{"id":82849,"date":"2025-09-24T13:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T13:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/82849\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T13:56:12","slug":"clare-balding-on-the-reads-that-changed-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/82849\/","title":{"rendered":"Clare Balding on the reads that changed her life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite a busy schedule as one of Britain\u2019s best-loved broadcasters, Clare Balding always makes time to read. It\u2019s a passion she\u2019s had since childhood.<\/p>\n

“I started with books about animals, particularly talking dogs and horses,” she says. “Later, at boarding school, my friends and I read a lot because we had time and needed the mental escape. We were always swapping bonkbuster titles by Jilly Cooper, Jacqueline Susann or Jackie Collins. Those authors have a lot to answer for when it comes to our understanding of relationships!”<\/p>\n

Clare read English at university, where her taste became \u2018more highbrow\u2019 and she devoured Jane Austen<\/a>, the Bront\u00eb sisters, Henry James and Edith Wharton. “I studied landscape writing through the Romantic poets, which is something that\u2019s influenced the way I try to describe landscape when I\u2019m writing or recording Ramblings for Radio 4, the series where I interview people while walking outdoors.<\/p>\n

What everyone’s reading<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve walked with the writers Robert Macfarlane, Bill Bryson and Philip Marsden \u2013 all of them are able to bring a hill, lake or valley to life as if it\u2019s a character in its own right. That\u2019s such a skill.”<\/p>\n

Pastures New: the joyful new debut novel for anyone who has ever dreamt of a fresh start from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author<\/p>\n

\"Pastures<\/a><\/p>\n

Clare reads every night in bed, preferring books with short chapters. “If there\u2019s anything I need to get my teeth into, I\u2019ll wait until we go on holiday. Then I can devour a whole pile. It\u2019s the best thing about being away \u2013 to have that time to really concentrate and take myself into an imaginary world.”<\/p>\n

These days, she likes family sagas and friendship novels. “I want books to move me emotionally and make me really care about the characters. My wife Alice and I like to swap books so we can talk about them. I love going into bookshops where they have little reviews on cards by the books. Nothing beats a personal recommendation.”<\/p>\n

Clare is already the bestselling author of children\u2019s and non-fiction books \u2013 including her memoir, My Animals And Other Family<\/a>, which won the National Book Award for Biography of the Year. Now she\u2019s written her debut novel for adults. “Jilly Cooper made me do it!” she says. “I interviewed her at a literary festival, and she insisted I should write a novel for adults.” Pastures New<\/a> is about a woman who inherits a crumbling sheep farm in Wales.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to write about a woman working in London who was pulled out of her comfort zone and into an entirely new environment where she didn\u2019t know a soul and had no idea what was going on or how she\u2019d cope. It\u2019s about friendship, identity, love and finding a place to feel at home.<\/p>\n

“Given that I travel a lot for work, it was nice to stay at home to write, but it\u2019s hard work. Some days the words flow and some days it just won\u2019t come, so I take myself off for a walk or a game of golf and try again.” <\/p>\n

The book that shaped my childhood\u2026Black Beauty<\/strong> by Anna Sewell<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s the only book she ever wrote, and it\u2019s narrated by a horse. It\u2019s about the human treatment \u2013 good and bad \u2013 of animals and the impact of our behaviour. As a child, I thought I had a special connection with dogs and horses and I\u2019d talk to them, filling in the conversation from both sides. I still think dogs understand more than we realise.”<\/p>\n

Wordsworth Editions Black Beauty (Wordsworth Classics)<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>The book that made me cry\u2026After You’d Gone<\/strong> by Maggie O\u2019Farrell<\/p>\n

“I could barely read this for the tears that were streaming down my face. Her depiction of grief is so real, and I still well up thinking about wearing the shirt of someone you\u2019ve loved because it smells of them and being so afraid that the smell will fade. I know from friends who have lost their closest and dearest love how true that is.”<\/p>\n

Tinder Press After You’d Gone: Maggie O’Farrell<\/p>\n

\"After<\/a>The character in a book I most relate to\u2026Elizabeth Zott<\/strong> in Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus<\/p>\n

“When I was a child, I thought George in The Famous Five was me. As an adult, it seems a bit self-indulgent to look for yourself in a book, but I love female characters who challenge authority like Elizabeth. She has a wicked turn of phrase and a very sharp mind \u2013 I would love to be like her.”<\/p>\n

Generic Lessons in Chemistry: The multi-million-copy bestseller<\/p>\n

\"Lessons<\/a>The book that changed me\u2026A Woman Of Substance<\/strong> by Barbara Taylor Bradford<\/p>\n

“I read it when I was a teenager, and it made me embrace my inner feminist, driving me upwards and onwards to work as hard as I could to be financially independent. It made me aware that ambition is not a dirty word for women \u2013 it\u2019s something we need to survive.”<\/p>\n

HarperCollins A Woman of Substance: The bestselling, unforgettable epic family saga of drama, betrayal and revenge: Book 1 (The Harte Family Saga)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>The funniest book I\u2019ve read\u2026How To Be A Woman<\/strong> by Caitlin Moran<\/p>\n

“She\u2019s a writer who always makes me laugh, while also making a serious point. This is the perfect example, and I wish I had read it when I was a teenager. It\u2019s still useful in my 50s, to be honest.”<\/p>\n

How To Be a Woman Paperback 1 Mar 2012<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>The best sporting biography I\u2019ve read\u2026All That Matters<\/strong> by Sir Chris Hoy<\/p>\n

“Biographies about what an individual achieved on the field of play are interesting. But this is about being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and how Chris is dealing with the idea that his time in this world may be limited. Full of hope and positivity, it\u2019s a reminder that every second of life we\u2019re given is precious. I know Chris well, but my admiration and love for him has only grown having read this book.”<\/p>\n

All That Matters: The Inspirational and Uplifting Memoir of Hope From One of GB’s Greatest Olympians<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>The book I\u2019m currently loving\u2026Here One Moment<\/strong> by Liane Moriarty<\/p>\n

“Observant and funny without being cruel, Liane has a way of creating characters with a few brush strokes that reveal so much. There are some great twists in this novel based on the concept that we\u2019re all in charge of our own direction in life \u2013 even if it sometimes feels as if we have no control.”<\/p>\n

Here One Moment: Uncover the electrifying novel from the bestselling author of Big Little Lies<\/p>\n

\"Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Pastures New<\/a> (HarperCollins) by Clare Balding is out now<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prima Health\u2019s ‘The<\/strong> Good Walking Guide’ <\/strong>is out now! Buy in store or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a36.99.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a busy schedule as one of Britain\u2019s best-loved broadcasters, Clare Balding always makes time to read. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[359,2320,55289,343,18,117,346,19,17,342,55288],"class_list":{"0":"post-82849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-content-type-default","10":"tag-contentid-630e0c01-6971-40f9-bd2a-f3f3e2eaea06","11":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hasproduct-true","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-locale-gb","18":"tag-shorttitle-clare-balding-on-the-reads-that-changed-her-life"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}