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Tag Archives: Reading

Book Club? No, thanks

22 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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book-club, Books, Reading

Book clubs, now…

I know that they’re all the rage, I know that no library worth its salt can go without one, I know that they are enough of a phenomenon to have made it to women’s fiction and movies, and I know, more to the point, that lots of people enjoy them immensely. Continue reading →

Reading, after all

13 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey, Reading, vacation

Do you remember my Reading Week – the one I could not have this year?

Well, it seems that I must have it, after all – in fact, quite a bit longer than a week, whether I want it or not. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love the chance to read, read, and read some more – and a longish vacation is something I haven’t taken in… oh, something more than a decade, I’d think. Still, I’d have vastly preferred to do without the trouble and hospitalisation that caused this one particular vacation… Continue reading →

August Readings

17 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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Arthur Conan Doyle, Rafael Sabatini, Reading, Rosemary Sutcliff, summer

You know how I’m forever bemoaning the Reading Weeks I never get?

Well, this year, thanks to a longer rehearsals break, I’ve decided that things can take care of themselves for a few days while I read a little for fun and pleasure… Continue reading →

Inspired to emulation

10 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Scribbling

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David Corbett, emulation, ideal reader, imitation, inspiration, Reading, reading and writing, Saul Bellow, Writer Unboxed, writing

readwriteI think I already told you about Writer Unboxed, a lovely writerly site, full of good ideas, thought-provoking questions, fine articles, practical wisdom, and so on.

Well, today on WU, David Corbett posed the question of reading or not reading while writing. He begins by observing that many writers seem to prefer not to – to avoid the risk of imitation, mostly – and then goes on to make a very convincing case for the opposite course of action. Continue reading →

The Re-Reading Itch

21 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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Books, re-reading, Reading

RereadingLast night, over dinner, we discussed reading and re-reading. At one point I said that re-reading is the proof of how Knowing What Comes Next is not the key to the pleasure of reading. It sounded nice, and it worked well in the discussion, but the matter is less straightforward, I think – so here are a few thoughts.

First of all, we don’t all re-read. My father was one compulsive re-reader, and the books that were his show it with much wear and broken spines. My friend Clementina, on the other hand, never re-read a book in her life, because “once read, it’s read. What’s worth remembering I’ll remember, what I won’t remember isn’t worth it.” And they say that in his (admittedly brief) life, Vendean general Henri de la Rochejaquelein only read again and again the memoirs of I don’t remember what 17th century strategist. Perhaps he didn’t know Thomas Aquinas, who found the Man of One Book so unnerving…

Then, not all books are of the re-reading sort. This, again, varies hugely from person to person, but some books become members of the family, to which one returns again and again for comfort or guidance. Of the beauty of some other books, one never tires – each re-reading like that visit at the National Gallery whenever one is in London. Other books are tied to a moment, a memory, an atmosphere – and that’s what one seeks re-reading. Then there are those plots, or characters so perfect, one goes back to study how on earth the writer did it, and there are seasonal books that grow into yearly rituals, and favourite chapters, scenes and descriptions, and those books one read too early to truly appreciate them…

On the other hand, there are all the ugly, annoying, disappointing books, the ones we had to read or study, the ones that gave us nightmares, the ones too intense for comfort, the ones that came to highly recommended – or just the forgettable ones. The ones we’ll never want to re-read. ReRead1

Whatever the reason, though, my theory is that reading and re-reading are to hugely different activities. A first reading is an exploration, a matter of thrills and surprises – a combination of the wish to know What Comes Next and the enjoyment of the way there. It’s a matter of discoveries, very much like meeting a person or visiting a place for the first time. It’s the kind of experience that, at its best, keeps on up at all hours of the night. It’s like a first love – and, once gone, it’s gone.

Re-reading, now… Ah, re-reading is another kettle of fish. One re-reads more analytically. One goes deeper. One savours, sifts, observes, peels layers and enjoys nuances and complexities. One knows the general lay of the land, and revisits leisurely, enjoying the familiarity and digging for new beauties. Much like renewing an acquaintance, or returning to a place. It has joys of its own – its own set of pleasures.

The snag is, of course, that reading-time is finite, and one either reads or re-reads… Which is, in the end, why I don’t re-read as much as I’d like. Still, my Reading Week is approaching (perhaps), and I have half a mind to make it a Re-Reading Week instead. Just this year…

We’ll see. But what about you, O Readers? Are you Re-Readers?

Salva

Books because of books

03 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, François Villon, Francie Nolan, If I Were King, Justin Huntly McCarthy, Project Gutenberg, Reading

FrancieFor a long time, thanks to a middle-grade anthology, all I knew of Francie Nolan was that she borrowed a book every day – two on Saturdays. And that every Saturday the second book was If I Were King.

The story of François Villon was more wonderful each time she read it. Sometimes she worried for fear the book would be lost in the library and she’d never be able to read it again…

Francie even begins to copy it on a notebook – and then gives up, because it’s not like the book. Being blessed with a house full of books, I seldom used borrowed from the library as a child – but I could understand both the urge to read a beloved book again and again, and the pang at the idea of not being able to read it anymore. Continue reading →

The Actor’s Dilemma

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Theatre

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

actors, Il Palcoscenico di Carta, Reading, teaching drama, The Paper Stage

ActorOne of the actors taking part in the Palcoscenico di Carta/Paper Stage project made a very interesting observation.

It all began with a night-time message after the first of three meetings, in which he had read Faust(us) himself.

“This is a little awkward,” he wrote. “I’d like to be told I was good, but I don’t think I was… There’s no time, no room to work on the character – and I see that the PS calls for a reading, rather than a deeper identification… This is how it is, but still I feel inadequate. My fault, for never knowing how to keep to the golden mean.” Continue reading →

Reading after the tracheitis

22 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Eccentricities

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author inteview, literary festivals, Reading

Author-Interview-Typewriter-2So in the end I went to the festival. Not Thursday – I really wasn’t fit to read – but both Saturday and Sunday.

And so I found out just why they wouldn’t put me in touch with the interviewer: they simply couldn’t, because there was no such person.

Nobody to talk to the authors – unless I did it. Continue reading →

Reading with a tracheitis (or not)

17 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Things

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cough, Reading, tracheitis

CoughHeadOffI’ve got thracheitis.

Ain’t it just great? I was perfectly well, and suddenly I started coughing like mad, and it hurts when I do, and the doctor says it’s tracheitis.

Trouble is, tonight I should begin doing readings for authors at a small literary festival, but frankly I doubt I’ll be able to. Quite apart from the temperature and everything, even with codeine, I doubt either the authors or the audience would appreciate it, if I were to cough (brayingly) with every third (very scratchy) word… And that’s how things are, right now. Continue reading →

A Little Snow

26 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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Reading, Snow, wordpress

Virtual WordPress snow, since it seems I can’t have the real thing…

And given the rather white nature of this blog, it doesn’t show much – so I thought I’d post a darkish (and fitting) image, just to show…

91766_lilliput-lane-christmas-callers-snow-cottage-with-red-telephone-box-l3669_largeAlso, this throws back to and old post – also fitting, because today begin my (small and snowless) Reading Holydays…

Picture me happily readingreadingreading Sanson, Donachie, Sutcliff, Dallam/Mole, Ferrero and Dumas by the fire – only stopping to pour myself another cup of tea.

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