Reading 2010: Sarah Norman (Zimbabwe)

Sarah Norman was born and brought up in Zimbabwe. She was fortunate to receive a scholarship to university and then to drama school in the US. She lives in London at the moment, where she works as a theatre director. She will be moving to Kenya in the new year.

Sarah runs a reading blog called Bookish, which she started in 2010 to keep track of her reading. I frequently visit the blog, and I can tell you, it's worth a visit. I do more than visit now; I follow it.

As Sarah's list and interview show, she is a "bookish" reader who reads just about anything she can find at the library, everything from serious literature to semi self-help books to memoirs to serious non-fiction. In short, to a serious reader, reading is reading; but Sarah advises against wasting time on a boring book.

So here is Sarah's reading list, followed by an interview I did with her.

Sarah Norman's 2010 Reading List

A SUITABLE BOY by Vikram Seth
DR THORNE by Anthony Trollope
2666 by Roberto Bolano
YOU DON'T LOVE ME YET by Jonathan Lethem
WEDLOCK by Wendy Moore
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
WHEN YOU ARE IN ENGULFED IN FLAMES by David Sedaris
DR THORNE by Anthony Trollope
STARLINGS LAUGHING by June Vendall Clark
THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS by Kiran Desai
DILEMMA OF A GHOST/ANOWA by Ama Ata Aidoo
THE LOST DOG by Michelle de Krester
THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
THE SAVAGE GARDEN by Mark Mills
ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris
WIZARD OF THE CROW by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
FRAMLEY PARSONAGE by Anthony Trollope
THE BOTTOM BILLION by Paul Collier
DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON by George Orwell
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S by Truman Capote
WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel
MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS by Tracy Kidder
THIS SEPTEMBER SUN by Bryony Rheam
THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET by Anthony Trollope
THE SMALL HOUSE AT ALLINGTON by Anthony Trollope
CIDER WITH ROSIE by Laurie Lee
GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS by Joseph E Stiglitz
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS by James Fenimore Cooper
FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser
JOY IN THE MORNING by PG Wodehouse
FREE FOR FOR MILLIONAIRES by Min Jin Lee
CHARITY GIRL By Georgette Heyer
IT'S NOW OR NEVER by Carole Matthews
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO by Stieg Larsson
THE END OF POVERTY by Jeffery Sachs
ELEGY FOR EASTERLY by Petina Gappah
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR by William Shakespeare
I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith
HANGOVER SQUARE by Patrick Hamilton
DARK MATTER by Michelle Paver
ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT by Jeanette Winterson
PIED PIPER by Nevil Shute
WHITE MAN'S BURDEN by William Easterly
THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA by Stendhal
PROMISES, PROMISES by Erica James
BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES by Tom Wolfe
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME by Anthony Powell
THE REVERSAL by Michael Connelly
A MILLION LITTLE PIECES by James Frey
IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote
OUR HUSBAND HAS GONE MAD AGAIN by Ola Rotimi
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing

An Interview with Sarah Norman

1. When you emailed me your list you wrote, "I have read quite a lot of African work this year, I notice - from Petina Gappah to Bryony Rheam to Doris Lessing, as well as lots of books on the 'problems' of Africa - reflecting the fact that I'm Zimbabwean I suppose." I noticed that as well; in fact, yours was the first review of This September Sun I read. What has been the importance--benefit-- of reading this many Zimbabwean writers?

The first book I read in 2010 was Vikram Seth’s A SUITABLE BOY, which is a classic state-of-the-nation book, about India , in the style of the great Victorian authors. Reading this book got me to thinking about how other former colonies can express themselves within the English language. It made me wonder when the great state-of-the-nation Zimbabwean novel is going to be written, and tended to focus my mind on seeing what was out there. I’ve read a fair amount of very good, honest Zim work this year, which has really impressed me. I think though that there is a real great difficulty in finding a genuinely Zimbabwean voice, which is not a copy of either British models, or great African models (Ngugi and Soyinka cast a very long shadow) and reflects our uniquely Zimbabwean experience: hyperinflation, diaspora and all.

2. You run a reading blog where you review books frequently. Do you review books your are currently reading, or are these books you have read in the past?

All the books reviewed are those I have pretty much just finished reading – I occasionally get behind, but mostly it is very up to date. It's basically every single thing I read in 2010.

3. What led you to blog about reading? How has been the response to this valuable resource?

I read a great deal. In fact, if I for some reason have to spend a few days with nothing to read, I notice I start to get quite restless, sort of itchy for a book. So I read a lot, and I noticed I virtually never talk about what I read to anyone, so I thought it would be quite interesting to start sharing it in some way. At the beginning of 2010 then I decided to blog about every single book I read. I didn’t really know if I’d actually be able to keep it up or not, but I have, mostly because I’ve found it is really fun to talk to people about books. I have a few hundred readers a month, and have lots of interesting chats with all sorts about what I am reading. I find it very useful also because the act of writing about what I’ve read helps me to really remember and appreciate it, and I really enjoy it as a record – seeing an old book on my blog is like seeing an old friend, or hearing an old song. I ‘m going to keep it going past 2010 for sure.

4. You list Doris Lessing as an African writer. Is she really? I have called her a Zimbabwean writer before, which I am sure she is, but in the wider, Nobel-awarding literary world, how African is she? Or is this important at all?

Oh this is a brilliant question! I’ve never actually read anything by her before, and I do find her a bit of a struggle. On the one hand, she writes with real feeling about her life in southern Africa, and about Africa itself; but on the other hand, it’s full of eating steak and kidney pies, and saying “Pip pip.” There’s a kind of feeling that everything ‘real’ happens in England . I know she is simply a woman of her period, so I don’t judge her for it, but it does make my skin crawl. But then even today, are we free of that mindset? I think that’s a big question, and goes back to the question of what is a ‘Zimbabwean’ literature. Even now, I think there is a feeling, certainly in the arts, that it is in New York and London that things happen, and not in Harare or Mutare. I work in the theatre, and you can definitely see that mindset very much at work in that artform.

5. You read books like A Million Little Pieces too; how does one move from Doris Lessing to Frey and back? What's the importance of diversifying what we read?

I get most of my books from my local library. I have absolutely no emotional relationship to books as physical entities, so I don’t mind not owning them. In fact, I like not owning them, because it means I don’t have to store them. I also really enjoy the randomness of getting things from the Library. Sometimes I regret not having more personal choice, not being able to read books I’ve heard about, but on the other hand I really enjoy the enforced randomness of the Library. It’s meant I’ve read all sorts of books I’d never have chosen myself (like WEDLOCK by Wendy Moore, a non-fiction about a woman trapped in a dreadful marriage in Georgian England. Brilliant, and totally random).

6. You wrote a powerful review of Native Son, one of my favorite books. What other American writers do you like?

I lived in the US for seven years, so I know the literature of that country pretty well, and there are lots of writers I love. Arthur Miller – brilliant. Harper Lee. Herman Melville. Zora Neale Hurston. I guess that’s a very eclectic list.

7. Some people say they cannot read as much as they want because of lack of time. What is your advice on how to continue reading widely in a world of distractions?

I live in London at the moment, which means public transport gives me all the time in the world. I spend a good deal more time on buses than anyone could possibly want, but it does give me plenty of time to read. I particularly love the voyeuristic thrill of seeing someone on a bus reading a book you’ve read, so you know just what is going on in their heads! I also recommend not being afraid at all to give up on a book you’re not enjoying. Nothing slows reading down like feeling that for some obscure reason you have to finish a certain book.

8. What do you think of the literature coming out of Zimbabwe these days?

I'm really happy to see more and more books that talk about Zimbabwe post-1980, which is the country I know and love, rather than the war, colonialism, and so on. Because Independence was such a cataclysmic event, I think that in some ways we who are born after it struggle to relate to people who remember Rhodesia. I used to find a lot of 'Zimbabwean' literature seemed to be not at all about the Zimbabwe I knew, but about the past, which to me really seemed to be a foreign country.

9. What are your reading plans for 2011?

I’m actually moving to Kenya in the new year, so I might - horror of horrors - actually having to start buying books, as I don’t know how the libraries are there. I might even buy a Kindle. I don’t know if I’ll even recognise myself. It will be very interesting actually choosing my own books. I’m not sure I’m going to like it. I am inspired by Image Nations, which I was introduced to by this blog (thanks Emmanuel) to start my own private list, so I’m working on that. More African fiction, and Jonathan Franzen’s FREEDOM are on there so far . . .

10. Which books, out of your 2010 list, would you recommend for immediate reading?

I strongly recommend I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodi Smith. It’s so wonderful it made me want to gnaw my arm off. Or THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO by Solzhenitsyn; a true account of Stalin's death camps that I think I can guarantee will change the way you view humanity.