Which book are you ashamed not to have read?

Ulysses (I’ve only read the good bits).

Loads. All the greats.

I’m not really ashamed, but I haven’t read Lord of the Rings.

I’ve never read Proust.

I’ve never got through Ulysses.

Probably all of them because I am not big into English literature. I read a lot of self-improvement books.

I feel no shame about not reading a book. That’s silly.

Any unread book a friend bought me.

My own biography! Being serious, there’s an Australian novel by Gregory Roberts called Shantaram that I didn’t read through.

I’ve been lugging around Doris Lessing’s books, which I have yet to read.

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.

I’ve never read any Proust.

All of them. I’m not someone who can sit down and read – I wish I could.

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.

To Kill a Mockingbird.

Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, which was one of the set texts for my English literature A-level. I have almost finished it.

Absolutely none. I’ve had three run-ups at Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and I conclude it must be boring because I’ve never finished it.

Nineteen Eighty-Four. I always meant to read it before 1984, and once 1984 had passed I didn’t see the point.

Because it’s in one of my songs, War and Peace.

None. I love reading, and I read a good book and a bad book at the same time.