On My Bedside Table - Jackie French
The Age
Saturday May 7, 2005
THE books I read in bed are all about escapism. I've read most of them before, so picking them up is like seeing an old friend or slipping on my comfortable ugh boots. I have about 30 books beside my bed and another pile on the floor, a stack by the phone (in case I'm ever stuck on hold), a stack near my computer, another in the lounge room.
I read very quickly - a book a day, so I get through a lot. I order most of my books from a second-hand bookshop in Canberra. I really enjoy books written in the 1920s and '30s. I also enjoy anything by Terry Pratchett. His books are so light and funny. I've just finished The Femails by Margaret Clark - another very funny book. I've also reread Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess. It's about the death of a pope who may or may not have been a saint. It also touches on the nature of evil. It's a huge book. Another book I've read is Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater. It was wonderfully evocative.I don't just love books for their words, I love them as objects, too. I have bookcases in every room and I have one special room that has floor-to-ceiling shelving. I haven't read every book in there. I have a stack just waiting to be read. It might take me two or three years to get round to them, but I don't mind. It's a bit like having my own bookshop. I'm also passionate about history and have another stack of history books waiting to be read.I'm a full-time writer. I work from home and choose my own hours so I can read when I want to. I adore Margaret Atwood and always read her latest book, as with Ursula Le Guin. Sometimes I don't read them straight away. I save them up and wait for just the right time.Jackie French's latest novel is They Came On Viking Ships (HarperCollins, $14.95).
© 2005 The Age