Sunday Shelfie with Iqbal Hussain

Here at White Ink, I like to bring you not only my own words but those of other authors. If you are new here, you will find previous Sunday Shelfies all in one convenient place after a little Substack spring cleaning. Sunday Shelfie for those who don’t know is where authors open up their bookshelves to us, talking us through all the favourites (and the surprises) they have there through a series of probing questions. Click here for all the authors who have opened up their bookshelves to you so far. It’s a nice way to spend a Sunday getting all their book recommendations and learning more about what their favourite books mean to them.

But when I was going through this list in the archive I realised it’s been all women and this is not for want of trying on my part. Whenever I ask authors to take part in my Sunday Shelfie or my Twelve Days of Christmas Writing Advice (which you can find in the archive here by the way), I do ask an equal number of male writers to take part, but it is more often the women that say yes. Why do you think that is?

Anyway, to right that balance, one male author who did say yes when I asked him was my gorgeous friend Iqbal Hussain, someone I would love to introduce you to if you haven’t come across his work already.

Iqbal’s debut novel, Northern Boy, about being a “butterfly among the bricks”, was published in June 2024 by Unbound. Iqbal’s short stories have won prizes including the Evening Standard short story competition and the Creative Future Writers’ Awards. He is currently working on his debut children’s novel, about the time-travelling misadventures of a seventh son. He has told me about this one and it sounds absolutely wonderful, I cannot wait to read it.

But what we really want to see are his bookshelves, right?

How would you describe your collection of books? Any favourite genres?

Everything from dog-eared copies of books I read as a child to brand new adult and children’s titles that friends have recommended (or written!). I have catholic tastes, from classics to contemporary. I mainly read fiction, but occasionally dabble in non-fiction – my last non-fiction book was about dinosaurs and what caused their extinction. In fiction, I don’t have favourite genres – rather, genres I read less of, such as crime, romance and fantasy. I don’t mind an element of fantasy, but as soon as a dragon or orc walks out, or a character whose name lacks any vowels, I’m out.

How many books do you estimate you have and how are they organised, if at all?

Probably a good 1,000, and growing, much to the consternation of my other half. I’m meant to be observing a one in-one out rule, but I’m a sucker for charity shops and book exchanges/free libraries. When I was a child, I’d organise my books in alphabetical order, then spending a happy afternoon or two typing up the inventory on my orange Olivetti typewriter. As an adult, I seem to have lost this ability to be logical, so books are stashed anywhere they fit – which, now that I’ve filled all the shelves, means stacking them on top in wobbly towers.

In percentage terms, how many of the total books on your shelves have you read?

I used to think it was a 50/50 split, but since I don’t tend to keep books I’ve read – to make room for new purchases! – the truth is more like 20/80 read/unread. I’ve worked out how many books I might get to read before I die (estimating one book a month). I’m 53 now, so assuming I’ve got 30 years left, that’s 360 books. Even if I manage two books a month, that’s still only 720 books. So I no longer finish books I’m not enjoying. Life, literally, is too short!

Which three books are top of your TBR (To Be Read) pile at the moment?

The Twelve by Liz Hyder – a gorgeous book by one of the loveliest authors out there. I loved Alan Garner and Susan Cooper as a child, and this book has been compared to those. It’s also recently won the children’s category of the Nero Book Awards.

Daughters of the Nile by Zahra Barri. Zahra and I won the Unbound competition for debut writers last year, which is how my own book, Northern Boy, got to be published. Zahra and I have been on quite the journey together – full of excitement and wondrous things. I’ve been waiting for a holiday so that I can do Zahra’s book justice, a multi-generational novel set across three locations, focusing on three different women. The holiday is imminent!

In the Shadows of Love by Awais Khan. Awais is a dear friend and one of the loveliest writers out there, so supportive of everyone. Like Awais’s other books, this one is set in Pakistan and deals with difficult issues and cultural norms that are not often explored.

Which book on your bookshelf is the most well-thumbed/do you return to the most, and why?

Maurice by EM Forster. Every time I read it, I find something new in it. It’s achingly romantic, yet restrained due to the time in which it was written. The scene where Alex Scudder, the gamekeeper, climbs in through the window one night, with the line “Sir, was you calling out for me?” gives me goosebumps every time.

Which book on your bookshelf do you most often buy as a gift for others, and why?

I don’t tend to gift books – not sure why – but I always rave about one of my childhood favourites, Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. It was published in the 1960s. The eponymous heroine goes around making honest – but often mean! – notes about her friends and neighbours in her notebook. One day she loses the notebook and her friends find it. You can imagine what ensures. I love this book with all my heart. It’s honest. It’s funny. And it inspired me to become a writer.

If you have a collection of writing craft books, which is your favourite and why?

I have quite a little hoard, but no favourites. Some are broadstroke, and cover the whole subject, such as Get Started in Writing a Novel by Nigel Watts and Stephen May. Others are more specific, such as On Editing by Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price. I tend to dip in and out of all of them at some point. Like everyone else, I’m a huge fan of On Writing by Stephen King, whose early books I particularly love. I don’t always agree with him – I have no truck against adverbs or adjectives. Used judiciously, they have their part to play.

If you write within a particular genre, can you tell us your three favourite books within that genre (classic or contemporary) and why?

The Just William books by Richmal Crompton. Each book is a collection of standalone stories, all of them a masterclass in intricate plotting. They’re laugh-out loud funny (who can forget Violet Elizabeth Bott and her constant threat to “thcweam and thcweam until I'm sick!”). And they have surprisingly complex language – I’m often looking up a word on every page as it’ll be new to me! They’re also a great snapshot into the past, as they often talk about strange societies and organisations that hit the zeitgeist.

The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett – I loved this series of books when I first read them as a child, about the Ruggles family. It was probably the first time I’d come across working class characters with very little money, but oh so much love. They still read beautifully, and the gentle line illustrations by the author add their own charm.

The Uncle series of books by J.P. Martin. These are under-rated gems, known to those in the know, but sadly forgotten by most. Uncle is a pompous but preposterously rich elephant who lives in an enormous castle with an assortment of eccentric friends. Across the way is Badfort, home to an equally eccentric assortment of villains, led by the dastardly Beaver Hateman. With spiky illustrations by Quentin Blake, these never fail to make me laugh. Gloriously, deliriously, beautifully bonkers – highly recommended!

Which book on your bookshelf is your guilty pleasure?

My collection of Billy Bunter books by Frank Richards. These are set largely at Greyfriars, a boarding school, where the rotund Bunter causes havoc with his liking for jam tarts and aversion to studying. They’re hugely problematic now with their language and sensibilities of the early 1900s (aside from all the jokes and jibes at Bunter for his size, there’s an Asian character, Hurree Jamset Ram Singh, whose nickname is “Inky”!), but they’re a bizarre insight into a world long gone. Having always wanted to go to boarding school, these go some way in assuaging that desire.

Which book on your bookshelf do you feel most guilty for not having read yet, and why?

The full collection of the Oz books by Frank Baum. They look lovely on the shelf, in their fancy slipcase (five volumes, fifteen books in total), but I can’t face the thought of reading all those stories about potentially strange creatures (note my earlier aversion to full-on fantasy). I feel I should read them, just to be able to tick off a whole series, but I can’t justify the time to do so,.

Which book would we be most surprised to find on your bookshelf?

I have a huge collection of Maths is Fun-type books, which I know is an oxymoron for a lot of people. I’ve always loved numbers, and I did a maths degree for the sheer joy of number-crunching! Over the years, I’ve amassed an unhealthy amount of books dealing with recreational maths, maths tricks, maths facts, maths stats, maths-you-name-it. I’m an unabashed numbers geek.

Which book on your shelf would you take to a desert island, and why?

A few years ago, I came across an absolutely ginormous book in the N4 Library, Finsbury Park, called something like The Big Book of Time Travel. I’ve never found it since, much to my dismay. As someone obsessed by time travel, and all the paradoxes around it, I could happily spend my days on the island working my way through the (seemingly) hundreds of stories in the anthology. The book was the size of a loaf of bread!

Which book is on your wishlist currently to join all the others on your bookshelf?

I’m looking forward to Damian Barr’s upcoming novel, The Two Roberts, a fictionalised account about the relationship between working class artists Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun. He’s a beautiful writer, and these are artists new to me, so I know I’ll be in for a treat.

• Thank you Iqbal so much for taking part, it is lovely to see you grace these pages.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about Iqbal’s books and his recommendations. Please do like and share this Sunday Shelfie if you have enjoyed it.

And a question for you, are there any male authors on Substack who you would like me to ask to open their bookshelves to us? Tag them in the comments and let’s see if they’ll agree! (No pressure, of course!)