Posted By: Anonymous, 21 July 2010
Summer Reads volunteer and participant, Alison Pressley, has recently moved to Norwich having lived in Sydney as a writer, publisher and editor. Here she talks about what she’s been getting out of our Summer Reads programme:
I don’t know what I expected by way of a literary life when I came to live in Norwich in September last year, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by the verve and breadth of the book scene here. Since I arrived a new independent bookshop has opened in the city centre – now how optimistic is that in these straitened times? But I suspect – and hope – it’ll thrive, because Norfolk folk, I’ve discovered, love their books.
Through volunteering and taking part in the Summer Reads programme, I’ve been able to see first hand the enthusiastic participation of the public . I’ve attended Your Summer Reads: the terrific event at which Mick Jackson, Naomi Alderman and Nii Ayikwei Parkes read from their books and a lively book club session on The Tall Man at the Millennium Library; the very first book club session on The Lessons at Waterstone’s and the Australian writers’ night at which Michelle de Kretzer, Chloe Hooper, Kathryn Heyman and Steve Amsterdam read from their work at the UEA. I look forward to the book club session on The Widow’s Tale next month.
The Book Club session on Naomi Alderman’s The Lessons produced a range of opinions. Some felt that the book suffered in comparison to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, others were dissatisfied with the motivations of the characters. But we did all (well, nearly all) agree that despite some flaws it was a really good, page-turning read. I found it riveting, particularly its atmospheric conjuring up of a claustrophobic undergraduate world.
I thoroughly enjoyed the next Book Club session on
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper. Hooper was much hyped several years ago for her debut novel
A Child’s Book of True Crime, which was sold around the world by uberagent Andrew Wylie for eye-watering amounts of money. This is a very different kettle of fish, being a thought-provoking account of an Aboriginal death in custody on a tropical island off Australia’s east coast, and the subsequent court cases. It’s an ongoing affair, and Hooper has plans to publish a sequel when all the dust has settled. As I lived in Australia for many years the book held no surprises for me, so it was a revelation to discover that the English readers of the book had been shocked and horrified to read about the conditions that prevail in Aboriginal settlements in Oz. Just one example of how books are at the very heart of disseminating information around the world.
My favourite book so far has been Mick Jackson’s
The Widow’s Tale. I’m still trying to work out how a bloke managed to get inside the head of a woman of a certain age so well! Though, being that certain age myself, I’m not too happy with
Adrian Slatcher’s description of her in his blog as ‘a cantankerous old lady’. It’s a terrific read, very funny, very sad, and his descriptions of that wild, windy north coast of Norfolk bring salty tears to the eyes of this city dweller.
I’m now looking forward to reading Nii Ayikwei Parkes’s
Tail of the Blue Bird, described as ‘an African whodunnit’. (The only Summer Read I won’t be reading is
Summertime, because I’m not a fan of Coetzee.) But above all I’m looking forward to participating further in Norwich’s vibrant book scene. Ian McEwan apparently said recently,
‘Norwich has turned itself into a world hub for literature.’ He was right.
