Reading is an immense part of my life and has influenced me almost as much as human relations and so I would like to share some of my favourite authors with you, talk to you about some of the books that have accompanied me on my life's journey, about what I'm reading at the moment. And there's nothing as comforting as having an animal beside you when you read! Particularly if it's a magnificent female Maine Coon like Alba. I shall introduce you to her brother at some stage.
Like so many others I have found hours of pleasure in the work of Elena Ferrante. In fact I'm finding her Neapolitan Novels hard to put down. She impels you to go on and on reading. No, we're not talking about an adventure story. We are talking about the obsessive relationship between two girlfriends brought up in a poor district of the Naples in the 1950s/60s and later. I don't intend to give you details of the story (four novels in all) because you may well have read it yourselves. Also I am still only on the third book. What I want is to explain why I like it. Her style of intensive narrative appeals to me with a minimum of dialogue. She narrates the thoughts, the competitiveness, the understanding - at times problematical - between the two girls, Lila and Lenù, as they pass from young children through adolescence, studies and marriage. Through the girls' friendships
This is an article I wrote 2 years ago and as I am having to battle with technology, the rest of it disappeared in the process. Forgive me and bear with me! There will be more later on......
BEHROUZ BOOCHANI
I have just finished reading the soul-rending account of this Kurdish-Iranian refugee's story about his imprisonment on Manus Island inside one of Australia's detention centres. The Australian policy was to send these refugees to Papua New Guinea as a warning, in no uncertain terms, to others who try to enter Australia illegally. They smother their clumsy handling of the refugee situation by stating that their's is a message to the refugee-smugglers, but those who are suffering near inhumane conditions are the refugees themselves. As Boochani himself questions, Why? We are not criminals. He writes poetically about an extremely ugly situation. He writes too in a realistic way, talking of the inmates as they are, without trying to embellish them as human beings. He is a dignified person, bearing his captivity in the best possible way, i.e. writing about it, using literature to divulge the truth. We can only hope that his fame (he was awarded the Victoria literary prize yet, paradoxically enough, was not permitted inside Australia to collect it!) will persuade the Australian Government to change its tactics and allow the entrance into Australia of the 400 or so refugees still captive on Manus Island. Although the detention centre has been closed down, they are still not free. When, oh when, will authorities world.-wide - and citizens world-wide - understand that the greater percentage of foreign refugees, with their different blood, religion and customs, can only enrich any society, not impoverish it?