I
knew I was well overdue for a blog post but I am a bit shame faced that I
haven’t blogged since November. The
truth is I haven’t been reading much.
Over the summer my reading was more aspirational that reality. I did start the new Sarah Waters novel for a
change of scene and pace. I was enjoying
it and was a fair way through before I had to return it to the library. This has been the pattern over the summer; I’ve
bought library books home and put them on my bedside table, and then carried
them back to the library treating the books more like dogs that needed walkies rather
than literature.
I’ve
been on Twitter looking at tweets where people have been skiting about the
number of books they’ve read over the summer holidays and I felt a little
obligated, knowing that I should be reading those books too. But you know, after a year of study, library
work, and teaching I just needed a break from literature, and to clear my head
for the last intense nine months (ahh it’s actually 7 months now) of my
PhD. I’ve just finished going through a
draft of my novel (my PhD project). It’s
ready to print out again, to read again, to make changes to again, and then
send to my supervisor. Nearing the end
of my studies is a time of wavering confidence about my ability to write, and
uncertainty as to what will happen to this book (my second first novel), and
the great expanse of time post PhD. I
started studying a literature degree when I was 27, and now ten years later my
university career is coming to an end.
It’s slightly terrifying.
I
did read one book over the summer. Kate
Carty did the MA at the IIML during the same year as I (in a different stream)
and has released Run Thomas Run (Escalator
Press 2014). The novel is about a family
– Thomas, Esther and their children Ramina and George – who are forced to leave
Baghdad in 1991 to get away from Saddam’s regime. The novel has a riveting narrative drive in
the first part when the family are based in Baghdad, and then the second part
is based in England and we learn of the difficulties of adapting to a new
country. What is especially interesting
is how Ramina and George adapt to England, whereas their parents sense of
belonging to England is always uneasy. Thomas
especially, still carries with him the paranoia and guilt surrounding an
incident with his sister, which opens the novel. I did wonder whether Thomas should have told
Esther and his children about what happened with his sister, and what dimension
that could have added to the story, but on reflection, a man who has grown up
under a regime as severe as Saddam’s is too used to keeping his thoughts and
emotions to himself.
I’m
also reading Kate’s classmate, Gemma Bowker-Wright’s short story collection at
the moment. I am enjoying the confidence
of the writing, and the references to nature, time, and the complex
relationships between friends, flatmates, husbands and wives. I can’t think of another short story
collection that features so successfully the outside world and how people
interact with it.
I
also bought some books yesterday – I had a voucher that was burning a hole in
my pocket. I’ve got Sarah Quigley’s new
short story collection (the cover is absolutely terrible WTF was the publisher
thinking), and Kirsty Gunn’s collection, as well as Elizabeth Knox’s Inaugural
Margaret Mahy lecture (the title on the cover is barely legible), and the
essay/non-fiction collection Tell You
What. These will keep me busy but
I’m not sure that my posts will be as frequent as they have been in the
past. The PhD is my priority this year,
plus I have a kitten who as I type, is sleeping on my lap. Plus (and perhaps I should put this before
the kitten) I have moved in with my partner and his child, so you know, life’s
happening which really is the best inspiration for a creative life.