My earliest reading\u00a0memory
I used to regularly reread my bright green copy of the Guinness Book of\u00a0Records. I can still clearly picture the woman with the longest fingernails in the world.<\/p>\n
My favourite book growing up The book that changed me as a teenager The writer who changed\u00a0my mind The book that made me\u00a0want to be a writer The book or author I\u00a0came back to The book I reread The book I could never\u00a0read again The book I discovered later in life The book I am currently reading My comfort read
I loved the world-building in Michelle Paver\u2019s Wolf Brother<\/a> series. Its stone age setting was different to anything I knew, but so easy to imagine being a\u00a0part of.<\/p>\n
I bought NW<\/a> by Zadie Smith because its cover design was so striking. I\u00a0had no idea she was such a big deal! Once I\u00a0finished it, I sought out\u00a0the books that she recommended. That\u2019s how I ended up reading Elizabeth Strout<\/a>, George Saunders<\/a> and Gustave Flaubert \u2013 which was a very good place to start.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t read biographies until I stumbled upon Dana Stevens\u2019s book about Buster Keaton, Camera Man<\/a>. She changed my mind about the genre, and now I can\u2019t watch Keaton\u2019s films without thinking about scenes from the book.<\/p>\n
Reading short stories at university made me want to become a writer. Extra by Yiyun Li, A\u00a0Temporary Matter by\u00a0Jhumpa Lahiri and\u00a0Recitatif<\/a> by Toni Morrison stand out as early examples that got me to think differently about reading and writing.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t get Heart of Darkness<\/a> at all when I\u00a0first read it, and was too quick\u00a0to judge it. Thankfully, I\u00a0revisited it and now count Joseph Conrad as\u00a0one of my favourite writers. I love his prose style and the scale of ambition in his novels.<\/p>\n
Teaching courses on the short story allowed me to regularly revisit some favourites. Two stories that never left my syllabus were Pet Milk and Paper Lantern by Stuart Dybek. After dozens of rereads, Dybek\u2019s writing always feels new \u2013 I get swept along every time.<\/p>\n
I listened to Karl Ove Knausg\u00e5rd\u2019s My Struggle<\/a> while training for a marathon. I think if I\u00a0read it again, it would invoke some kind of Pavlovian response.<\/p>\n
I have myself to blame for reading Daniel Defoe\u2019s Robinson Crusoe<\/a> later than I should have \u2013 it was on my university course but I missed the lecture. Since reading it, I struggle to get on with novels that don\u2019t have any oomph to them. To\u00a0hold my wavering attention, there\u2019s got to be a sense of adventure and play either at the level of the plot or the sentence \u2013 Robinson Crusoe has both.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m slowly making my\u00a0way through Larry\u00a0McMurtry\u2019s epic western Lonesome Dove<\/a>, which is a comedy of manners set on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The free indirect style is very Jane Austen and the dialogue very John\u00a0Wayne.<\/p>\n
I sometimes take Sheila Heti\u2019s Alphabetical Diaries<\/a> on the tube to work. Dipping in and out\u00a0of it at random is as close as I can get to meditation during rush\u00a0hour.<\/p>\n