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Waterland
Graham Swift
(UK: Picador, @picadorbooks, 2015; USA: Vintage, @VintageAnchor, 1992)

Tom Crick is a passionate teacher, but before he is forced into retirement by scandal, he has one last history lesson to deliver: his own. Spanning more than 200 years in the lives of its haunted narrator and his ancestors, Waterland is a visionary tale of England’s mysterious Fen country. Taking in eels and incest, ale-making and madness, the discovery of a body and a tragic family romance, this is an extraordinary novel about the heartless sweep of history and man’s changing place within it.

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Rest of the world: Book Depository | Wordery

Recommended by:
Christopher Nolan, Director, Producer and Screenwriter | IMDb: Christopher Nolan

Born in London, Christopher always felt attracted to filmmaking. As an 8-year-old living in Chicago, he would make Super 8 films with his friends. He went to the University College London to study English and joined the institution’s Film Society during his stay, making excellent use of UCL’s 16mm equipment.

Whilst still an undergraduate, in 1989 the self-taught director’s short Tarantella aired in the USA. By the mid-90s, he had hooked up with Jeremy Theobold, who appeared in his shorts, Larceny and Doodlebug. Theobold would go on to produce and star in Nolan’s feature directorial debut, Following (1998: Amazon: UK | USA). The film, which was inspired by a break-in at his flat in London, impressed critics, who felt it was an auspicious debut.

Nolan blew critics and viewers away with his second film, Memento (2000: Amazon: UK | USA), based on his brother’s short story. A plot in which the scenes are shown in reverse order, focusing on a man with short-term memory loss trying to crack a murder case, it wowed audiences on both sides of the pond and earned him many awards, including Independent Spirit Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director; a Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay; a London Critics Circle Film Award for British Screenwriter of the Year; an MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker; and nominations from the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. A remake has been announced but no production details are yet available. The following year he won a London Critics Circle Film Award for British Director of the Year for Insomnia (2002: Amazon: UK | USA).

His success and talent led to Hollywood producers offering him the chance to helm the big-budget feature Batman Begins (2005: Amazon: UK | USA), starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader. The film was such a huge success that he directed a sequel, The Dark Knight (2008: Amazon: UK | USA), and a third film to complete a trilogy: The Dark Knight Rises (2012: Amazon: UK | USA). Other projects include The Prestige (2000: Amazon: UK | USA), with his Batman star Bale teaming up with Hugh Jackman as two competing magicians; Inception (2000: Amazon: UK | USA), a sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio; and Interstellar (2000: Amazon: UK | USA), a futuristic space adventure.

In 2018, for his work on the war film Dunkirk (2017: Amazon: UK | USA), Christopher received a nomination for Best Director from the Golden Globes and nominations from the Academy Awards in two categories: Best Director and Best Motion Picture.

A new untitled project is in pre-production – starring Elizabeth Debicki, John David Washington and Robert Pattinson – is said to be a mixture of North By Northwest (1959: Amazon: UK | USA), and Inception. Filming starts in June 2019 and the movie is slated to premiere in summer 2020.

Biography adapted from Tribute Entertainment Media Group profile