Reading Aloud And Allowed
TPQ: What are you currently reading?
KR: I’ve just started the ‘Shardlake’ series by C. J. Sansom. Mystery novels aren’t usually my kind of thing, so it’s a pleasant little change up.
TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?
KR: Worst book is a hard one for me because there’s definitely been a few times in my life where I’ve purposefully read those trashy sort of self-published smut books at the joking recommendation of a friend. Joke reads aside, the worst I’ve ever read was All Fours. Can I say that? I get the message but I just sort of felt embarrassed.
Best book, too many to name. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler is my modern sort of guilty pleasure. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, though that’s a play. I Could Live Here Forever by Hannah Halperin, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - I can’t decide!
TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?
KR: For some reason I remember being really attached to this book called My Life with George by Judith Summers. It’s an autobiographical story about her dog George who she bought as a companion after losing her husband. I didn’t understand a lot of it as a child - I’d mostly just gotten it because there was a dog on the cover - but there was something within it that made me reread it a few times.
As a teenager I sort of attached myself to books like The Bell Jar and the Virgin Suicides. I felt it was very important to have books that were physical reminders - I was Girl in Pain. Very overdramatic, but great books.
TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?
KR: Jacqueline Wilson. No one was doing it like she was.
TPQ: First book to really own you?
KR: I have two - Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler and The Vegetarian by Han Kang. I read The Vegetarian as part of my university studies and was completely enraptured by it. It’s this incredible story about a woman who refuses to eat meat after she has a nightmare, but ends up devolving into some kind of psychosis. It’s told through the perspective of three other people - two of them being men in her life, and I think it’s such a stunning piece on womanhood and the use and abuse of the body as the last element of control over oneself.
Sweetbitter follows a 22 year old young woman moving to New York City from rural Ohio. She gets a job at this really upscale restaurant where everything is fast paced and everyone is on drugs. She meets this mysterious bartender and a senior server who are completely wrapped in one another, pseudo-incestuous, and she wants desperately to be part of their little private world. It’s just this fantastic exploration of food and the senses, sex, the subtle impact of child abuse. I recommend both these books to everyone.
TPQ: Favourite male and female author?
KR: Stephanie Danler, Donna Tartt, Louise Kennedy, Megan Nolan, Sylvia Plath, Han Kang, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - the list of female authors is endless.
Male authors I’m more hesitant towards after publicly admitting to liking Neil Gaiman pre-exposé. I like Arthur Miller’s work, George Orwell, Simon Stephens, Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez.
TPQ: A preference for fact or fiction?
KR: I do tend to lean more towards fiction, but I’ve been reading quite a lot of non-fiction recently. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo etc.
TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?
KR: I read a few autobiographies when I was younger purely because I recognised the faces on the front. Miley Cyrus, Miranda Hart etc, but I wouldn’t say they stuck in my mind. I recently read a sort of memoir/biography based on the personal letters of Lord Byron, which was fascinating. Odd man.
TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?
KR: Rowling. I read some as a child but I won’t give a second more attention to someone who disregards and vilifies an identity.
TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you?
KR: Stray by Stephanie Danler.
TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?
KR: The two favourites I mentioned earlier, both to the same friend.
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
KR: That’s a hard one. There’s a few I’d like to see turned into films, but only if I’m starring in them and I get to pick who I star alongside. Anthony Boyle, call me.
TPQ: The just must - select one book you simply have to read before you close the final page on life.
KR: A book answering every question I’ve ever had in my life. Failing that, I suppose I’d like to read something I’ve actually ended up writing and publishing.
⏩Kate Rice is a peace baby.
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