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Hugh Dancy & Books: a thread
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill
A Life of Picasso, Vol. 1: The Early Years, 1881-1906,
A Life of Picasso, Vol. 2: The Painter of Modern Life, 1907-1917,
A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years: 1917-1932 by John Richardson
A Life of Picasso, Vol. 2: The Painter of Modern Life, 1907-1917,
A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years: 1917-1932 by John Richardson
"I always found Hugh on the set reading a book. Head buried in a book and I thought oh my God he's reading some kind of Tom Clancy novel and he can't put it down, he's riveted and it was the biography of Picasso or something." – Max Mayer @fieldkabuki
"Hugh read the the three volume biography of Picasso while were shooting. And it was only 26 day shoot." – Max Mayer @fieldkabuki
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
"When I need to read something that I know will fill my imagination, lift my spirits and also be effortless, I go to Dickens, and this is the most preposterously, comically overflowing of them all."
"When I need to read something that I know will fill my imagination, lift my spirits and also be effortless, I go to Dickens, and this is the most preposterously, comically overflowing of them all."
Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
"Nobody has ever written like Lawrence (except bad imitators, and nothing’s more embarrassing than knockoff Lawrence. Sometimes he’s pretty embarrassing, too). This novel transports you."
"Nobody has ever written like Lawrence (except bad imitators, and nothing’s more embarrassing than knockoff Lawrence. Sometimes he’s pretty embarrassing, too). This novel transports you."
Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth
"The most anarchic, provocative, lewd and brilliant Roth novel. It feels like it’s on fire."
"The most anarchic, provocative, lewd and brilliant Roth novel. It feels like it’s on fire."
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
"I was recommended this when I was a teenager trying to figure out how to start reading “serious” books. Great recommendation, because on the surface it’s nothing of the sort, but it is brilliant."
"I was recommended this when I was a teenager trying to figure out how to start reading “serious” books. Great recommendation, because on the surface it’s nothing of the sort, but it is brilliant."
My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
"In part because reading the first two gave me the unsettling sensation of knowing what it’s like to be someone else better than I know what it’s like to be me, and in part because including it might force me to read the remaining four."
"In part because reading the first two gave me the unsettling sensation of knowing what it’s like to be someone else better than I know what it’s like to be me, and in part because including it might force me to read the remaining four."
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
"You could spend years on the first chapter alone, in fact people have. But in a good way. There’s so much going on and so much reinvention it’s bewildering."
"You could spend years on the first chapter alone, in fact people have. But in a good way. There’s so much going on and so much reinvention it’s bewildering."
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
"Raymond Chandler is one of life’s great pleasures, ideally in a bath with a drink to hand."
"Raymond Chandler is one of life’s great pleasures, ideally in a bath with a drink to hand."
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
"Forced to pick a single sci-fi novel, I’ll go with this because, in ways even beyond most sci-fi, it is so far ahead of its time. You’re left believing entirely in the worlds she’s imagined, including a better version of this one."
"Forced to pick a single sci-fi novel, I’ll go with this because, in ways even beyond most sci-fi, it is so far ahead of its time. You’re left believing entirely in the worlds she’s imagined, including a better version of this one."
The Best of Wodehouse: An Anthology by P. G. Wodehouse
"I know that on and off I’ll be reading this until I die."
"I know that on and off I’ll be reading this until I die."
The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith
"I could pick almost any of her novels – 'Deep Water' would be another. This one is typically masterful in the way it measures out information and suggestion, laced with a growing sense of dread. And a great title."
"I could pick almost any of her novels – 'Deep Water' would be another. This one is typically masterful in the way it measures out information and suggestion, laced with a growing sense of dread. And a great title."
Small Mediums at Large: The True Tale of a Family of Psychics by Terry Iacuzzo
"I am getting ready to film an adaptation for TV of Thomas Harris’s novels, so currently there is serial-killer literature scattered throughout our home. I am also reading a biography of Mao and 'Small Mediums at Large', by Terry Iacuzzo."
Q. Do you ever read plays for pleasure? Any favorites? A favorite playwright?
"Yes. I tend to go to the Strand bookstore and buy up a bunch of secondhand plays that I’m not familiar with. I guess part pleasure, part self-improvement. Recently I’ve been reading John Osborne."
"Yes. I tend to go to the Strand bookstore and buy up a bunch of secondhand plays that I’m not familiar with. I guess part pleasure, part self-improvement. Recently I’ve been reading John Osborne."
Q. What were your most cherished books as a child? Do you have a favorite character or hero from one of those books? Is there one book you wish all children would read?
"My granddad used to read us the William stories by Richmal Crompton, brilliantly,
"My granddad used to read us the William stories by Richmal Crompton, brilliantly,
and gave all the characters real, unique voices. William himself is one of the great rebel-heroes. I’m also glad, from a literary point of view, that I read the Bible at some point, because it seemed to underpin so much of what I read (or was made to read) subsequently."
Q. If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you want to know?
"That’s a tossup between Christopher Marlowe, D. H. Lawrence, Byron and the young Coleridge. I would be terrified of all of them."
"That’s a tossup between Christopher Marlowe, D. H. Lawrence, Byron and the young Coleridge. I would be terrified of all of them."
Q. Paper or electronic? Do you take notes? Do you snack while you read?
"Paper. I only take notes if I’m researching something and, yes, I snack. It would be more accurate to say that I read while I snack. And travel, and bathe, and most everything else."
"Paper. I only take notes if I’m researching something and, yes, I snack. It would be more accurate to say that I read while I snack. And travel, and bathe, and most everything else."
Q. What’s the one book you wish someone else would write?
"I wish David Mitchell had Philip Roth’s output."
"I wish David Mitchell had Philip Roth’s output."
Q. Where do you get your books? Are you a downloader, online shopper, borrower, browser of used-book stores?
"All the above, downloading excepted."
"All the above, downloading excepted."
Q. Do you tend to keep books, lend them out, throw them away?
"My wife [the actress Claire Danes] says, 'You don’t throw anything away.' Except that her answer included an expletive."
"My wife [the actress Claire Danes] says, 'You don’t throw anything away.' Except that her answer included an expletive."
Q. What’s your favorite literary genre? Any guilty pleasures?
"I am fairly omnivorous and mainly guilt-free, though when it became clear last year that 'Venus in Fur' would stay on Broadway into June,
"I am fairly omnivorous and mainly guilt-free, though when it became clear last year that 'Venus in Fur' would stay on Broadway into June,
I picked up the first 'Game of Thrones' novel thinking I’d have plenty of time in my dressing room. I’m now five in, and eyeing the sixth like a junkie considering the last of his stash, i. e., with very mixed feelings."
Q. What book do you plan to read next?
"For reasons they’ll presumably never explain, the Pulitzer committee didn’t deign to award a prize for fiction this year. However, our friend Michael Cunningham,
"For reasons they’ll presumably never explain, the Pulitzer committee didn’t deign to award a prize for fiction this year. However, our friend Michael Cunningham,
who was on the jury and therefore plowed through hundreds of books, recommends 'Train Dreams', by Denis Johnson, very highly."
Q. Your father, Jonathan, is a professor of philosophy. Did you grow up reading or discussing philosophy? Do you read it now?
"No, except that in a reverse of the usual child-parent dynamic it would be my father repeatedly asking 'Why?' in response to whatever bland statement
"No, except that in a reverse of the usual child-parent dynamic it would be my father repeatedly asking 'Why?' in response to whatever bland statement
had come out of my mouth. He writes academic philosophy for his peers, which has about as much meaning for me as the technical handbook for a Boeing 747 would."
Q. From 'David Copperfield' to 'Madame Bovary' to 'Ella Enchanted', you’ve starred in a number of literary adaptations. Do you have a favorite literary adaptation, whether TV or film?
"Not so much because it’s a literary adaptation, but my favorite film, unoriginally,
"Not so much because it’s a literary adaptation, but my favorite film, unoriginally,
is 'The Godfather'. I have no interest in reading the source material. Judged as an adaptation I would say the TV version of 'Brideshead Revisited', which supposedly contained every line of dialogue from the novel."
Q. How do you occupy your time during breaks on set?
"I find that a book is helpful in that respect – a good, long, gripping book, but something that doesn’t rip you out of the world you’re trying to construct."
"I find that a book is helpful in that respect – a good, long, gripping book, but something that doesn’t rip you out of the world you’re trying to construct."
World War Z by Max Brooks
"Now that I’m finished with work, I’m reading 'World War Z'. I usually have a few things on the go. I’ve got the zombie book on the one hand, and then I’m trying to read Samuel Pepys’ diaries on the other hand."
"Now that I’m finished with work, I’m reading 'World War Z'. I usually have a few things on the go. I’ve got the zombie book on the one hand, and then I’m trying to read Samuel Pepys’ diaries on the other hand."
Q. Do you prefer to read in print or on a tablet?
"At home, I prefer to read actual print books. Even if you’re reading a book on the iPad – which I do if I’m traveling – you think,
"At home, I prefer to read actual print books. Even if you’re reading a book on the iPad – which I do if I’m traveling – you think,
'I could Google this', and a few clicks later, you’re reading about Jessica Simpson’s latest diet."
Q. You play an FBI profiler on your new series, Hannibal. Did you do a lot of research into that field?
"The series is obviously based in Thomas Harris’ books, so I read 'Red Dragon' for the first time.
"The series is obviously based in Thomas Harris’ books, so I read 'Red Dragon' for the first time.
And after that, I read a few books by profilers that Thomas Harris had spoken to. There’s a book called Mindhunter by John Douglas that I found very useful."
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
"I think it just officially came out, but he’s a friend of ours, and it’s just wonderful. I did get my hands on it early – one of the perks of befriending novelists."
"I think it just officially came out, but he’s a friend of ours, and it’s just wonderful. I did get my hands on it early – one of the perks of befriending novelists."
