Booklover -

German cabaret queen Ute Lemper has starred on Broadway in Cats and Cabaret.

The books I love most were ... the plays and writings I read as an arts student which definitely shaped me as a person. The psychological writing of Scandinavian playwrights Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg helped me understand the psyche of roles I was playing, while I also enjoyed reading Tennessee Williams’ plays, as well as Goethe’s Faust and Hermann Hesse’s writing.

The book I'm reading right now is... Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History by David Aaronovitch. I read a review in the New York Times and it sounded interesting. It’s about the role of conspiracy theories in history from Nixon to the moon landings, Princess Diana’s death and September 11. It’s an interesting book. At first he stands on the side of the conspiracy theorists and then takes the opposing point of view and destroys the theories.

The book I'd like to read next is... not yet decided. I only really get to read when I’m touring and have long nights with no children. I’m often inspired by reading reviews in the New York Times or simply browsing in bookshops and if I don’t find something straight away, I can always pick up a novel by Brazilian writer Paolo Coelho.

The book that changed me is... Primo Levi’s book about the Holocaust If This Is A Man (also published as Survival in Auschwitz). As a German, this book had an unbelievable impact on me and through reading this book I felt able to face my country’s history.

The book I wish I'd never read is... never finished. If I’m not enjoying a book, I don’t keep reading it. I stopped reading Jose Saramago’s book Blindness because I found it too depressing and I haven’t been able to get into Salman Rushdie’s books as I just find them too wordy.

Ute Lemper performs her show Angels over Berlin on Sunday 16 May at Auckland Town Hall. Tickets are available from 0800 BUY TICKETS or www.buytickets.co.nz

This piece first appeared in the Herald on Sunday, 9 May, 2010 which The Bookman read at 30,000 feet while returning to New Zealand from Asia on Tuesday.