Books
I’ve always been a reader. If I really think about all of the ways that books have shaped my life, I believe that I would be a completely different person without them. The line separating fictional stories from my real-life experiences, made-up characters from real people, has become blurred for me. Books don’t just spark my imagination or tell me good stories; they’ve given me friends, people who I deeply care about, and the capacity to feel profound empathy.
If I look back at my reading life, I can immediately recognise what was going on in my real life by what book I was reading at the time. Anne of Green Gables was my ‘bosom friend’ who kept my Mom and I company on days when we were sick or when she was feeling homesick for Canada. The girl squad in The Babysitters Club inspired me to create my own clubs with my school friends, complete with membership cards and club headquarters in our garages, and was also the impetus behind my first business venture, ‘Freya’s Coffee Delivery Service’. I also remember so clearly the day that my Grandad took me into a bookshop and bought me my first copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (at that time, still relatively unheard-of); life was never the same after that.
I feel like these characters were more than friends; I shared their experiences and we grew up together. The pain of the moment when Lyra and Pan separated from each other in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy was real pain that I felt (and still feel) too. Malorie Blackman gave me such an important education about racism and politics with her Naughts and Crosses series that I really didn’t get anywhere else at that time. The hopes and dreams of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women encouraged me to question my own desires.
My adult life, too, feels easier to recount when broken down into reading phases. One of my old haunts as a young student in London was Daunt Books, a marvelous old bookshop, unique by the fact that they categorise their collection of books by country. As an 18 year old, I fell in love with French literature; I devoured everything by Simone De Beauvoir, Emile Zola, and Gustave Flaubert. Next, I found the Russian classics, and couldn’t believe the intense passion of Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata and Dostoevsky’s short works, The Gambler and Notes From Underground. When I found Jack Kerouac, On The Road drove me crazy with a hunger to travel and I bought several Lonely Planets after that. It seemed like these authors were able to put into words the feelings and ideas that I was not yet able to articulate for myself. My trips to Daunt Books became more frequent and more addictive as I worked my way from country to country; each time I entered the shop I knew something wonderful was waiting for me.
More recently, I think that reading has become for me the most essential way of trying to understand my own circumstances or what is going on in the world around me. I am able to recognise in the works of Elena Ferrante so many of my own experiences of female friendship and of being a woman which gives me huge joy and comfort to read. The artistry in the way that Toni Morrison crafts language, how she directs her readers in their own discovery of her stories, bowls me over each time I read one of her books. The unmistakable voice of James Balwin is so incredibly powerful - since moving to America he is one of the writers who has stirred me most.
I think it would be too simple to say that reading is a form of escape. It can, of course, be that - especially in difficult times, such as the year we have just had. Books are places to go, people to engage with, ideas waiting to be formed. But there is something else more special about reading. I think it has to do with the act of reading in itself; by its very nature, it is something one has to do, actively, by themselves. It demands your attention and your time and requires you to create something for yourself. It’s a slow process, which I find ultimately more rewarding than the quick hit that you might expect from a film or tv show (which I do also love!). I honestly don’t know if there is any art form more essential, more vital to the understanding of humanity, or more beautiful!
Some Interesting Things
Perhaps my regular book recommendation will carry a little extra weight this week! I just finished Rohinton Mistry’s ‘A Fine Balance’ and thought it was outstanding. I would almost say that the book is an epic, following a handful of characters through several smaller stories in creating one core novel. Something I have found interesting as I have gotten older is that I have grown to really appreciate an author who can write about a particularly tough and harrowing subject in a way that doesn’t overdo it with gut-wrenching language in an effort to try and make the reader feel a certain way. Mistry’s writing is quite simple, even when she is describing events that are so disturbing and horrendous, which I feel gives more authenticity to her story and that is one of the reasons I think this book is so masterful.
This essay from the NY Times, ‘A Lifetime of Reading Taught Min Jin Lee How to Write About Her Immigrant World’ also goes perfectly with the subject of today’s newsletter.
The Oscar-nominated short from the New Yorker, ‘Yes-People’.
Thrifting! It’s a hobby that I sadly have not been able to do much of in the past year due to obvious reasons. I finally decided to drive to a local thrift store this week and had SO much fun and quite a lot of success too! It also gave me a few thoughts on how to thrift right… perhaps a future newsletter on that?
I’ve been enjoying this YouTube channel, where thought-provoking videos are created in the style of video essays.
This summer, I will be teaching (virtually) at a violin technique bootcamp! If you have suitable students, please send ‘em over.
I was recently reminded of when Kelly Bachman, a young female comedian and at that time at the beginning of her career, stood up to Harvey Weinstein in one of the most courageous acts of bravery I’ve ever seen.
That’s it for today! Thanks, as always, for indulging my whims and allowing me to wax poetic about books. This one meant a lot x
