98 MAYFAIRTIMES.CO.UK
Eat YoursElf slim
(thE sEcrEts of NutritioN)
by michel montignac
So I can keep trim and healthy on my
island. This eminently readable and
brilliant book divulges the chemistry
of food and how it affects us, and the
principles in it have informed my choices
ever since I first picked it up many years
ago.EmotioNal iNtElligENcE +
WorkiNg With EmotioNal
iNtElligENcE
by Daniel goleman
I found this when I was training as a
counsellor – it would keep my mind and
thought process healthy on my island,
although page 178 explains how studies
show that social isolation (possibly on a
desert island) doubles one’s chances of
sickness and death.mYths of grEEcE aND romE
by ha guerber
My copy is very old, 1921. My father
[poet Ted Hughes] gave it to me when
I was a child. I chose this because
sometimes we need to have a little
magic and fantasy in our lives; escapism
at its best.d ESERT ISlAnd bOOKS
FR I EdA hUghES
The poet and artist, daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath,
shares six books she’d read while stranded on a desert island
WorDs jonaTHan wHIleythE storY of art
by Eh gombrich
This draws upon the evolution of art
that gladdens the eye and entertains
the mind – and would remind me
that I am an artist as I sit there
surrounded by nothing to work with
but sand. It might give me ideas –
I’d draw in the sand and make sand
sculptures.staYiNg alivE
edited by Neil astley
an anthology of 500 life-affirming
contemporary poems (which he
followed up with Being Alive)
including two of my own, which
would answer my need for heart-
and-mind food on my desert island,
and remind me that I am a poet.thE mastEr aND margarita
by mikhail Bulgakov
In which the devil makes a personal
visit to Moscow with his entourage,
including an upright-walking black
cat that’s a “dead shot with a Mauser
automatic”. It is a comically absurd
and riveting read, and would take
my mind off being on a desert island
surrounded by nothing but water.Frieda Hughes will appear at
this year’s Mayfair & St James’s
Literary Festival, which runs from
October 28 to November 3.MT Aug19 98 Books.indd 98 30/07/2019 11:57