David Nicholls

It has everything.

It has a kind of gothic horror at times, high comedy, biting social satire.

It's a novel that you can absolutely get lost in.

The characters are so vivid.

It's very strange to me that it isn't as well known as Great Expectations or David Copperfield because I think it's absolutely his finest book.

And if you've ever been intimidated at the idea of picking up one of these giant 19th century classics, I strongly advise starting with Bleak House because it really will sweep you away.

When I was starting to write Sweet Sorrow, I thought of various books about first love, about youth, about the thrill of falling in love and the disillusionment that sometimes follows.

And a book that kept recurring to me was Philip Roth's novella Goodbye Columbus, his first book.

Again, a very short book, but a brilliant book about a summer love affair.

It's a fantastic story of social aspiration, of ambition, of love that always seems a little bit self-conscious, never quite rings true, taking place over the course of one particular summer.

Again, this is a book that would take you two hours to read.

You would zoom through it.

But it's Roth at his most accessible but still beautiful writing and very, very smart about youth and love and first experiences, our first steps into the adult world.

For my final book, I wanted to find a book about my other great love, which is screenwriting.

And the best book about screenwriting, I think, is Conversations with Wilder.

It's a series of conversations between Cameron Crowe and Billy Wilder, based loosely on the Truffaut Hitchcock book, which is also a wonderful book.

And this is an incredibly entertaining book.

If you're at all interested in the craft of directing and screenwriting, then you must get this book.

Billy Wilder himself is a giant of Golden Age Hollywood, and he's full of gossip, but also wonderful technical insights into the craft of screenwriting.

And Cameron Crowe gives a very, very skilled interview.