱ(04/07)

[mourningbirds1]

Beloved amazing Clare!! <3

You already know how obsessed I am with your writing, and how unique and individual your voice is in a way that stays with me like few others do.

I saw your earliest post about authors who has influenced your writing the most and am already putting a bunch of items in my amazon basket. It made me curious, what would you say are your top 5 (or more if you have the energy <3) books that you feel have influenced your writing or you would recommend others to read for a beautiful and unique writing prose?

Dear CiCi, thank you for sending me this ask on Friday night. It was much much appreciated. I am always excited to see you in my notifs because I know I am in for something that is going to make me grin with how hilarious and charming and entertaining you are, or make me soft cause of how very kind and thoughtful you are to me and to others. I hope you’re having a happy weekend, eating good things and having some quality Ripley time ❤

Thank you for asking me about book recs - my fav subject. However, I feel a bit embarrassed to recommend some stuff on here because I have kind of weird, old-timey taste in books. I have put asterisks next to the titles that I think might not have such a broad appeal and I hope people proceed with caution before spending their money on them. But I still want to include them because they mean a lot to me.

*Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky – Patrick Hamilton, 1935

Absolutely one of the most underrated novelists out there. This is a collection of three novellas about the characters in a London pub. His prose is chef’s fucking kiss oh my god. The way he describes characters makes you feel like you can see them standing right in front of you. A couple of his earlier novels are a bit clumsy – I think he was still honing his style - but he really hit it with this book.

For Esmé - with Love and Squalor: And Other Stories – JD Salinger, 1950

My favourite things about Salinger are his dialogue, which is very entertaining - he commits 100% to the speaking style of each character so everyone feel authentic and like a real person. And also how good he is at the whole “show, don’t tell” thing. I love the way he opens stories in the middle of scenes, without giving you any exposition – all the backstory is there within the context of the action. It is so clever. I attempted to imitate this in Gresham House. Also he describes action (even just someone picking up a pack of cigarettes) in such a lively and elegant way. I would like to learn how to do this!

*The Good Companions – JB Priestley, 1963

This is about a travelling theatrical group touring England in the 1920s. It is a lovely, entertaining romp and has major found family vibes. I guess JB Priestley is best known for his play An Inspector Calls, but he was a brilliant novelist as well. I’d give anything to be able to write prose, characters and dialogue like he does. His writing is very cosy and comforting to me. The characters in this book felt like friends and I was so sad when I had finished it and had to leave them behind. The way he opens this book – setting a scene and then having the characters walk onto it, as though it is a stage – was what inspired me to open Don’t Look the way I did.

Perfume – Patrick Süskind, 1985

Set in 18 century Paris, about a man who is born with a super-human sense of smell, and the dastardly way his uses this talent. Süskind is a genius at describing locations and atmosphere, and of course smell, in an incredibly visceral way. This book is so immersive and gripping.

Fingersmith – Sarah Waters, 2002

A wlw Victorian gothic mystery. This book made me gasp and my jaw drop many many times. I recommend not reading too much about it because you will enjoy it more if you go into it without knowing anything. I love everything Sarah Waters has written and I think this is her best and cleverest story. I really like the way she adapts her prose style depending on the era she is writing in. This one is all Dickensian style which I am nuts for…

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens, 1850

Sorry this is not exactly a ground breaking recommendation but I have to mention it. I have so much love in my heart for this found family story. It’s so warm and gentle and funny and is full of love. It made me cry so much.

Okay that was 6 books, not 5, and I could definitely go on. I didn’t even mention PG Wodehouse… Maybe I will do a part 2 if anyone wants it.