Name: Jessica

Reading: We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

Why did you want to read this? I'm curating a new programme that is centred around issues of place and belonging. Shirley Jackson takes any uneasiness around these things and slowly, skilfully amplifies it into horror. I decided on We Have Always Lived in the Castle because that first chapter does a whole hell of a lot.

How did you record yourself? My bedroom is the quietest room in the house so I do most of my audio recording in bed. I recorded this on a frosty morning with a cup of coffee in my hand and my dog in my lap.

Name: Claire 

Reading: Ice, Anna Kavan 

Why did you want to read this? Ironically this narrative about the world turning to ice was first recommended to me via a paper napkin scribble by my best friend one hot summer day. Now, due to the oncoming bleakness of a British winter, it feels seasonally appropriate. I recommend the thrill of reading this book on its own terms, and waiting to read about Kavan’s life afterwards – both are strange rides. 

How did you record yourself? On my sofa with my laptop, reading from my favourite edition (by "Peter Owen Cased Classics").

Name: Ellen

Reading: Bluets, Maggie Nelson

Why did you want to read this? Bluets shares the qualities of many of my favourite books – experimental in form, collapsing the lines between prose, poetry, essay and memoir. 240 numbered paragraphs make up this fragmentary, rhythmic meditation, which explores art, literature, grief and female desire through the tinted lens of Nelson’s love for the colour blue.

How did you record yourself? In bed, warmed by morning sun; my favourite place to read – and often to write (desks are overrated, comfort is underrated).

Name: Blue

Reading: Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss

Why did you want to read this? I read this book earlier this year and was totally gripped by the seething suspense, seeing patriarchy and power through the eyes of a teenage girl. It touches upon questions that I feel are incredibly important if you become too enamoured with history or the past as inspiration for art or a way of life. How slippery and sinister it can be. 

How did you record yourself? My beautiful partner set up a microphone for me to read the book from the comfy sofa.

Name: Sophie

Reading: The Periodic Table, Primo Levi

Why did you want to read this? It’s one of the best books I read in my life so far. It’s extraordinary and stays with you for a long time. 

How did you record yourself? Outside, a rare sunny evening, on the steps in front of our house. I hope the road in the distance is not too loud, I think at some point a freight train passes which was not great.

Name: Rebecca

Reading: Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Why did you want to read this? When I first read Aurora Leigh, I felt like this nineteenth century gem had been hidden from me. Elizabeth Barrett Browning beats most of her contemporaries in the vitality of her language, and the poem carries me throughout with the force of its energy. I find the depiction of young Aurora Leigh's grief, and her turn back towards life, moving. It is a politically rich story, a novel in verse which sets Aurora's ambitions as a writer within the social struggles of her time and place. A tour de force, basically.

How did you record yourself? On Zoom audio in my bedroom, with a cup of tea.

Name: Seo Hye

Reading: Minor Feelings, Cathy Park Hong

Why did you want to read this? When I was choosing a book to read, I was considering picking one of my favourite classic literature books, but instead I chose something I have read much more recently and is written by a woman of POC. This book was initially recommended by Asian American friends and I wanted to share something that may be not so familiar in the UK. As someone who lived in US for years, I wanted to show an insight of Asian American experience regarding race and emotional issues with friends and family which resonated with me. 

How did you record yourself? I recorded this with my phone in a small living room at my home in Somerset, UK, with a wool blanket over me as it’s been unusually chilly August weather.

Name: Vaska

Reading: Underland, Robert Macfarlane

Why did you want to read this? This past year I discovered some beautiful non-fiction books and Underland was one of them. Macfarlane shines a light on places most of us will never have the opportunity to visit and really makes them come alive on the page. He writes beautifully about the underground places themselves, but also explores what the deep, the hidden, means to our cultural imagination, our psychology, and our relationship to the world and to life itself. His chapter on the catacombs in Paris is particularly visceral and unforgettable!

How did you record yourself? This was easier said than done! I had wanted to record myself in a beautiful old churchyard but the wind was too strong and the chatter of other people too loud, so I plumped for my bedroom - which was a challenge as I live next to an unofficial but busy bus station! So it involved me partially hiding under my duvet cover, on the floor, shutters closed, and regularly pausing the tape when the engines got too loud. I think a cheeky seagull and some sirens might have snuck into the recording!

Name: Lindsay

Reading: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard

Why did you want to read this? Pilgrim at Tinker Creek holds reverence for nature, yet is unafraid to describe its cruelty. Annie Dillard wrote this in 1974, when she was about 30 years old, my age. I think of her when I walk in the neighborhood or hike outside the city where I live, and I try to locate beauty in the way she does.

How did you record yourself? I recorded myself with my laptop on a hot summer evening, sweat trickling down my face, in my bedroom, in low light.

Name: Larissa

Reading: Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson

Why did you want to read this? sappho is my favourite poet and anne carson looks at her writing in such a beautiful way. it is such a beautiful way of thinking and writing about poetry. it also talks about love and desire, which are themes i deeply care about.

How did you record yourself? sat on bed, the sun shining on my legs, with the laptop on my lap.