foxonthego

what are you reading at the moment?

I always have a book, or two, on the go. What about you? What are you reading at the moment? Anything worth recommending? I’m always on the lookout for something new so please drop a note below with suggestions!

Reading started a bit late for me. I was around 11, I think, when I discovered the joy of getting lost in books and spending hours in bed or curled up in a cosy corner devouring a story. At about 4 or 5, my mother decided that she would actively encourage my reading. She’d sit on the edge of my bed before lights out and insist that I read aloud to her. It was a torture for me. Reading is a private experience for one (for me anyway), and two, how can you enjoy a story when your pronunciation of every second word is corrected? I quickly rejected this nightly bedtime routine, refusing to read. At age 11, we moved house and I found myself with a bedroom of my own in the attic with a cosy nook for the bed… and found reading.

There were books from English class at school of course but I also quietly started working my way through my mother’s little library with its rather eclectic and very 70s collection which included:

• Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead,
• Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer,
• Jacqueline Susann’s Once Is Not Enough,
• John le Carré’s Spy Who Came in from the Cold,
• Colleen McCullough’s Thorn Birds,
• Kalhil Gibran’s The Prophet,
• and, of course, Thomas Anthony Harris’s I’m OK – You’re OK – that 1967 self-help book.

My intro to the world of adult literature. If nothing else, an education in the complexity of adult relationships. I discovered the local library and spent whole Saturdays there, enjoying the cool, quiet, and very airy space with that heady smell of dusty books. I read other books by the authors above but for some reason became obsessed with Cold War spy novels and read everything I could find. At 15, I moved to live with my granny in Germany for a year and sought out the library there. A very small affair in a tiny medieval town. The collection of English language books was hardly worthy even of one shelf to itself, but I do clearly recall sitting cuddled up in my granny’s kitchen windowsill with garden views laughing out loud as I read Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Probably not so funny now at my age but hit the spot at 15.

English was always my favourite class at school and introduced me to some wonderful Canadian women writers like Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and Margaret Laurence. No surprise I guess that I went on to do an MA in comparative literature and women’s studies. During my uni years, I read all the European classics, became especially fond of Russian literature and Turgenev and his birds in particular, and I became fascinated with how men write about women, with women writers and women’s stories and biographies. I love a good story. Love clever insightful stories of ordinary people and relationships, stories with a strong sense of place, stories which draw you in and make you think. To be honest, and despite the glut of books now available, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find things I want to read, to find gems of well-crafted fiction which are hard to put down. I still tend to prefer female writers.

So, what am I reading at the moment? I took a snap of my nightstand to share with you (see above) and hope you’ll share one of yours with me in the comments below. It’s rare nowadays to have time to spend hours reading an entire book in one go so I dip in before sleep or when I have some hammock time on a Sunday afternoon. I’ve got three on the go at the moment:

• At the bottom of my pile is a book on growing an edible flower garden. It’s interesting and an occasional short read. It includes some historical background on edible flower gardens, info on plants, and a few recipes for medicinal, culinary, and beauty purposes. I’m trying to grow one so it fills my head with ideas and the gorgeous pictures always lift my spirits and sweeten my dreams.
• In the middle is one by Tessa Hadley. A fairly recent discovery after a friend recommended her short story, Sunstroke, which was brilliant, beautifully crafted. I’ve read a few of her books and really enjoyed them. A true gem of a writer. Her contemporary stories of ordinary Londoners and Brits are so skilful and insightful, always a bit quirky with a bit of dark humour. I lived in London for a few years, so they resonate with my experience and what I’ve learned of the English and English culture. This one is proving a little difficult to read, especially as I’ve been dipping in over an extended period. Maybe just too many characters and layers to keep track of. It’s still good and, oddly, I find having it on the nightstand reassuring. The title is one of the first things I see in the morning and when I close my eyes at night; almost like a mantra: Everything will be all right.
• The one on the top, Reeds in the Wind, is by a Sardinian author. Grazia Deledda is the second woman and first Italian woman to win a Nobel prize for literature (1926). I wanted to learn more about the culture of this island that I’ve made my home, and her books are fascinating. She writes about life in the centre of Sardinia in the early 20th century. Her stories are a little heavy, sad, sometimes dark, with a focus on ordinary village folk and the impact of poverty. She writes with tremendous insight on relationships and a profound sense of place, heavily influenced by her childhood growing up in the Sardinian landscape, listening to Sardinian folk tales, myths, and legends. Beautiful stuff! Highly recommend. She’s considered a bit of a revolutionary here – a WOMAN writer! Which is a bit odd considering Sardinia has always had a strong matriarchal culture and there have been and are quite a lot of celebrated female creatives here, but I guess the traditional role of women in those days was to marry, have children and look after the household. Her parents didn’t approve of or support her writing. She did marry and have children though and spent most of her adult life after marriage in Rome, juggling the traditional role of wife and mother, and writing.

Well, that’s me. Your turn! What are you reading? What’s on your nightstand? And, if you feel like sharing, I’d be delighted to hear about your first encounters with reading! Drop me a note in the comments below. Would love to hear your thoughts…

ciao per ora bellissime sorelle

F ox

PS You can check out the new Substack called ‘The Blue Stockings Society – 21st C Edition’ here and subscribe if interested. I’m also hedging my bets on community building with a Facebook community group of the same name where there is more space for people to initiate discussion. Search Facebook for @bluestockings or go directly using this link on Facebook The Blue Stockings Society – women who think, write, create