You were bitten by a snake? So this is how Master Secretary captured you.
In answer to your invitation:
I am Bea and I am a textile artist, based in West London, originally from near Manchester. I learned to love reading in Stalybridge Library where, unbeknownst to me, a young woman was researching the French Revolution. Many years later, we exchanged emails about Stalybridge Library (among other things!)
Most of my textile work is inspired by Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy, and I can imagine that I will be continuing to work with it for the rest of my life. Hilary was kind enough to be interested in and supportive of my work, and she liked a paper I wrote about the act of stitching in the trilogy.
The book that changed my life - apart from Master Secretary - was A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley, which I read when I was eight, and I think I will talk about this in more detail in a post on The Thread of Her Tale. But the book that had the most dramatic impact was Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel. I read it while recovering from one of a series of operations for severe endometriosis - at the time (2003) it was one of the very few accounts of the condition. And that book led me to the rest of Hilary’s work.
Oh yes, and the snakebite in Ecuador. The perfect origin story for my War and Peace journey. They told me I would be dining out on that tale for years to come and I guess they weren't wrong.
Nov 10, 2023·edited Nov 11, 2023Liked by Simon Haisell
I used to live in Ecuador and know they have some pretty poisonous snakes. I'm glad you lived to tell (and read) the tale (I almost wrote tail). I was also briefly bed ridden in Quito after a bout of hepatitis. I didn't read Tolstoy, but Kurt Vonnegut. It was a wonderful reading break!
Definitely Slaughter House. We studied it at school, and I think it really opened my eyes to how you could tell an important story with so much creativity and imagination.
Hey Bea! Next year will just be another year Cromwelling for you. We just visit Austin Friars, you've moved into the guest room. Did he have guest rooms? I assume so. He had a tennis court.
What moves me about your story is how personal your relationship with Mantel is, how you found her through her memoir and how it related so much to your life. I'm so glad the two of you got to exchange emails. I need to finish that seminar video you shared, I haven't got to your bit yet.
Hi Sarah and Bea - Another fan of A Traveller in Time here! I think it is what led to my life-long obsessions with both time-slip fantasy and medieval fiction.
Hello Bea! I love the sound of your work - how wonderful to combine your love of textiles with your love of reading. So lovely that Hilary Mantel knew of your work too - and all the links you both had!
I also loved A Traveller in Time & Giving up the Ghost - it really mattered to me that both were set in Derbyshire. It didn't seem like anyone could write a book who lived there when I was growing up in a small market town in the 70s!
So glad you found a mirror too for your experiences of endometriosis. It's so appalling how little we still know about that - and so many other mainly women's health conditions. I hope you're pain free these days. Looking forward to reading more in your own newsletter!
I am Barrie, the 'Fables' part of 'Feasts and Fables'. I am the scribbler of words.
We live in rural France, gently working with the seasons to bring our neglected smallholding back to life. There isn't a single book I could nominate as 'the book that changed me' - I have read way more intentionally in recent years - some books pop up more than once - 'Consolations of the Forest' by Sylvain Tesson, 'Underland' by Rob Macfarlane, 'Still Life' by Sarah Winman ... the authors relish words as I do. I write flash fiction, often inspired by a painting or a photograph. Now I am finished with the 'world of work', I offer free encouragement, gentle mentoring, when folk ask for it.
Maybe I should have said "a book" Barrie, as there's usually more than one. Isn't Underland incredible? I listened to it and was blown away by both the language and all the places the book went.
Your gentle mentoring is inspirational. We need far more of it in this world. I would like footnotes and tangents to be an encouraging place, far from all that busy competition going on in the socials. A place to be inspired by stories and each other. Let's see.
Listening to ‘Underland’. Now that is an excellent idea. I haven’t really done audio books but I imagine that would be fabulous.
Thank you for the kind words. A network of encouragers sounds perfect ... all of us doing our thing, ripples flowing into each other. Love the slow reading community idea. Was it Bjork who said something about “in a fast paced world, sometimes the bravest thing is to be still”. Slow feels right. Onwards.
I'm a big audiobook listener, as you might guess since I make guides for classic audiobooks too. There's just something wonderful about being read to. Maybe it brings out the child in me, or the cave man around the fire.
There's a lot of slowness and stillness going on here. Substack feels a little bit like slow social media, if such a thing could exist. Onwards.
Yes to both of you on Underland!! It’s heavily highlighted and by my side as I write my next essay on the absurdity of SCOTUS removing most of our wetlands protection last May. I eagerly await Rob’s next book about rivers! Have you watched his talk with Barry Lopez on YouTube?
I'm Sarah, I'm mostly retired now, although I worked in the City for 20 years and then did a lot of not for profit stuff. I think I've turned myself into an author, my second book, a biography of the founders of Macmillan Publishing is coming out in May, my first was a self-published biography of a Victorian artist. Now I find that reading and writing has become my main occupation, and I'm researching a new project about a group of fascinating women of the 20th century....I have a stepdaughter and three grown up children, all doing amazing things. I have a small annoying, adorable dog and a garden. I make quilts, and I was stung by a scorpion when in the desert in Oman. Quite the drama. My favourite authors are Trollope and Eliot, and I adore a historical thriller: SG MacLean, Andrew Taylor, SJ Parris and CJ Sansom. And musicals, I love musicals!
Hey Sarah! So you've got thready connections with Bea and we can bond over terrifying encounters with biting and stinging things.
Do you have a favourite musical? I'm really not very well versed, although I used to watch My Fair Lady a lot and after living in the states I became a big Hamilton fan. And of course, huge congratulations on turning yourself into an author! A weird and wonderful metamorphosis that I am still trying to bring about.
I love Hamilton and My fair Lady, also Guys and Dolls is terrific...we've recently begun to enjoy Sondheim, not to everyone's taste, a bit like avocado, but there are some beautiful songs...and I love that he gives all the best lines to the women!
Big up Sondheim!! Love Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, Pacific Overture, Passion, Into The Woods... you name it, he wrote some of the most heartbreaking songs ever 😍
Ooh, I love a historical thriller too! I haven't read Andrew Taylor (looks him up and ignores teetering to-be-read pile) but have read all the others. Shona MacLean lives locally and I've met her a few times; lovely lady.
Shona Maclean is my heroine...and she has previewed my book and said lovely things about it, which made me incredibly happy! Her words will be on the cover.
Hi Simon and all. This is a lovely thing to do with the introductions. Excited to be here for Wolf Hall in 2024. Long been on my list.
I'm Nathan. I was born in Nottingham, England, but moved to Australia in 2009 after getting my PhD in immunology. I live in Melbourne, Australia, with my wife, Josephine, and cat, Clementine.
I'm still an academic (lecturer and researcher), though I feel the inevitable tug of a creative life.
A book that made me who I am? Hmm. This is a weird one, but I'd have to say Mnemonica, by Juan Tamariz. I was a magician for many, many years, working bars and weddings etc to help pay my measly PhD salary. Juan is a master magician from Spain and his treatise on a specific area of card magic shaped the magic I performed in vast, vast ways and helped me to actually be willing to put myself out there and perform and be out of my comfort zone. (On the literature side, I'd likely say 1Q84 by Murakami, because that book catapulted me into considering that maybe I'd want to someday write).
I do less magic these days, so I'm (sadly) not so passionate about it, but instead fill a lot of my spare time with bouldering. The wall is a puzzle. It works a part of my brain whilst also is a great workout.
Hey Nathan. So your book choice interested me. Memory techniques and card tricks play a part in Wolf Hall (Cromwell first makes his way with a three card trick on the streets). So maybe you'll relate to that next year. I can't do any magic, but I wish I could.
Neither can I boulder, but it was a big part of life in Sheffield when I was growing up. Stanage Edge and all that. I can see how enjoyable it must be. I tend to overthink things, so I enjoy relaxing with an activity (like baking) where the decisions are simple and often binary. I can imagine puzzling a wall might feel quite similar.
Ah wow, that's great and makes me excited to read.
I'm more of an indoor boulderer (partly for convenience, but also because the routes can be a little more puzzling and are constantly being changed each week), but there's some striking outdoor places here too. Stanage Edge is quite stunning. Haven't ever been, sadly.
As physical as it is, it's definitely the mental meditative act that I latch onto. I can imagine that baking elicits something similar. I should have also said that I'm a huge puzzle game nerd 😊
Tamariz is an institution in Spain, he was in lots of TV programs when I was a kid, he’s great, so funny and charismatic, as well as such a talented magician 😊
I love that he is an institution in Spain. Often, magicians are only pillars within the magical community themselves. I visited Madrid a few years ago for work and was really hoping to meet Tamariz. I got an invitation to go to his school and chat with his daughter, but unfortunately Juan wasn't going to be around.
1. I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with views of Pisgah National Forest. Roberta Flack was born here; her profound presence, painted on the side of a brewery, watches over this town of 8000 residents. Other murals portray Merce Cunningham and the creative graduates of Black Mountain College. The land was home to the Catawba and Cherokees, and before that the Mississippians~ ancestors of the Cherokee. Before that, the main inhabitants were black bears, cougars, rainbow trout, copperhead snakes, Mountain Laurel, Rhododendrons, and Carolina Wrens.
2. Gardening At the Dragon's Gate by Wendy Johnson made me who I am. The book is out of print. My goal is to read it weekly on Matters of Kinship. Also, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In my interior world, Wendy, Robin, and I have a continuous conversation about being in kinship with all beings.
3. I am non-bookishly passionate about obtaining Rights of Nature for my local river. The Swannanoa River is upstream of the French Broad River, the Ohio River, the Tennessee, the Mississippi, and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. (That's a lot of privilege and responsibility.) I chronicle that quest in Matters of Kinship.
4. I have a stack of Hilary's books lined up for 2024. Yes, I am joining Wolf Hall, the slow read.
5. I am reading Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time by John E. Ross, University of Tennessee Press, 2021. And I seem to have a growing appetite for reading on Substack!
I write Matters of Kinship. My day job is teaching people to be at home in their body with yoga, Pilates, Reiki, and somatic work. Yet, I find myself setting aside more and more time to write in this rare and kind community called Substack.
Thank you for your questions, Simon. Thank you for your presence on this platform.🌱
Hey! Lovely learning more about you – you paint a picture of your corner of North Carolina. We passed through when we were travelling around the US, although I don't remember a great deal apart from a torrential storm where we had to pull over. I do remember visiting lowcountry in South Carolina, which was an education learning about Gullah history.
The kinship topic is fascinating. I lived in Ecuador, one of the first countries to grand Rights of Nature. It's a fundamental part of Kichwa culture, as well as other indigenous communities there.
I'm Lynn and I live on the Black Isle (it's not an island) just to the north of Inverness, Scotland. I've read as long as I can remember; all my pocket money as a child was spent on books, initially Enid Blyton and it went from there. I'm being very ambitious and plan to join both the slow reads next year.
I love photography and enjoy travel, whether at home or further afield, and like to combine the two. You can see my images on Instagram (@lynnfraserphotography). I've set up a Substack and am planning on writing a bit about some of those travels - just need to put pen to the blank page!
Hey Lynn! Black Isle! We visited two years ago when Zack was small. Stayed in a yurt looking out on the Moray Firth. What a wonderful place, we saw the dolphins, went walking along the coast. Ran into a few deer ticks (less wonderful). More than anything I remember all the gorse flowers. Have you lived there for a long time?
I've given you a follow over on Insta, although I'm using IG less and less as I spent more time over here. I hope you get that pen onto the page.
Haha, what a coincidence. I know where the yurts are, and how wonderful that you saw our fabulous dolphins. I moved to Inverness in 1987 and we've lived on the Black Isle for 24 years - we have a small fruit farm.
I will get pen to paper - I think the trouble is I've read so much amazing writing here on Substack that I'm feeling just a wee bit daunted. However, I'll view it as my photography - do it for myself and if anyone else likes it, it will be a bonus!
It's been difficult this year. Too hot in June; cold and wet in July into August. Late frost earlier in the year that put paid to a decent apple and plum harvest. The veg has been good though.
You're right about the writing. I'm away next week but will get down to it after that 🙂
Jenyce here, reading on a farm in rural Northern California. When I do leave the farm it’s to my part time Admin position at a small private school that has truly captured my heart. Speaking of hearts, what’s defining me presently is the wrenching loss 11 months ago of my husband of 33 years. This has been a year of healing and surviving, holding close to my 3 adult children, and everything that eases my heart, therefore most of my reading has been comprised of rereads, old favorites, and comfort reads. By January, I plan to be ready to tackle meatier books again and am thrilled to join both #wolfcrawl and the W&P slowread. I first ‘met’ Simon on #Bookstagram some years ago, much to my delight. Thank you for hosting this lovely corner of the bookish community. The fire is warm and drawing me in.
Jenyce I am so happy you're here, and you're story makes all this worthwhile. I cannot begin to imagine your loss and the healing you are doing. I do know readers this year have found W&P something of a lifeline, sometimes even transformative in hard times. And if this community can be in some small way like that for you, I'd be delighted. Thank you so much for sharing.
Jenyce, thank you for sharing your grief with us. Comfort reads and the love of adult children sound like great helps in hard times. My heart goes out to you.
Nov 10, 2023·edited Nov 11, 2023Liked by Simon Haisell
I'm Kim. I live in eastern Nebraska. I work in photography (and still manage to enjoy doing it on the side). I've been a reader since my dad taught me how when I was four. The first book with real chapters I remember reading was Susan Cooper's The Grey King, and I still enjoy the entirety of Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence. My favorite book ever is The Lord of the Rings (I just started rereading The Two Towers), and that solidified my life as a fantasy nerd. I love a good historical novel, too, but finding really good ones has been a challenge since I read Wolf Hall. I read War and Peace for the first time this year, thanks to the readalong, though I read ahead and finished in a comparatively swift four months. It feels odd to say I'm excited to spend the next year in Cromwell's company, so perhaps I'll say that I'm looking forward to spending it in Hilary Mantel's company instead.
I think we've already bonded over our love of Susan Cooper and Hilary Mantel? The Grey King was just so good, maybe I should revisit it. But first.. A year of Mantel. Being. It. On.
I too loved the dark is rising, which I only discovered a few years ago. My wife is a former senior English teacher and shd recommended the first book. Later I found a coplete edition is an old secondhand store.
Hi Simon, you probably know me quite well by now but in answer to your questions, and for the benefit of those who have yet to glimpse inside my untidy mind...
I'm in West Oxfordshire, on the edge of the Cotswolds. I've lived here, or near here for my whole life. I love being so close to some of the most beautiful countryside in the world and yet within easy striking distance of London.
There are too many books to name in category two but certainly Thomas Hardy played a major part in my learning to read, rather than just studying books for exams.
I am absolutely passionate about food. Good, slow food. You like to read slow, I like to eat slow. I take great delight in eating something that's been produced with love, especially if it's been done in a traditional way.
I'm up for a bit of #wolfcrawl next year. I'm really interested to see how I get on with Hilary. She's a lot smarter than I am but I used to think Tolstoy was, too...
At the moment, I am juggling War and Peace, Ulysees (not really trying very hard with that at the moment tbh), Pushkin's Queen of Spades and a lovely book called Meadowland.
Looking forward to meeting lots of new friends next year as we ramble slowly forth in to another great chunk of literature.
See you in a couple of weeks Kat! Think: by the end of next year you might be as smart as Tolstoy and Mantel put together. The Cotswolds just won't be ready for you! 😂
I'm Lisa from Nottingham and for the last 23 years living back in Nottingham - I lived in Wolverhampton and then Coventry between 1992 and 2000.
I've been made of books since before I can remember with my mum enrolling me at the local library for my own ticket at the earliest opportunity (I think age 3). A Wrinkle in time, Alan Garner, Where the Wild Things Are, Narnia... These set me off but I soon spread my wings beyond fantasy, picking up my mother's passion for history (both local and global) and my father's curiosity for language which for me was through reading work in translation (since I lacked his capacity for languages).
The house I share with my equally bibliophile partner (33 years) and now long since husband (17 years) is FULL of books. Our local marvellous indie bookstore - Five Leaves - jokes with truth that we have more books in our house than in their store 🤦♀️🤣.
I'm an avid knitter and occasional crocheter and sewist. I've been knitting for 7 years and now cannot imagine NOT knitting.
I'm planning to join BOTH slow reads next year and I hope it will allow me to finally break my W&P duck (my awareness is limited to it's about Russia and everyone has at least three different 'names' 🤣🤦♀️)
As I always have several books on the go (in various stages of active reading), but will just select a couple: Michael Lewis's excellent The Premonition: A Pandemic Story which puts people at the heart of the long narrative leading up to and through the early months of the Covid pandemic. I'm also working through my beloved 10 volumes of Sandman by Neil Gaiman which is a regular re-read collection for me (Page 45, our local comic/graphic novel store have a similar narrative to Five Leaves, that we're just gradually transferring their stock into our house). The series covers fantasy, magic, mythology, history, literature, religion, family and so much.
I'm on Insta as Rullsenberg where I mostly post a daily (most days) photograph of what I'm wearing which seems to amuse folk (I'm a bit colourful). I haven't started writing more than notes on Substance, yet....
Another knitter! With Bea in charge as stitcher-in-chief maybe we can create something together next year. No, that's a mad idea. And the only thing I ever knitted was a wonky scarf and that was half finished.
Another Alan Garner fan in the begin. What a place to start with reading.
War and Peace is just incredible. As Kat says, not nearly as hard and dry as its reputation makes out.
Hello everyone, I'm Nicola. I'm a neuroscientist working in academia (though not for much longer). I'm from Lanarkshire in Scotland, and have devoured books my whole life. My favourite childhood books were The Secret Island by Enid Blyton and the Drina Dances books by Jean Estoril. I'm a mood reader and follow my magpie mind everywhere. Besides reading, I love to dance and am lucky enough to teach at a local dance school. I'm really interested in the intersection of art in all its myriad forms. I'm really looking forward to Wolf Crawl and have been nudged into reading Mirror this year so that next year will be a true deep dive.
Ah you can dance! I did not know what about you! So many intersections there, with your neuroscience and love of literature. Good luck with finishing The Mirror and The Light! 😬😬😬
First, thank you for this opportunity to join you and so many others on your #wolfcrawl - je suis ravie..! I absolutely love that you make your own bread, so do I !
Ok so a little about me...
I live in deepest darkest France.. (yup, I still make my own bread, old dog and all that.!) dept 12 called the Aveyron which is one of the least populated, most beautiful of all.! I’ve been here for twenty years.
The book that shaped me... now there is a question.... actually too difficult to answer, let’s say a writer instead - Barbara Kingsolver would be one, Ben Okri, Rohinton Mistry...
I am passionate about food, walking and photography, not necessarily in that order, I often get so lost in the latter two that the former is forgotten - enter over hungry, bad tempered hubby and son!
At the moment I am reading To The River by Olivia Laing.. a meditative wander along the River Ouse where Virginia Woolf drowned combining history and nature.
Thanks again and have a great weekend Simon... it’s to be another wild one here..!
Rohinton Mistry! I read A Fine Balance in my teens on my dad's recommendation. So much beauty and horror in one book. I have some of his short stories somewhere but haven't read them.
It's lovely getting your window into deepest darkest France, I think many people here appreciate what you do.
Really looking forward to next year and glad you're here.
I read A fine Balance many, many eons ago, it is one of the books that I have never forgotten for all the reasons you mention and also because one of my dearest friends fell in love with the author and he is often spoken of here in my kitchen, though I sadly never met him.
Thanks so much for your encouragement, I do hope you’re right!
I appreciate your writing. The magnificent Barbara Kingsolver shows up your expression. Thank you for mentioning To The River. I am working for Rights of Nature for our river. This book will help.🌱
Thank you Katherine, you’ve put a huge smile on my face with your words. Kingsolver has been with me in one way or another for so many years, I adore her work and gentle wordsmith ingenuity, if my own is even remotely as absorbing I am delighted!
To the river is another beautifully written book which I am thoroughly enjoying not least because the River Ouse flows through the part of England where I grew up, I hope it helps you in your crusade... 🙏🏽🍂
Matthew and currently living in Tennessee, USA. I have been in the Navy for 24 years and will be retiring next summer. I write a newsletter here on Substack about the intersection of books with our lives. Would love to make a living writing after the Navy gig is over. I enjoy hiking and traveling. Would love to hike the Appalachian Trail some day. I have read many books bit my favorite is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I will be doing a complete read of his works in chronological order next year. Looking forward to the discussion and read through.
Hey Matthew. I've done the smallest smallest part of the Appalachian Trail. We also visited Tennessee when we lived in the US. Went to the famous Beale Street, Memphis!
I read Cannery Row earlier this year and loved it but am yet to pick up East of Eden.
I'm Suzanne in chilly Minnesota (USA). The book that has made me who I am is Great Expectations. I first read it when I was around the young Pip's age and have reread it every few years in the 40 years since I first laid eyes on it. The bit Simon wrote about reading being a creative act resonates with me with this book in particular. With each reread, I not only found myself noticing things to which I hadn't paid much attention, but I saw myself in different shoes. The last time I reread, having built up enough regrets in life, I sobbed at a line from Joe that hit me as it never had before.
As for non-bookish things I'm passionate about, linguistics and languages takes the cake (although there's Venn diagram intersection between that hobby and reading). If I have to pick something that rarely, if ever, involves books for me, then gaming is next followed by knitting.
I am planning to join both slow reads. I've already been working on simplifying my life in the last month to make room for things that matter to me more (like deep reading).
Currently I'm reading Kosher Soul, which is a sort of cooking memoir/meditation from a gay Black Jewish man (as another gay Jewish foodie, I was intensely interested). And I have bookmarks in quite a few other books. I'm hoping to wrap up the half-finished books before the New Year so I can start on a clean slate.
Hey Suzanne! Great Expectation was the first book where I underlined THINGS. Haha, I was an emotional little reader who was a little overwhelmed by Pip and Estella (was that her name?).
And another knitter. Am I creating a reading community or a knitting circle. Sometimes it is hard to tell.
Great to learn more about you and have you here. And yes to creative reading! ❤️
Thought I should now introduce myself. 😁I’m Kate and I’m an American living in Basel. We often visit my in-laws near London, which is what I’m doing right now. I’m a writer and educator and I also spend as much time as I can hanging out with my son or skiing, preferably both at the same time.
I always admired Mantel from a distance. I watched the TV series because I just thought I wasn’t going to read the series. I read a ton but not usually historical fiction and it felt like not a good fit for the limited mortal time I have to read, but I’ve since been really enticed my Simon’s enthusiasm (plus, I loved the TV show!). A read and chat along sounds fun. Can’t wait.
So Basel...well I’m from outside Boston (as you know) and learned to ski when I was 4 with my dad all over New England. It was a great part of going to uni in Maine as well 😁
I moved to Paris then Milan to work in international schools, then Hong Kong for my PhD (and teaching), then Vienna at the UN school...there, I met my British husband (with Surrey and Newcastle roots!) and in the mess of the pandemic we were meant to go to the Gulf then he got a job in Basel and I decided to do a bunch of freelance things and spend more time with our kid who turns 5 next week. 😅 that’s the short of it.
We are planning to move to the U.K. in the next year, so it will be much more convenient to meet you all at the Tower of London! 😂😍
I also want to say I love your short anecdotes. The snake story was always my fear in HK -- I was often running on trails, which is exactly how to surprise a snake...but was comforted by the constant proximity to anti-venom. Your story is horrific but sounds like a strange gift as well.
I’m only on a phone this weekend or I would have said more. The maiden name, baker...all things we can discuss later and I’m sure I’ve got some juicy features to share at some point. 😁 I like that we can both connect as writer-readers also taking care of our kids (and “left” academia”).
Ok that’s the end of my phone typing tolerance. This is a fantastic thread. Have a great weekend!
I'm Dave, a UX designer for a debt advice charity. Living in Wakefield but originally from Newcastle. I came down to Leeds to university in the late 80s to do my degree in astrophysics, ended up getting a job in the university library for the summer, which turned into a year and which led to a postgrad course in librarianship. Various careers followed (I think I'm on my fifth). One day I will figure out what I want to be when I grow up!
As for books, I'm hugely fortunate to get sent books for my book blog, though it does feel that I'm often more likely to pick up the next book rather than sit with it and write up the review. A book that's made me who I am? I think picking up my dad's battered paperback copy of Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat made me realise that books could be enormous fun, filled with adventure and excitement and sheer joy.
I've often been put off by 'literary' fiction like Wolf Hall as it has felt like hard work. I do think that I need to push my boundaries a little though, so will join in the slow read.
I've just finished reading a couple of excellent books - Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra and Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath, though they're not out until February next year. One of the perks of being a book blogger, though I'm aware that it can be annoying hearing about books which you can't read yet.
As for being online, I've got far too many irons in the fire. There's my substack (espressococo.substack.com), my book blog (espressococo.com), and a couple of instagram accounts, including a new one where I've been exploring whisky (@davetrieswhisky on IG - substack to follow!)
Hey Dave! You moved down the country and I moved up. Nice to meet you, we've both been book blogging for a while. I am always struck by how big and diverse the online reading community is. I wonder whether anyone has tried to map it...
I can't guarantee you'll like Wolf Hall. It is certainly literary in style. But there is only one way to find out!
And whisky, we ended up calling our War and Peace read along Whisky and Perseverance because one of our readers is a sommelier. But that's where my knowledge of whisky begins and ends!
I'm just a whisky enthusiast - my friend and I like to try new ones whilst listening to whatever vinyl he's bought during the week! The 'Dave Tries Whisky' substack blog will at some point talk about what we like/didn't like about particular drams, but we're often too busy enjoying the whisky/music combo to take notes!
You were bitten by a snake? So this is how Master Secretary captured you.
In answer to your invitation:
I am Bea and I am a textile artist, based in West London, originally from near Manchester. I learned to love reading in Stalybridge Library where, unbeknownst to me, a young woman was researching the French Revolution. Many years later, we exchanged emails about Stalybridge Library (among other things!)
Most of my textile work is inspired by Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy, and I can imagine that I will be continuing to work with it for the rest of my life. Hilary was kind enough to be interested in and supportive of my work, and she liked a paper I wrote about the act of stitching in the trilogy.
The book that changed my life - apart from Master Secretary - was A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley, which I read when I was eight, and I think I will talk about this in more detail in a post on The Thread of Her Tale. But the book that had the most dramatic impact was Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel. I read it while recovering from one of a series of operations for severe endometriosis - at the time (2003) it was one of the very few accounts of the condition. And that book led me to the rest of Hilary’s work.
Oh yes, and the snakebite in Ecuador. The perfect origin story for my War and Peace journey. They told me I would be dining out on that tale for years to come and I guess they weren't wrong.
I used to live in Ecuador and know they have some pretty poisonous snakes. I'm glad you lived to tell (and read) the tale (I almost wrote tail). I was also briefly bed ridden in Quito after a bout of hepatitis. I didn't read Tolstoy, but Kurt Vonnegut. It was a wonderful reading break!
Oh don't worry, I've made that pun before, accidentally or deliberately!
Both stuck in beds with a book in Ecuador. What an unusual thing to have in common. Love Vonnegut. Do you have a favourite?
Slaughter House 5 & Galapagos. How about you?
Definitely Slaughter House. We studied it at school, and I think it really opened my eyes to how you could tell an important story with so much creativity and imagination.
I love Vonnegut too!! Slaughterhouse 5, Galapagos, Mother Night, Bluebeard... I also have a collection of his short stories and love them!
Hey Bea! Next year will just be another year Cromwelling for you. We just visit Austin Friars, you've moved into the guest room. Did he have guest rooms? I assume so. He had a tennis court.
What moves me about your story is how personal your relationship with Mantel is, how you found her through her memoir and how it related so much to your life. I'm so glad the two of you got to exchange emails. I need to finish that seminar video you shared, I haven't got to your bit yet.
I'm so glad you're here!
Good to meet another fan of A Traveller in Time...I think it embedded itself into my young imagination at the same sort of age!
Hi Sarah and Bea - Another fan of A Traveller in Time here! I think it is what led to my life-long obsessions with both time-slip fantasy and medieval fiction.
Hello Bea! I love the sound of your work - how wonderful to combine your love of textiles with your love of reading. So lovely that Hilary Mantel knew of your work too - and all the links you both had!
I also loved A Traveller in Time & Giving up the Ghost - it really mattered to me that both were set in Derbyshire. It didn't seem like anyone could write a book who lived there when I was growing up in a small market town in the 70s!
So glad you found a mirror too for your experiences of endometriosis. It's so appalling how little we still know about that - and so many other mainly women's health conditions. I hope you're pain free these days. Looking forward to reading more in your own newsletter!
Thank you Joy - lovely to meet you. And I am sure we will be chatting more over the Cromwell Trilogy!
Hi Joy, sorry I missed including you in my reply to Sarah and Bea - we nearly have enough fans to form a reading group 😂😍
The Stalybrige library! Bea, I did archival research there on Mechanics Institutes in the summer of '95. Great library.
I am Barrie, the 'Fables' part of 'Feasts and Fables'. I am the scribbler of words.
We live in rural France, gently working with the seasons to bring our neglected smallholding back to life. There isn't a single book I could nominate as 'the book that changed me' - I have read way more intentionally in recent years - some books pop up more than once - 'Consolations of the Forest' by Sylvain Tesson, 'Underland' by Rob Macfarlane, 'Still Life' by Sarah Winman ... the authors relish words as I do. I write flash fiction, often inspired by a painting or a photograph. Now I am finished with the 'world of work', I offer free encouragement, gentle mentoring, when folk ask for it.
Maybe I should have said "a book" Barrie, as there's usually more than one. Isn't Underland incredible? I listened to it and was blown away by both the language and all the places the book went.
Your gentle mentoring is inspirational. We need far more of it in this world. I would like footnotes and tangents to be an encouraging place, far from all that busy competition going on in the socials. A place to be inspired by stories and each other. Let's see.
Listening to ‘Underland’. Now that is an excellent idea. I haven’t really done audio books but I imagine that would be fabulous.
Thank you for the kind words. A network of encouragers sounds perfect ... all of us doing our thing, ripples flowing into each other. Love the slow reading community idea. Was it Bjork who said something about “in a fast paced world, sometimes the bravest thing is to be still”. Slow feels right. Onwards.
I'm a big audiobook listener, as you might guess since I make guides for classic audiobooks too. There's just something wonderful about being read to. Maybe it brings out the child in me, or the cave man around the fire.
There's a lot of slowness and stillness going on here. Substack feels a little bit like slow social media, if such a thing could exist. Onwards.
I love Underland! Brilliant book, inspired a lot of what I've been writing over the last two years.
Is that work here on Substack? I must peek in.
It's not. It's a novel I've been working on. Hopefully out next year 😅
Super exciting!
Yes to both of you on Underland!! It’s heavily highlighted and by my side as I write my next essay on the absurdity of SCOTUS removing most of our wetlands protection last May. I eagerly await Rob’s next book about rivers! Have you watched his talk with Barry Lopez on YouTube?
No, I should check that out, thanks! I'm looking forward to his new book too!
Looking forward to that too. I must find that talk
Love the idea of a gentle and encouraging place “on the socials”. Remember when they were all that way? 1999 was a good year ;)
My favourite year was 1997. Feel like it's been downhill ever since.
Happy to see you here! 👋🏼 What a lovey purpose you’ve found.
I'm Sarah, I'm mostly retired now, although I worked in the City for 20 years and then did a lot of not for profit stuff. I think I've turned myself into an author, my second book, a biography of the founders of Macmillan Publishing is coming out in May, my first was a self-published biography of a Victorian artist. Now I find that reading and writing has become my main occupation, and I'm researching a new project about a group of fascinating women of the 20th century....I have a stepdaughter and three grown up children, all doing amazing things. I have a small annoying, adorable dog and a garden. I make quilts, and I was stung by a scorpion when in the desert in Oman. Quite the drama. My favourite authors are Trollope and Eliot, and I adore a historical thriller: SG MacLean, Andrew Taylor, SJ Parris and CJ Sansom. And musicals, I love musicals!
Hey Sarah! So you've got thready connections with Bea and we can bond over terrifying encounters with biting and stinging things.
Do you have a favourite musical? I'm really not very well versed, although I used to watch My Fair Lady a lot and after living in the states I became a big Hamilton fan. And of course, huge congratulations on turning yourself into an author! A weird and wonderful metamorphosis that I am still trying to bring about.
I love Hamilton and My fair Lady, also Guys and Dolls is terrific...we've recently begun to enjoy Sondheim, not to everyone's taste, a bit like avocado, but there are some beautiful songs...and I love that he gives all the best lines to the women!
Something for me to explore I think!
I’m also a big fan of Jesus Christ Superstar, Rent and The Sound of Music (my musical-lover nerdiness is being triggered, apologies 😂)
Big up Sondheim!! Love Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, Pacific Overture, Passion, Into The Woods... you name it, he wrote some of the most heartbreaking songs ever 😍
Ooh, I love a historical thriller too! I haven't read Andrew Taylor (looks him up and ignores teetering to-be-read pile) but have read all the others. Shona MacLean lives locally and I've met her a few times; lovely lady.
Its his Fires of London series where he really hit his stride...wonderful stuff
I shall follow up on that...thanks!
It is fabulous and I don't usually read historical fiction. I was absolutely gripped!
Shona Maclean is my heroine...and she has previewed my book and said lovely things about it, which made me incredibly happy! Her words will be on the cover.
Hi Simon and all. This is a lovely thing to do with the introductions. Excited to be here for Wolf Hall in 2024. Long been on my list.
I'm Nathan. I was born in Nottingham, England, but moved to Australia in 2009 after getting my PhD in immunology. I live in Melbourne, Australia, with my wife, Josephine, and cat, Clementine.
I'm still an academic (lecturer and researcher), though I feel the inevitable tug of a creative life.
A book that made me who I am? Hmm. This is a weird one, but I'd have to say Mnemonica, by Juan Tamariz. I was a magician for many, many years, working bars and weddings etc to help pay my measly PhD salary. Juan is a master magician from Spain and his treatise on a specific area of card magic shaped the magic I performed in vast, vast ways and helped me to actually be willing to put myself out there and perform and be out of my comfort zone. (On the literature side, I'd likely say 1Q84 by Murakami, because that book catapulted me into considering that maybe I'd want to someday write).
I do less magic these days, so I'm (sadly) not so passionate about it, but instead fill a lot of my spare time with bouldering. The wall is a puzzle. It works a part of my brain whilst also is a great workout.
Currently rereading Dune, and reading Solenoid.
Hey Nathan. So your book choice interested me. Memory techniques and card tricks play a part in Wolf Hall (Cromwell first makes his way with a three card trick on the streets). So maybe you'll relate to that next year. I can't do any magic, but I wish I could.
Neither can I boulder, but it was a big part of life in Sheffield when I was growing up. Stanage Edge and all that. I can see how enjoyable it must be. I tend to overthink things, so I enjoy relaxing with an activity (like baking) where the decisions are simple and often binary. I can imagine puzzling a wall might feel quite similar.
Ah wow, that's great and makes me excited to read.
I'm more of an indoor boulderer (partly for convenience, but also because the routes can be a little more puzzling and are constantly being changed each week), but there's some striking outdoor places here too. Stanage Edge is quite stunning. Haven't ever been, sadly.
As physical as it is, it's definitely the mental meditative act that I latch onto. I can imagine that baking elicits something similar. I should have also said that I'm a huge puzzle game nerd 😊
Why am I not surprised about that! Music, magic, puzzles. I think I've got a good idea about how your mind works!
😅 I'd say you likely do.
You have such interesting experiences! I used to boulder with 2 of my kids, and i think we're going to get back into it with winter coming.
Tamariz is an institution in Spain, he was in lots of TV programs when I was a kid, he’s great, so funny and charismatic, as well as such a talented magician 😊
I love that he is an institution in Spain. Often, magicians are only pillars within the magical community themselves. I visited Madrid a few years ago for work and was really hoping to meet Tamariz. I got an invitation to go to his school and chat with his daughter, but unfortunately Juan wasn't going to be around.
I love your avatar (?). It’s a perfect representation of what I love about the human brain - its desire to explore, be curious, and classify.
Aw thanks Susie. You know, I'd been considering changing it to my actual face 😅 But now I'm going to keep it.
Dear Simon & fellow slow readers,
In answer to your questions::
1. I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with views of Pisgah National Forest. Roberta Flack was born here; her profound presence, painted on the side of a brewery, watches over this town of 8000 residents. Other murals portray Merce Cunningham and the creative graduates of Black Mountain College. The land was home to the Catawba and Cherokees, and before that the Mississippians~ ancestors of the Cherokee. Before that, the main inhabitants were black bears, cougars, rainbow trout, copperhead snakes, Mountain Laurel, Rhododendrons, and Carolina Wrens.
2. Gardening At the Dragon's Gate by Wendy Johnson made me who I am. The book is out of print. My goal is to read it weekly on Matters of Kinship. Also, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In my interior world, Wendy, Robin, and I have a continuous conversation about being in kinship with all beings.
3. I am non-bookishly passionate about obtaining Rights of Nature for my local river. The Swannanoa River is upstream of the French Broad River, the Ohio River, the Tennessee, the Mississippi, and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. (That's a lot of privilege and responsibility.) I chronicle that quest in Matters of Kinship.
4. I have a stack of Hilary's books lined up for 2024. Yes, I am joining Wolf Hall, the slow read.
5. I am reading Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time by John E. Ross, University of Tennessee Press, 2021. And I seem to have a growing appetite for reading on Substack!
I write Matters of Kinship. My day job is teaching people to be at home in their body with yoga, Pilates, Reiki, and somatic work. Yet, I find myself setting aside more and more time to write in this rare and kind community called Substack.
Thank you for your questions, Simon. Thank you for your presence on this platform.🌱
Hey! Lovely learning more about you – you paint a picture of your corner of North Carolina. We passed through when we were travelling around the US, although I don't remember a great deal apart from a torrential storm where we had to pull over. I do remember visiting lowcountry in South Carolina, which was an education learning about Gullah history.
The kinship topic is fascinating. I lived in Ecuador, one of the first countries to grand Rights of Nature. It's a fundamental part of Kichwa culture, as well as other indigenous communities there.
Nice meeting you! And so glad you're here.
Hello,
I'm Lynn and I live on the Black Isle (it's not an island) just to the north of Inverness, Scotland. I've read as long as I can remember; all my pocket money as a child was spent on books, initially Enid Blyton and it went from there. I'm being very ambitious and plan to join both the slow reads next year.
I love photography and enjoy travel, whether at home or further afield, and like to combine the two. You can see my images on Instagram (@lynnfraserphotography). I've set up a Substack and am planning on writing a bit about some of those travels - just need to put pen to the blank page!
Hey Lynn! Black Isle! We visited two years ago when Zack was small. Stayed in a yurt looking out on the Moray Firth. What a wonderful place, we saw the dolphins, went walking along the coast. Ran into a few deer ticks (less wonderful). More than anything I remember all the gorse flowers. Have you lived there for a long time?
I've given you a follow over on Insta, although I'm using IG less and less as I spent more time over here. I hope you get that pen onto the page.
Haha, what a coincidence. I know where the yurts are, and how wonderful that you saw our fabulous dolphins. I moved to Inverness in 1987 and we've lived on the Black Isle for 24 years - we have a small fruit farm.
I will get pen to paper - I think the trouble is I've read so much amazing writing here on Substack that I'm feeling just a wee bit daunted. However, I'll view it as my photography - do it for myself and if anyone else likes it, it will be a bonus!
Thanks for the follow on IG 🙂
A small fruit farm sounds lovely. I've heard it's not been a great year, with a lot of rain - but I guess it depends on where and what you're growing.
Just write. Don't be put off by anyone else's writing, just let it encourage you. And you never know where it might lead.
It's been difficult this year. Too hot in June; cold and wet in July into August. Late frost earlier in the year that put paid to a decent apple and plum harvest. The veg has been good though.
You're right about the writing. I'm away next week but will get down to it after that 🙂
Great, see if you can grow some words as well as some fruit!
Haha...will do 🍓🍎🍅💻📚📝📖
I feel Enid Blyton is often forgotten. She inspired a generation of kids to love history.
Hello Simon and all
Jenyce here, reading on a farm in rural Northern California. When I do leave the farm it’s to my part time Admin position at a small private school that has truly captured my heart. Speaking of hearts, what’s defining me presently is the wrenching loss 11 months ago of my husband of 33 years. This has been a year of healing and surviving, holding close to my 3 adult children, and everything that eases my heart, therefore most of my reading has been comprised of rereads, old favorites, and comfort reads. By January, I plan to be ready to tackle meatier books again and am thrilled to join both #wolfcrawl and the W&P slowread. I first ‘met’ Simon on #Bookstagram some years ago, much to my delight. Thank you for hosting this lovely corner of the bookish community. The fire is warm and drawing me in.
Jenyce I am so happy you're here, and you're story makes all this worthwhile. I cannot begin to imagine your loss and the healing you are doing. I do know readers this year have found W&P something of a lifeline, sometimes even transformative in hard times. And if this community can be in some small way like that for you, I'd be delighted. Thank you so much for sharing.
Jenyce, thank you for sharing your grief with us. Comfort reads and the love of adult children sound like great helps in hard times. My heart goes out to you.
I'm Kim. I live in eastern Nebraska. I work in photography (and still manage to enjoy doing it on the side). I've been a reader since my dad taught me how when I was four. The first book with real chapters I remember reading was Susan Cooper's The Grey King, and I still enjoy the entirety of Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence. My favorite book ever is The Lord of the Rings (I just started rereading The Two Towers), and that solidified my life as a fantasy nerd. I love a good historical novel, too, but finding really good ones has been a challenge since I read Wolf Hall. I read War and Peace for the first time this year, thanks to the readalong, though I read ahead and finished in a comparatively swift four months. It feels odd to say I'm excited to spend the next year in Cromwell's company, so perhaps I'll say that I'm looking forward to spending it in Hilary Mantel's company instead.
I think we've already bonded over our love of Susan Cooper and Hilary Mantel? The Grey King was just so good, maybe I should revisit it. But first.. A year of Mantel. Being. It. On.
We did! I plan to listen to the BBC's The Dark is Rising audio drama again this Christmas. It was so good.
Susan Cooper's writing is just *chef's kiss*
I too loved the dark is rising, which I only discovered a few years ago. My wife is a former senior English teacher and shd recommended the first book. Later I found a coplete edition is an old secondhand store.
Kim, where do you live? I taught at WSC a while back.
I live down in Lincoln, so not super close to WSC. I hope you enjoyed your stay there at least a little!
Hi Simon, you probably know me quite well by now but in answer to your questions, and for the benefit of those who have yet to glimpse inside my untidy mind...
I'm in West Oxfordshire, on the edge of the Cotswolds. I've lived here, or near here for my whole life. I love being so close to some of the most beautiful countryside in the world and yet within easy striking distance of London.
There are too many books to name in category two but certainly Thomas Hardy played a major part in my learning to read, rather than just studying books for exams.
I am absolutely passionate about food. Good, slow food. You like to read slow, I like to eat slow. I take great delight in eating something that's been produced with love, especially if it's been done in a traditional way.
I'm up for a bit of #wolfcrawl next year. I'm really interested to see how I get on with Hilary. She's a lot smarter than I am but I used to think Tolstoy was, too...
At the moment, I am juggling War and Peace, Ulysees (not really trying very hard with that at the moment tbh), Pushkin's Queen of Spades and a lovely book called Meadowland.
Looking forward to meeting lots of new friends next year as we ramble slowly forth in to another great chunk of literature.
See you in a couple of weeks Kat! Think: by the end of next year you might be as smart as Tolstoy and Mantel put together. The Cotswolds just won't be ready for you! 😂
Hi,
I'm Lisa from Nottingham and for the last 23 years living back in Nottingham - I lived in Wolverhampton and then Coventry between 1992 and 2000.
I've been made of books since before I can remember with my mum enrolling me at the local library for my own ticket at the earliest opportunity (I think age 3). A Wrinkle in time, Alan Garner, Where the Wild Things Are, Narnia... These set me off but I soon spread my wings beyond fantasy, picking up my mother's passion for history (both local and global) and my father's curiosity for language which for me was through reading work in translation (since I lacked his capacity for languages).
The house I share with my equally bibliophile partner (33 years) and now long since husband (17 years) is FULL of books. Our local marvellous indie bookstore - Five Leaves - jokes with truth that we have more books in our house than in their store 🤦♀️🤣.
I'm an avid knitter and occasional crocheter and sewist. I've been knitting for 7 years and now cannot imagine NOT knitting.
I'm planning to join BOTH slow reads next year and I hope it will allow me to finally break my W&P duck (my awareness is limited to it's about Russia and everyone has at least three different 'names' 🤣🤦♀️)
As I always have several books on the go (in various stages of active reading), but will just select a couple: Michael Lewis's excellent The Premonition: A Pandemic Story which puts people at the heart of the long narrative leading up to and through the early months of the Covid pandemic. I'm also working through my beloved 10 volumes of Sandman by Neil Gaiman which is a regular re-read collection for me (Page 45, our local comic/graphic novel store have a similar narrative to Five Leaves, that we're just gradually transferring their stock into our house). The series covers fantasy, magic, mythology, history, literature, religion, family and so much.
I'm on Insta as Rullsenberg where I mostly post a daily (most days) photograph of what I'm wearing which seems to amuse folk (I'm a bit colourful). I haven't started writing more than notes on Substance, yet....
Another knitter! With Bea in charge as stitcher-in-chief maybe we can create something together next year. No, that's a mad idea. And the only thing I ever knitted was a wonky scarf and that was half finished.
Another Alan Garner fan in the begin. What a place to start with reading.
War and Peace is just incredible. As Kat says, not nearly as hard and dry as its reputation makes out.
You will absolutely love War and Peace. I'm reading it at the moment with the group and it's been a hugely life enriching experience. Good luck!
Lisa, I think my awareness of W&P matches yours, lol. Glad to know I'm not the only one that has no idea what it's about!
Having dipped into a few of the weekly posts I feel this pace of reading will bring the rewards I long for from finally reading it!
I’m looking forward to it
Hello everyone, I'm Nicola. I'm a neuroscientist working in academia (though not for much longer). I'm from Lanarkshire in Scotland, and have devoured books my whole life. My favourite childhood books were The Secret Island by Enid Blyton and the Drina Dances books by Jean Estoril. I'm a mood reader and follow my magpie mind everywhere. Besides reading, I love to dance and am lucky enough to teach at a local dance school. I'm really interested in the intersection of art in all its myriad forms. I'm really looking forward to Wolf Crawl and have been nudged into reading Mirror this year so that next year will be a true deep dive.
Ah you can dance! I did not know what about you! So many intersections there, with your neuroscience and love of literature. Good luck with finishing The Mirror and The Light! 😬😬😬
Hello Simon et tout...
First, thank you for this opportunity to join you and so many others on your #wolfcrawl - je suis ravie..! I absolutely love that you make your own bread, so do I !
Ok so a little about me...
I live in deepest darkest France.. (yup, I still make my own bread, old dog and all that.!) dept 12 called the Aveyron which is one of the least populated, most beautiful of all.! I’ve been here for twenty years.
The book that shaped me... now there is a question.... actually too difficult to answer, let’s say a writer instead - Barbara Kingsolver would be one, Ben Okri, Rohinton Mistry...
I am passionate about food, walking and photography, not necessarily in that order, I often get so lost in the latter two that the former is forgotten - enter over hungry, bad tempered hubby and son!
At the moment I am reading To The River by Olivia Laing.. a meditative wander along the River Ouse where Virginia Woolf drowned combining history and nature.
Thanks again and have a great weekend Simon... it’s to be another wild one here..!
Hey Susie!
Rohinton Mistry! I read A Fine Balance in my teens on my dad's recommendation. So much beauty and horror in one book. I have some of his short stories somewhere but haven't read them.
It's lovely getting your window into deepest darkest France, I think many people here appreciate what you do.
Really looking forward to next year and glad you're here.
Stay warm and dry this weekend!
Good morning Simon,
I read A fine Balance many, many eons ago, it is one of the books that I have never forgotten for all the reasons you mention and also because one of my dearest friends fell in love with the author and he is often spoken of here in my kitchen, though I sadly never met him.
Thanks so much for your encouragement, I do hope you’re right!
Oh what a lovely thing!
I appreciate your writing. The magnificent Barbara Kingsolver shows up your expression. Thank you for mentioning To The River. I am working for Rights of Nature for our river. This book will help.🌱
Thank you Katherine, you’ve put a huge smile on my face with your words. Kingsolver has been with me in one way or another for so many years, I adore her work and gentle wordsmith ingenuity, if my own is even remotely as absorbing I am delighted!
To the river is another beautifully written book which I am thoroughly enjoying not least because the River Ouse flows through the part of England where I grew up, I hope it helps you in your crusade... 🙏🏽🍂
Matthew and currently living in Tennessee, USA. I have been in the Navy for 24 years and will be retiring next summer. I write a newsletter here on Substack about the intersection of books with our lives. Would love to make a living writing after the Navy gig is over. I enjoy hiking and traveling. Would love to hike the Appalachian Trail some day. I have read many books bit my favorite is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I will be doing a complete read of his works in chronological order next year. Looking forward to the discussion and read through.
Hey Matthew. I've done the smallest smallest part of the Appalachian Trail. We also visited Tennessee when we lived in the US. Went to the famous Beale Street, Memphis!
I read Cannery Row earlier this year and loved it but am yet to pick up East of Eden.
I live about 45 minutes north of Memphis. Beale Street is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.
I have not read Cannery Row but have read a few others. I think it will be an interesting journey through his catalog of work.
I'm Suzanne in chilly Minnesota (USA). The book that has made me who I am is Great Expectations. I first read it when I was around the young Pip's age and have reread it every few years in the 40 years since I first laid eyes on it. The bit Simon wrote about reading being a creative act resonates with me with this book in particular. With each reread, I not only found myself noticing things to which I hadn't paid much attention, but I saw myself in different shoes. The last time I reread, having built up enough regrets in life, I sobbed at a line from Joe that hit me as it never had before.
As for non-bookish things I'm passionate about, linguistics and languages takes the cake (although there's Venn diagram intersection between that hobby and reading). If I have to pick something that rarely, if ever, involves books for me, then gaming is next followed by knitting.
I am planning to join both slow reads. I've already been working on simplifying my life in the last month to make room for things that matter to me more (like deep reading).
Currently I'm reading Kosher Soul, which is a sort of cooking memoir/meditation from a gay Black Jewish man (as another gay Jewish foodie, I was intensely interested). And I have bookmarks in quite a few other books. I'm hoping to wrap up the half-finished books before the New Year so I can start on a clean slate.
Hey Suzanne! Great Expectation was the first book where I underlined THINGS. Haha, I was an emotional little reader who was a little overwhelmed by Pip and Estella (was that her name?).
And another knitter. Am I creating a reading community or a knitting circle. Sometimes it is hard to tell.
Great to learn more about you and have you here. And yes to creative reading! ❤️
Love that there are so many knitters here!!! Though it really does take audio books to knit whilst reading 🤣
I started Great Expectations when I was young, and never finished it. I'm going to add this one back onto the list!
I am in England and about to scour the shelves... 😅
The way you phrase this, you make England sound like one enormous library. I like that thought.
Sometimes it feels that way! 😍
Hi! I’m back (still looking for the book...)
Thought I should now introduce myself. 😁I’m Kate and I’m an American living in Basel. We often visit my in-laws near London, which is what I’m doing right now. I’m a writer and educator and I also spend as much time as I can hanging out with my son or skiing, preferably both at the same time.
I always admired Mantel from a distance. I watched the TV series because I just thought I wasn’t going to read the series. I read a ton but not usually historical fiction and it felt like not a good fit for the limited mortal time I have to read, but I’ve since been really enticed my Simon’s enthusiasm (plus, I loved the TV show!). A read and chat along sounds fun. Can’t wait.
How did you end up in Basel by the way, Kate? And did your love of skiing come before or after?
Hope the books turn up before you leave.
Thanks, me too! Everyone’s waking up... 🤞🏽
So Basel...well I’m from outside Boston (as you know) and learned to ski when I was 4 with my dad all over New England. It was a great part of going to uni in Maine as well 😁
I moved to Paris then Milan to work in international schools, then Hong Kong for my PhD (and teaching), then Vienna at the UN school...there, I met my British husband (with Surrey and Newcastle roots!) and in the mess of the pandemic we were meant to go to the Gulf then he got a job in Basel and I decided to do a bunch of freelance things and spend more time with our kid who turns 5 next week. 😅 that’s the short of it.
We are planning to move to the U.K. in the next year, so it will be much more convenient to meet you all at the Tower of London! 😂😍
What a terribly concise life summary! One that worryingly ends at the Tower of London! 😬 Hopefully not ends. 👍
Ha!!
I also want to say I love your short anecdotes. The snake story was always my fear in HK -- I was often running on trails, which is exactly how to surprise a snake...but was comforted by the constant proximity to anti-venom. Your story is horrific but sounds like a strange gift as well.
I’m only on a phone this weekend or I would have said more. The maiden name, baker...all things we can discuss later and I’m sure I’ve got some juicy features to share at some point. 😁 I like that we can both connect as writer-readers also taking care of our kids (and “left” academia”).
Ok that’s the end of my phone typing tolerance. This is a fantastic thread. Have a great weekend!
You too!
I initially thought 'oh poor you' as cleaning popped into my head, but realise that's probably not what you meant 🤣
Haha no. I’m at my inlaws where supposedly there is a copy of THE BOOK(s). But I’m still looking...
Good luck! I wonder what else you might find along the way...
I’ve already taken a lot of good stuff but I see more. I like to leave it here for something to do 😅 (while the cricket is on...)
Happy hunting!
My first thought, too!
I'm Dave, a UX designer for a debt advice charity. Living in Wakefield but originally from Newcastle. I came down to Leeds to university in the late 80s to do my degree in astrophysics, ended up getting a job in the university library for the summer, which turned into a year and which led to a postgrad course in librarianship. Various careers followed (I think I'm on my fifth). One day I will figure out what I want to be when I grow up!
As for books, I'm hugely fortunate to get sent books for my book blog, though it does feel that I'm often more likely to pick up the next book rather than sit with it and write up the review. A book that's made me who I am? I think picking up my dad's battered paperback copy of Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat made me realise that books could be enormous fun, filled with adventure and excitement and sheer joy.
I've often been put off by 'literary' fiction like Wolf Hall as it has felt like hard work. I do think that I need to push my boundaries a little though, so will join in the slow read.
I've just finished reading a couple of excellent books - Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra and Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath, though they're not out until February next year. One of the perks of being a book blogger, though I'm aware that it can be annoying hearing about books which you can't read yet.
As for being online, I've got far too many irons in the fire. There's my substack (espressococo.substack.com), my book blog (espressococo.com), and a couple of instagram accounts, including a new one where I've been exploring whisky (@davetrieswhisky on IG - substack to follow!)
Hey Dave! You moved down the country and I moved up. Nice to meet you, we've both been book blogging for a while. I am always struck by how big and diverse the online reading community is. I wonder whether anyone has tried to map it...
I can't guarantee you'll like Wolf Hall. It is certainly literary in style. But there is only one way to find out!
And whisky, we ended up calling our War and Peace read along Whisky and Perseverance because one of our readers is a sommelier. But that's where my knowledge of whisky begins and ends!
I'm just a whisky enthusiast - my friend and I like to try new ones whilst listening to whatever vinyl he's bought during the week! The 'Dave Tries Whisky' substack blog will at some point talk about what we like/didn't like about particular drams, but we're often too busy enjoying the whisky/music combo to take notes!
I mean it sounds like you're having a great time! 🥃 Slàinte!