1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
Actually, I read everything and always have; all sorts of things by all sorts of authors. As a child and in my teenaged years I constantly had my nose in a book, without regard to what was ‘suitable for my age’. While I read, I would be totally oblivious to my surroundings and what was going on around me. I’d be reading as I got dressed for school, reading on the way to school, reading after school and reading in bed with a torch under the blanket so Mum didn’t know.
These days, I don’t read as much (which is not to say that I do not read a good deal everyday), but I have found that my concentration has been affected by my depression. On my more depressed, less able to concentrate days I find I read good quality science fiction or fantasy which I quite enjoy. On the days I read whatever strikes my fancy.
2. What is your favorite novel?
That’s a hard one. There are so many novels that have struck a chord with me over the years. I don’t think I could pick just one. Some novels are like old friends; I revisit them again and again, and always find something new in them.
Some favourites are Anna Karenina, Possession, Cat’s Eye, House of the Spirits and Sons and Lovers.
3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
I have many, but I have always loved Dorothy Parker’s acerbic wit. This poem has had particular resonance for me over the last couple of years:
Resume
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
4. What is one thing you’ve always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
I don’t think I will ever read everything that is on my ‘must read’ list; as one item comes off it, another 3 or 4 go on.
5. What are you currently reading?
A ‘popular science’ book called The Seven Daughters of Eve. It is written by a geneticist who has contends that most of the European population descend from one of 7 women whom he calls Clan Mothers, who lived upto 60,000 years ago.
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