The author of the romantic bestseller One Day (starring Anne Hathaway in the film of the same name) and the novel We by David Nichols about his culinary talents, conformity and a book that helped him get through difficult times.
New novel published in Russian is a lyrical tragicomedy about family, marriage, travel and the search for a formula for happiness. Us won the UK National Book Awards and was nominated for the 2014 Booker Prize. Today David Nichols, writer and screenwriter answers questions from Psychologies*.
1. Describe yourself in four words.
I do everything I can.
2. What irritates you often?
Awards ceremonies, tiny jams at hotel breakfasts, people who are rude to the waiters and who talk in the cinema during the show, bottled water, machismo and chauvinism, football, crowds on the beaches … I could go on, but hell for me is a conversation about football on a crowded beach.
3. What is your craziest spending?
I’m not particularly wasteful. I have a boring puritan in me, and luxury makes me anxious and guilty. An expensive car would give me a nervous breakdown, but I have more books than I ever hoped to read, and I wouldn’t mind red wine either.
4. What would you change about yourself?
I’m too anxious – see above. I don’t really know how to relax and I’m rarely satisfied with myself. A certain amount of anxiety, perhaps, is necessary – it spurs on. But even when things are going well, I will definitely find a reason to worry. I am one of those who, feeling the warmth of the sun on his cheek, thinks about how not to get burned.
5. Are you a rebel or a conformist?
I appear to be a conformist. At heart, I’m perhaps… a conformist too.
6. Who is your example?
Other writers and filmmakers. I’m not talking about their behavior – the very best writers and directors often have a terrible, repulsive character – I mean their skill, talent and determination.
7. Who do you usually consult with?
For professional matters, with your agent and one of your two closest friends. And I discuss all personal issues with my partner Hannah.
8. A book that helped get through hard times.
I love Salinger’s Franny and Zooey and read it once a year. This is a very wise book, beautiful, touching, inspiring and not at all banal.
Read more:
- What happens if you piss off the waiter
9. The book that inspired you to create?
I return to Dickens again and again. There is so much humanity in his books, such an amazing combination of comic and sentimental. He managed to gain incredible popularity, while remaining an innovative and experimental writer. If I had to choose just one of his books, I would name Bleak House.
10. What is your favorite way to procrastinate?
cooking. I like to dodge my writing duties by creating absurdly elaborate and elaborate meals on Tuesdays. Then the children pick their forks in their plates for a long time and leave my food uneaten.
11. If you weren’t yourself, who would you rather be?
Few writers manage to write great books over the years – like Philip Roth or Muriel Spark – and that’s what I envy. Continuous creative success without obvious failures. But I don’t envy anyone personally, not a single soul.
12. What is the secret to a happy life?
In hard work, activity, sense of humor and mutual love. In a combination of decency with passion – if only this is not a contradiction.
*David Alan Nicholls (born 1966) is an English actor, writer and screenwriter. For 12 years he played under the stage name David Holdway in the theaters of London. In 1999, he co-wrote the script for the film Simpatiko, starring Sharon Stone. Author of four novels, including “Question for ten points” (Azbuka, 2014); The Understudy (“Second composition”, not translated into Russian); the bestseller One Day (RIPOL Classic, 2014), based on which a touching melodrama starring Anne Hathaway was filmed in Hollywood (dir. Lone Scherfig, 2011). His new novel “We” has just been translated into Russian (Azbuka, 2015). Today, David Nichols lives in North London with his girlfriend Hannah and their two young children.