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Peter Carey

Kirsty Young invites novelist Peter Carey to choose eight records to take to Radio 4's mythical desert island.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Peter Carey. He says he grew up in his homeland "thinking that Australian history was dull and Australian literature was dull" and that he developed a strong passion to make it new and fresh. In this he has surely succeeded - he is one of only two novelists to have been awarded the Booker Prize twice.

Yet he came to writing relatively late. The son of a car salesman he started off studying science but he abandoned his university career and ended up, in his 20s, drifting into advertising. It was only then that his literary awakening began. "I announced with great confidence one day, 'I’m going to be a writer',' he says, 'I’m an obsessive fool, I was determined to do it!"

Favourite track: The Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah by George Frideric Handel
Book: Austerlitz by W G Sebald
Luxury: A ‘magic’ pudding and a drink

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 20 Jun 2008 09:00
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Miles Davis Quintet

    'Round Midnight

    • Miles Davis: Cool & Collected.
    • Columbia.

  • Elvis Presley

    That's All Right

    • Sun Collection.
    • RCA.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • George Frideric Handel

      Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)

      Choir: Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Orchestra: The Academy of Ancient Music Conductor: Christopher Hogwood

      • Handel: Messiah.
      • Oiseau.

  • Bob Dylan

    Thunder on the Mountain

    • Modern Times.
    • Columbia.

  • Talking Heads

    Life During Wartime

    • Life During Wartime / Talking Heads.
    • Sire.

  • Bob Dylan

    Idiot Wind

    • Blood on the Tracks.
    • Columbia.

  • Tom Frampton

    Of Cowboys, Pirates & Lawyers

  • Gavin Bryars

    Jesus' Blood Never Failed me Yet

    • The Sinking of the Titanic / Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.
    • Venture.

  • Book Choice

    • Austerlitz - W G Sebald

  • Luxury Choice

    • A ‘magic’ pudding and a drink

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Peter Carey

Broadcast

  • Fri 20 Jun 2008 09:00
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4

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