{"id":3137,"date":"2025-09-05T06:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T06:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/3137\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T06:03:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T06:03:06","slug":"clare-balding-picks-her-favourite-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/3137\/","title":{"rendered":"Clare Balding picks her favourite books"},"content":{"rendered":"

The broadcaster and author chooses her favourites. Her first novel for adults, “Pastures New<\/a>” is out this week, and she will be at a series of events and signings at bookshops nationwide.<\/p>\n

Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse<\/p>\n

Anna Sewell, 1877<\/p>\n

This is one that really affected me when I read it as a child. It delves into how humans treat animals \u2013 both kindly and cruelly \u2013 and really makes you think about our actions. As a child, I felt a unique bond with dogs and horses, often chatting with them as if we were having a two-way conversation. Honestly, I still believe dogs understand more than we realise.<\/p>\n

After You\u2019d Gone<\/p>\n

Maggie O\u2019Farrell, 2000<\/p>\n

I struggled to get through this one because I was in tears the whole time. Maggie\u2019s portrayal of grief is so incredibly authentic. I still get emotional just thinking about that moment when you wear a loved one\u2019s shirt because it carries their scent, and the fear of that scent fading away.<\/p>\n

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A Woman of Substance<\/p>\n

Barbara Taylor Bradford, 1979<\/p>\n

I picked up this saga about a Yorkshire maid who founds a business empire as a teenager, and it really ignited my inner feminist. It inspired me to strive for financial independence and showed me that ambition is not a dirty word for women. It\u2019s a message I still carry with me today.<\/p>\n

How To Be a Woman<\/p>\n

Caitlin Moran, 2011 <\/p>\n

Caitlin has a knack for making me laugh while tackling serious topics. I really wish I had discovered this gem in my teenage years, but honestly, it\u2019s still just as relevant in my 50s.<\/p>\n

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Barnaby Rudge<\/p>\n

Charles Dickens, 1841<\/p>\n

Love, social unrest, mob uprisings against the system, the lure of populism, and brilliant descriptions of poverty \u2013 this novel has it all. I have discovered Dickens late in life and this is one of my favourites.<\/p>\n

Here One Moment<\/p>\n

Liane Moriarty, 2024<\/p>\n

I\u2019m currently reading this and loving it. Liane has this wonderful talent for creating vivid characters with just a few strokes of her pen. Observant and funny, with some fantastic twists, it explores the idea that we\u2019re all steering our own lives, even when it feels like things are out of our control.<\/p>\n

Titles available at The Week Bookshop<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The broadcaster and author chooses her favourites. Her first novel for adults, “Pastures New” is out this week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[489,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-3137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}