Politicians' summer reading lists revealed
4th August 2011
The summer reading lists of the country's prime minister and would-be leader have been unveiled, shedding some light on the personal and literary tastes of David Cameron and Ed Miliband.
In an interview with the Spectator, Mr Cameron revealed that he is taking Paul Murray's Skippy Dies to Tuscany with him.
The book is set in an Irish boarding school and was described by The Times as 'noisy, hilarious, tragic and endlessly inventive'.
Mr Cameron's other book is Simon Sebag Montefiore's Jerusalem, which the prime minister is taking the unusual step of reading from the end backwards.
Opposition leader Mr Miliband's reading list comprises Fault Lines by Raghuram G. Rajan, which examines the causes of the recession, and Tim Jackson's Prosperity Without Growth, focusing on the effect that growth can have on the environment.
Thurston Clarke's account of Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, The Last Campaign, and Leadership on the Line by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky complete the list Mr Miliband is taking to Devon with him.
Keith Simpson, the Tory MP for mid-Norfolk, who was responsible for drawing up the Commons annual summer reading list, told The Times. 'It looked more like Ed was going to a car boot sale than on holiday, but it is in character for him to be reading heavy material like that. He grew up in an academic household.'