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The Toilet

Chris Donald, founder of comics, loves to read in his household loo. It’s his favourite retreat for browsing through one of his best-loved books, Kiddar’s Luck by Jack Common.

“I always have a book on the go in the smallest room. Until recently I was fortunate enough to have seven lavatories in my house. Ironically my dad’s family once shared one outside loo with six other families,” says Chris.

“One luxury of having seven toilets is that there’s never a queue. I could spend as long as I liked sitting snuggly in my favourite WC, reading away, long after I’d finished my business. I could afford quilted loo paper too, so the books always remained intact.”

Chris says he enjoyed discovering the North East of England’s most treasured books for .

“It’s been a challenge, interviewing authors and literary heavyweights. I’m a pretty low-brow bloke.

Like (the character), I’m a bit of a fraud when it comes to TV presenting. But it’s been fascinating. I’ve learnt a lot about the authors we covered, and their books. It’s made me want to read more. I hope the viewers feel the same.”

Book lovers often name as their favourite children’s novel.

The well-loved story of two groups of children and their sailing adventures on what is thought to be Coniston Water still draws visitors to the Lake District.

Actor Simon O’Brien’s favourite location for reading the book is the place where it was set.

“Where better to read Swallows and Amazons than on a boat on Coniston Water - the very lake which inspired .

"The lake is almost a character in its own right. You can see why was inspired by this place, even from a very early age when his family brought him here.

"It’s a magical place - I love seeing it every time.”

A Library

John prefers solitude when he’s reading one of his favourite poems or books.

’s poems are among his most treasured, and one work in particular is top of his list - High Windows.

“I like to read in the University of Hull’s library, which developed and ran while head librarian at the University. It has a superb view over the city, almost like you’re up in a balloon - High Windows indeed!” says John.

“There’s nothing like a library on a quiet day for sinking into a book. It’s a place that celebrates reading, that’s haunted by concentration.”

Gemma Cairney’s choice of reading location couldn’t be more different.

She loves to switch off and concentrate on her favourite book by heading outdoors away from the busy streets of Bristol.

“In this crazy world, being able to breathe, unplug and escape into a world of words through book reading is just a wonderful gift,” says Gemma.

“I love to read outside, where there is green and nature surrounding me, where you feel like your breathing matches the sway of the trees.”

For Gemma, a garden or quiet natural spot is the ideal place to soak up a good book, whether it is ’s history of Bristol’s slavery in A Respectable Trade or a pirate adventure like Robert Louis Stevenson’s .

A Woodland Glade

Another book lover who, perhaps unsurprisingly, loves reading outdoors is wildlife presenter Chris Packham.

Chris’s idea of literary bliss is reading Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows under a tree in the very woods which inspired the classic book in Cornwall.

“The wooded creeks off the River Fowey are part inspiration for the Wildwood in Wind in the Willows and the perfect place to sit down and sample its gentle delights,” says Chris.

“What I like is its gentle anthropomorphism. The characters are real but they’re differentiated; and the lush descriptions of the woodland and the riverbank are a perfect introduction to nature for young people to nature.

“It’s not the best book in the world but it’s undeniably one of the most charming.”

Sitting by a burning log fire

Creating the right atmosphere is the key to finding the best place to read for TV presenter Martha Kearney. What better way to read one of the greatest crime writers than in front of an atmospheric, crackling log fire...?

"I sometimes welcome the nights drawing in, as it gives me an excuse to sit and read in front of a blazing log fire,” said Martha.

“I love to return to Dorothy L. Sayers and her clever detective Lord Peter Wimsey.”

For Martha, it’s a great way of evoking the spirit of the Fens where the books are set.

“The Nine Tailors is a firm favourite with its evocative description of the Fens and a way of life which has all but disappeared," says Martha.

A Historic Garden

Lamb House, near Rye, is a stunning Georgian building with a walled garden which oozes with history and literary associations.

The American novelist Henry James bought the house in 1899. He wrote several novels there and entertained fellow writers including H. G. Wells, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling and G. K. Chesterton.

Writer Damian Barr says that the house’s gardens are a great place to read Colm Toibin’s The Master, which tells the story of Henry James’ life in Rye.

“Where better to read The Master than in the gardens where Henry James walked and talked and had some of his best ideas?

“Lamb House sits on literary ley-lines. You can almost hear the stories.”

The Garden Room at Lamb House was also an inspiration to Henry James when he was working on three of his major novels there - The Wings of the Dove, 1902, The Ambassadors, 1903 and The Golden Bowl, 1904.

A London Bus

Madness singer Suggs loves to read whilst he’s on the move on a London bus.

One of his favourite books is The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon. The novel follows a number of characters from the 'Windrush generation' and their daily lives in the capital.

“The Lonely Londoners shows brilliantly how those early West Indian immigrants to London had their ska and bluebeat, but also faced a load of casual racism at the same time,” says Suggs.

“I met a 1950s bus conductor still smiling but full of hurt at some of the things that were said to him.”

While filming , Suggs learned how attitudes had changed over the last few decades.

“It was made clear to me how far London has come when I visited a school where a wonderful teacher taught a West Indian boy to read, and you saw the joy in his face and hers,” he says. “Yes, books can change things.”

Under a Tree

We caught up with TV presenter and historian Craig Henderson sprawled out under a tree reading The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse.

The book is set on the edge of the drowned marshes of a Sussex village in 1912, where its heroine, Connie Gifford, practices taxidermy. She’s an expert on crows, rooks, magpies and jackdaws which roost in trees.

It’s appropriate then that under a tree is where Craig Henderson has chosen to read this dark tale of ghosts, ghoulish secrets and bird-life.

“Reading under a tree has a lot going for it – it shelters you from the rain, it’s something to lean against and it grounds you,” says Craig.

“That tree's been there a long time, maybe from as long ago as the people you're reading about”.