Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates (1971) Oates has called Lewis Carroll’s book the “most profound infl uence in my life”. She was fi rst
given the book as a child by her grandmother. The infl uence is most notable in the name of her 1971 novel Wonderland, the fourth book in the Wonderland Quartet, which covers the life of Jesse Vogel, who was born during the Great Depression.
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002) Safran Foer took a writing class with Oates at Princeton University. She served as an advisor on
his thesis, which was a piece of creative writing concerning his own family’s Holocaust survival story. That thesis formed the basis of his fi rst novel, Everything is Illuminated.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865) Pullman, Waugh and Carroll all used Oxford as inspiration for their books. Carroll was a
teaching mathematician at Christ Church College.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (1945) “How could such a nasty (even Catholic) man write such wonderful novels?”
Dawkins has asked of one of his favourite authors, Evelyn Waugh, whose renowned novel documents agnostic Charles Ryder’s confl icted relationship with the fl awed but mostly faithful Flyte family.
Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen (1811) Emma Thompson, who starred in the most recent fi lm adaptation of Brideshead Revisited in 2008, wrote the script for the 1995 Oscar-
winning fi lm Sense and Sensibility, in which she played the sister with ‘sense’, Elinor.
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The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit Emma Thompson (2012) Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit is one of the biggest-selling
Collected Poems by John Betjeman (2006) The poet studied at Oxford with Evelyn Waugh. He famously took his teddy bear
Archibald-Ormsby-Gore around with him – it was the inspiration for Sebastian Flyte’s bear Aloysius in Brideshead Revisited.
books of all time, with estimated UK sales of over 1.5 million copies in various editions – and that’s only since records began in 1998. To mark the 110th anniversary of the series last year, Emma Thompson wrote this sequel.
Guess How Much I Love You Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram (1994)
Rabbits and hares have long been a popular theme in children’s literature, and one of the most successful is the tale of Big and Little Nut Brown Hare. Translated into 50 languages, it’s now a truly universal story, and the latest editions are Colours and Counting board books for the very young.
The Rector’s Wife Joanna Trollope (1991) Austen’s concentration on social relationships is shared by Trollope. This, her fourth novel, is one of her best known, having been
adapted for television. Trollope’s next novel is a contemporary re-working of Sense and Sensibility, due out this autumn.
Compiled by Stacey Bartlett, Sophie Hurcom, Danny Arter and Lauren Hadden. NOTE: All publication dates are for the most commonly listed fi rst edition.