The question
Which book do you still mean to read, and why has it stayed on your list?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Ulysses – I’ve tried many times and never got through it.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2026 source ↗
None. I love reading, and I read a good book and a bad book at the same time.
Any unread book a friend bought me.
I’ve never read any Proust.
None! We shouldn’t shame people for not having read “the greats”. There are always new greats emerging that may feel more relevant to our life experience, particularly female writers.
Never ever think that things are going to turn out all right.
There was a very large part of my 20s where I was an alcoholic, and an addict. When I lost my dad to cirrhosis, I knew that the only difference between us was that, tragically, he couldn’t stop whereas I could.
To be completely alone.
I was in a restaurant with my daughter in Los Angeles and I had an accident involving a stomach upset. That was mortifying for both of us.
I cry all the time. It’s embarrassing. I mostly cry when my children perform something at school. My wife regularly says, “Do you see any other fathers weeping?” But I can’t stop myself.
A review of Phèdre said – because I was quite large at the time – Toby Stephens’s Hippolytus needs to get on a StairMaster.
Stephanie Beacham, Matthew Kelly, Zack Polanski, Munroe Bergdorf, Jack Dee, Rebecca Lucy Taylor
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