--- title: Lee Child on Summer Reading | TIME description: Katherine Lanpher sits down with bestselling author Lee Child to talk about what he's reading this summer canonical: https://time.com/video/tq3JacXd/ og:title: Lee Child on Summer Reading og:description: Katherine Lanpher sits down with bestselling author Lee Child to talk about what he's reading this summer og:url: https://time.com/video/tq3JacXd/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tq3JacXd/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lee Child on Summer Reading twitter:description: Katherine Lanpher sits down with bestselling author Lee Child to talk about what he's reading this summer twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tq3JacXd/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Lee Child on Summer Reading > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Lee Child on Summer Reading [Watch (HLS stream): Lee Child on Summer Reading](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tq3JacXd.m3u8) (5:36)  _Published 2009-07-02. Katherine Lanpher sits down with bestselling author Lee Child to talk about what he's reading this summer_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:11 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Summer Reading](/video/5arH1ZSd/) ### Summer Reading [Colson Whitehead on Summer Reading](/video/6l4aWhpr/) ### Colson Whitehead on Summer Reading [Kate Christensen on Summer Reading](/video/CkipIUo3/) ### Kate Christensen on Summer Reading --- ## Transcript >> Lee Child is the author of the bestselling thriller series featuring Jack Reacher, a former military man whose habits die hard. The sort of Guy Walks Into a Bar and immediately checks the exits and the patrons. The latest book in the series, Gone Tomorrow, is the 13th. And while Child's own creations have been called red- hot beach books, there are 22 million copies of his books in print. His summer indulgence goes in another direction. He'll be reading a 600- paged tome by author Philip Hensher, a sprawling two- decade look at the life of two families and housing estate in Northern England. The Northern Clemency was short listed for the Man Booker Prize and while The Fat Years might not have much to do with Jack Reacher, they do have something to do with his creator, Lee Child. So, what drives you to this book, The Northern Clemency? >> It takes place in the city where I went to college and I actually lived there a year or two afterward as well, and my brother lives there and so I'm still connected to that city. And I think it's always fun if the book takes place in a place you know because there's an immediate personal connection right there. Plus, it's about a very influential seminal period of history, the '70s, '80s and '90s in Britain, really everything changed. In the '70s, it was kind of old style Britain, by the '90s, it was the new style Britain and that is inherently very fascinating I think. >> It sounds reminiscing of the Jonathan Franzen novel, The Corrections, you know, an American novel that explains the American family to itself. >> Uh- huh. >> Is there something of that going on, do you think, with The Northern Clemency? >> I'm hoping so and I'm hoping it's kinda-- not much to explain the family as explained the period of history because I'm a strong believer that recent history is better told through fiction than non- fiction because non- fiction we don't really know the details yet. And we can see that in all other kinds of books. For instance, I just read a book called Hunting Eichmann, which was about the Israeli hunt for Adolf Eichmann. And many, many years ago I've read The House on Garibaldi Street which was the first kind of pop version if that story, and now, of course, what, 40, 45, maybe 50 years have elapsed and the real story is coming out because certain things have been classified, certain things no longer a secret. So, really, for history, you have to wait 50 years and so if it's recent history, it's better than through fiction I think. >> Given that so many people are going to be lolling on beaches this summer, reading your books. >> I hope. >> I'd like to know what criteria you use when you're picking what you're gonna read when you loll on a beach. >> Well, my criteria are loose. I mean, I'm just an incredibly veracious reader. I read at least four, probably five or six books a week and so it's not like I have to choose carefully because this is my book for the summer and it will be one of many. >> Are there any books that summon a particular summer for you? >> Oh, absolutely. I read a book by a guy called David Westheimer, called Von Ryan's Express, which was later in movie with Frank Sinatra. I read it in a windswept Trailer Park in Wales, which is where we used to go for our holidays. The weather was always awful. It would be July or August just dreadful. And I remember reading that book and thinking, wow, that is a great, great suspense novel. It is an action novel, it was a World War II novel. It was just a terrific novel and I really, really enjoyed it, never forgot it. And then many decades later when I was away, so I got an e- mail from somebody called David Westheimer saying I love your Reacher books. And I thought couldn't it be the same David Westheimer? So, I said, " Are you the David Westheimer ?" and he said, " Yes, I am ." And we developed a correspondence and I told him, " You know, 30, 40 years ago, you saved my summer vacation with your book Von Ryan's Express ." And you know, he was happy to hear it and we had a correspondence that lasted until he died. >> Twenty- two million copies in print. How often do you get on a plane or a train and someone near you was reading one of your books? >> Well, happily quite often. Yeah, it happens quite a lot and it's-- actually, one time I flew to LA and I happened to be sitting next to Alec Baldwin and in front of me is somebody who was reading my book, and across the aisle from him, somebody was watching him on 30 Rock, on the little video screen. And it was very interesting to me how different it was to him than it was for me because everybody was staring at him over time because he's visually recognizable. The person reading my book had no idea it was me. So, it's reassuring, it's not like being an actor. It is a very anonymous job. >> You're such a veracious reader. Have you considered writing something that isn't a thriller? That perhaps is more in the spirit of The Northern Clemency? >> I strongly believe in getting with what you're good at and Philip Hensher, I'm sure he's a great contemporary social realism novelist. If he stays away from thrillers, I'll stay away from his patch. >> Thank you so much. Have a great summer reading. >> I will. Thank you. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Lee Child on Summer Reading","description":"Katherine Lanpher sits down with bestselling author Lee Child to talk about what he's reading this summer","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tq3JacXd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-07-02T19:37:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tq3JacXd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/tq3JacXd/","duration":"PT5M36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/tq3JacXd/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```