Jack Dee: Which book do you still mean to read, and why has it stayed on your list?

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.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Audiobooks have allowed me to catch up on the books I always claimed to have read anyway. On long journeys I’ll often be listening to Kafka, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn. It’s a fantastic way to pass time and often means I’ll turn up at the gig really depressed. So it’s a win-win.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 November 2024 source ↗

Mentioned in this answer

Person Dostoevsky not yet on FLAPSS
Person Kafka not yet on FLAPSS
Person Solzhenitsyn not yet on FLAPSS

Others on this question

View all 32 →

Indira Varma

This year, I was asked to be a judge for the Women’s prize for fiction and I’ve read 75 books in six months, so I’m parking shame for the time being.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2024 source ↗

Rebecca Lucy Taylor

I never finished The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

Ciarán Hinds

Ulysses by James Joyce, but I might make a start next week – or the week after that …

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 July 2025 source ↗

Kerry Godliman

Loads. All the greats.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2023 source ↗