Reading 2010: Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwean novelist)

Today we feature novelist Tendai Huchu, who has read 51 books so far in 2010. As he admits in his interview, he was a busy reader. He read contemporary works as well as classics; he read award-winning books, but did not necessarily use awards as a criterion to choose what to read, but he would not ignore a book that was making noise, either because it had won an award or was being talked about everywhere.

About Tendai Huchu
Tendai Huchu, author of The Hairdresser of Harare (Weaver Press, 2010), was born in 1982 in Bindura, Zimbabwe. He attended Churchill High School in Harare and from there went to the University of Zimbabwe to study a degree in Mining Engineering. He dropped out in the middle of the first semester, found work briefly in a casino and from there drifted from one job to the next. Four years later he returned to university and is now a Podiatrist living in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Tendai Huchu's 2010 Reading List
1) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
2) Even the Dogs - Jon Mcgregor
3) The Absent English Teacher - John Eppel
4) Harare North - Brian Chikwava
5) The Water Harvester - Marry Witoshynsky
6) The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
7) Lord of The Rings Books 1 and 2 - JR Tolkien
8) Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
9) Wolf Hall - Hillary Mantel
10) Elergy for Easterly - Petina Gappah
11) 2666 - Rorbeto Bolano
12) The Peoples Act of Love - James Meek
13) So Many Ways to Begin - Jon Mcgregor
14) Dubliners - James Joyce
15) On War - Carl von Clausewitz
16) The Heirs of The Prophet Muhammad - Barnaby Rogerson
17) We are now Begining our Descent - James Meek
18) The Help - Kathryn Stockett
19) The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
20) The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart
21) The Yacoubian Building - Alaa Al Aswany
22) Between Assassinations - Aravind Adiga
23) The Diving Bell and The Butterfly - Jean-dominique Bauby
24) Dead Aid - Dambisa Moyo
25) The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
26) The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
27) The Boy Next Door - Irene Sabatini
28) What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell
29) In the Country of Men - Hishim Matar
30) We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
31) A fine Madness - Mashingaidze Gomo
32) Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
33) When the Crocodile Eats the Sun - Peter Godwin
34) Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
35) I write what I like - Steve Biko
36) Blood, Sweat and Treason - Henry Olonga
37) Coming of the Dry Season - Charles Mungoshi
38) Stained Earth - Derek Huggins
39) His and her Story - Arthur Gwagwa
40) The Trek and other Stories - Lawrence Hoba
41) The Uncertainity of Hope - Valerie Tagwira
42) White Gods Black Demons - Daniel Mandishona
43) This September Sun - Bryony Rheam
44) Dancing With Life - Christopher Mlalazi begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
45) Sunflowes in Your Eyes - Menna Ellyn
46) Unfeeling - Ian Holding
47) Walking Still - Charles Mungoshi
48) Many Rivers - Chris Mlalazi
49) A Heart to Mend - Myne Whitman
50) Diary of A Bad Year - J.M. Coetzee
51)Chicago - Alaa Al Aswany

Interview with Tendai Huchu

1)51 books! That's an impressive reading list. Let me start by asking you to say something about your reading strategy: How were you able to read all these books?


The thing is I have no particular strategy. I've managed to go through so many books because I love literature and reading is something I make a lot of time for e.g. On my commute to and from work. It also helps that I'm fast reader.

2)Since you are a writer, do you always read like a writer, or are there moments when you read like a reader? Do you ever read like a critic?

Hmmm, I'm a reader who writes so I cannot really seperate the two reading experiences. Enjoying literature is an end in itself, I never read as a critic!

3) Is your reading of the previous years as extensive as shown here, or has there been an upward or downward shift?

There has been an upward shift. The time you dedicate to reading is affected by various factors like pressure from work/study, family/relationship commitments, availability of funds to buy books and so on therefore 2010 was a good year for me... I doubt this is a pace I could maintain year on year.

4) The list shows that you read both contemporary and classic works, both established and emerging writers. What's your approach in this regard?

There is no such thing as a wholey original writer in this day and age. We are all to an extent standing on the shoulders of other writers which is why I do my best to dip into both classic and contemporary works. They are equally as exciting to me though I worry that I neglect so called 'mid-list' authors because it is the most popular works that get the most coverage and floorspace in the book world.

5)Does the question of genre matter in your reading, or do you treat all books equally? Are all books created equal?

If a book is well written and accessable then genre is not an issue for me especially when it comes to fiction. Genre seems to be an artificial construct that the publishing world now tries to use to stratify books because of marketing strategies. That's why one love story finds itself shelved under 'literary fiction' and the other under 'romance', insert a non-white character and voila we have 'ethnic'.

6)How has the publication of your first novel affected the way you read? What are you writing currently, and is your reading enhancing or (if I can even imagine this) hindering your writing?

Since I've been published I've been introduced to a lot of other writers. As a result I've rushed to get their work to avoid embarassment - trust me it gets expensive!Reading other writers can only serve to enhance my own writing not hinder it.

7) Which of the above books were re-readings? What value is carried in rereading our favorite books?

I haven't reread anything this year. There's so much good writing out there I can't bear to stop exploring at the moment. That is not to say I have not revisited books in the past nor that I won't do so in the future. You always gain new insights and a more intimate understanding of a text if you reread it.

8) Your list shows that you make it a point to read all the Zimbabwean books, which I think is a great way to keep current with contemporary Zimbabwean writing. Why is this important to you?

I read other Zimbabwean authors to support them and to search for new inspiration for my own works. Because I live abroad there's a certain sense of nostalgia when I read a work that takes me back to a place I once knew. Given the current climate in Zimbabwe, the new literature emerging from it has a certain sense of urgency you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

9) Some of the authors on your list are award winners. What role do awards play in your books choices?

I'm not a big believer in awards because I have reservations that panels of experts should tell us, the public, what is good writing and what isn't. However, if there is a lot of noise around a certain book then I'm always tempted to have a lookin, and generating that noise is what awards do.

10)Tell us a little more about yourself as a writer and reader.

Some authors claim they write for themselves and to hell with the reader, I don't. I write to be read but you must remember that I'm the first reader of my work. My first novel The Hairdresser of Harare was published in August this year (2010). In writing this book I was trying to come up with the sort of book that I want to read and hopefully others would want to too.