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.

Name: Bettina

Reading: The Lying Life of Adults, Elena Ferrante

Why did you want to read this? I loved Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, and this is Ferrante’s most recent book, set in Naples again. The book allows you to inhabit the inner turmoil of adolescent Giovanna who enters the lying life of adults... I revel in the idea that Ferrante’s prose feels totally uncensored.

Name: Sarah

Reading: Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D. James

Why did you want to read this? I was given this book as a present from my Mum - the joy at unwrapping a continuation of one of the most beloved stories of all time AND with a detective twist?! The perfect story for anyone who watched the BBC dramatisation of Pride & Prejudice so many times when it came out as a teenager (and probably far too many times since) they could recite most of the show line for line - and loves a Poirot/Dalgliesh etc novel.

How did you record yourself? At home in my new office/yoga space at Heligan Mill in Cornwall. Where the floor slopes unreasonably, the walls and most of the floorboards are painted white, and you can see a tropical woodland garden from the window. Seated on a high stool at my standing height desk, I read from a hardback copy direct into my mac book pro.

Name: Monica

Reading: Agua Viva, Clarice Lispector

Why did you want to read this? Because I love Clarice and the cryptic power of her introspective, impressionistic worlds! Her novels and their inhabitants are always so bold & strange. I think she’s a writer who is hyperconscious of language, always searching within it, determined to reconcile it with reality and vice versa. Of her works, this search feels most urgent in Água Viva, and I wanted to feel and share some of this fragmented searching by reading it out loud.

How did you record yourself? At my desk at home in London, with a tea and warm water next to me. I also propped up an Ursula Le Guin book that I’m currently reading, with the author photo facing me, as I was told I would sound better if I read as though speaking to someone.

Name: Emily

Reading: The Rings of Saturn, W. G. Sebald 

Why did you want to read this? I was loaned Rings of Saturn on a trip to Norway. At that time, I had never been truly alone in a foreign country. As I was walking along the shore of Sydspissen, Tromsø coming to terms with the loneliness and isolation I felt, The Rings of Saturn proved a curious companion. It combines two of my favourite things; travel and rambling meditations on seemingly unrelated things. It's a book that feeds my curiosity, is thought provoking, poignant and bewildering at times. Essentially, a jumble of things that reflect the jumbled state of my emotions in early 2014 and late 2020. 

How did you record yourself? In my very patient boyfriend's makeshift studio in our spare room.

Name: Zanna

Reading: How to Eat, Nigella Lawson

Why did you want to read this? I wanted to read this, because I love how Nigella talks about her love for food. You so rarely hear people talking about the joy of actually eating, and I love how simple that idea is. I also thought it might be a fun thing to read, and that if I get any of the reading wrong, I can pretend it's pronounced that way, like 'microwahveh'.

How did you record yourself? I recorded myself in a music studio, using some quite complicated technical recording gear and absolutely no idea how to use any of it, but it was very fun (mostly due to the patience of the owner of said studio and some very good instructions).