In this new feature we invite a special guest into the studio and ask them to choose five books which have had a profound influence on them on their way through life; a kind of desert island discs of books. RNIB's Chair Kevin Carey is interested in music, theatre, poetry, theology and politics. He's also an author himself. He told us about the books of his life.
What role have books played in your life?
An absolutely constant role. I went to a boarding school for blind children from the age of two and learnt to read braille from the age of three. I was unusual in that - and it meant that I was a "book person" from an early age. At boarding school books were a real escape for me and the only way I felt I could get a sense of privacy. We only got a television there in the late sixties so for the first 15 years of my life, books were my escape.
What book would you choose first?
Braille was fairly scarce when I was young so I read anything I could get my hands on including the entire contents of my school library. The first book that made an impression on my was during my teenage years, it was Virgil's The Aeneid. I read it in Latin and I still love it and read it today. I liked it because it was heroic and it was big. I love big, very long books.
And how about your second?
After a period of reading fiction non-stop throughout my sixth form and at university, I came across George Steiner's Language and silence. George Steiner turned out to be the person who has most influenced the way I think; he spoke several languages fluently and knew about science and art and literature. That book introduced me to foreign literature and opened the door for me to Dante and Russian literature, Goethe and Thomas Mann, Balzac and Flaubert.
And how easy was it for you to get hold of these books in braille?
It was nigh impossible for a very long time. My braille books at secondary school were produced by people in prison braille units. And I continued this practice into adult life, so most of my George Steiner books were transcribed by people in prisons up and down the land. Even now there are four or five prisons who receive a steady diet of my theology book requests. It's a really valuable service.
What's your next book?
I went overseas and lived in Trinidad, Antigua, Accra and Nairobi from my mid-twenties to early thirties and although I read a lot of talking books, this wasn't a great literary period for me. But when I returned to England in my late thirties the first book that really hit me hard was Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu [In search of lost time] which I now re-read every three years.
Is it still a challenge to get hold of these books in braille?
Specialist titles such as those by Dante are not so hard to get hold of. But it can be difficult to get the serious novel, those that are neither light fiction nor Booker prize nominated. Often by the time they come out my seeing peers have moved on to something else, which can make discussing the books with them a bit of a problem.
How about your fourth book?
My fourth book is more a class of book. Every Christmas I take a long holiday and I always read three books by Dickens: Our mutual friend, Little Dorrit and Bleak House, as well as a couple by Jane Austen. I love Dickens - he's my favourite British author as he wrote really long meaty books!
Which author would you say has had the most influence on your writing?
Proust, as he does long complex sentences, always has a large number of characters and it can be difficult to follow the thread as things are often picked up again a hundred pages later. I also tend to be quite discursive in my writing.
Now to your last book, what would you choose?
My last book is AS Byatt's Possession. She's had a big influence on me as she and her sister Margaret Drabble are both very good at lists. And I am absolutely fascinated by long lists of apparently heterogeneous things.
And if you could keep only one of those books?
Let's put aside the Bible and Shakespeare as both of those are a constant presence in my life. But of all the rest, I'd take Proust as it's so long and endlessly fascinates me.
If you'd like to follow Kevin's weighty literary lead:
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The Aeneid by Virgil (braille 4v, TB 407646)
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Several titles by George Steiner are available
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Bleak House by Charles Dickens (braille 12v, giant print 12v, TB 756) Many other titles by Charles Dickens also available
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Possession by AS Byatt (braille 12v, giant print 6v, TB 8241)