GUEST BLOG from Dr Kate Carr-Fanning: Desert Island Books

 

Why do you read? 

 

When I was asked by a friend recently what books I’d take to a desert island, I hadn’t a clue how to answer ... I immediately began listing my favourite books, the ones I’d be willing to read again and again, until I started thinking what else (other than entertainment) I would need if I were marooned.  

 

Looking for answers, I asked my partner - who has a serious book addiction - why he reads. It’s something that apparently keeps him up at night, but he’s never found an answer. That doesn’t stop him from reading and accumulating books - when we moved in together a good 80% of what he brought to our first house was books, they’ve multiplied over the years stacked on windowsills blocking out sunshine, stuffed under the bed, and in boxes in the attic. And he’s no idea why he reads.  

 

I was more surprised to find that I couldn’t answer the question either. It was harder to answer than what books I’d bring to that island, but also felt closely related. I know lots of people (successful and accomplished people) who say they’ve never read a book. It always seems as mad to me as someone saying they’ve never seen a TV program or drank a glass of water. A life without books seems unimaginable, and yet I had no idea why I read.  

 

Entertainment  

 

Growing up, both at home and in boarding school, access to TV and screen-time (more generally) was extremely limited. So I read for entertainment. My childhood books are some of my most cherished possessions and a book is the first thing I bought for my daughter when I found out I was pregnant. 

 

 

Meaning 

 

When I left school and then prematurely University, I spent some time waiting tables in the US, didn’t have a TV, and read voraciously. I explored Americana. I took a seat at the Algonquin round table with the Modernists and considered counter-culture ideas with the Beat Generation. I’d wile away hours discussing these with friends over frozen margaritas in the Texan heat, putting the world to right as they say.  

The fact that Hemingway’s ‘Fiesta: The Sun also Rises’ led me to question what I was doing with my life and return to my home and my studies, makes me think I was reading for meaning, as much as I was trying to stimulate my brain in a way that bringing people beer and chicken wings never will.   

 

‘The Sun Also Rises’ explores the meaning of life, it follows the story of disillusioned expats in post-WWI Spain. Spoiler alert, the meaning of life is happiness, according to Hemingway. The characters aren't constantly fighting for their lives anymore; and yet they fail to find meaning and fulfilment, all they do is indulge - in drink, sex, dancing, and jazz. The disillusionment they feel is summed up in the title, ‘the sun also rises’ or it doesn’t matter what you do the world will go on. And so, the purpose of life is to find happiness in something, it’s up to you to decide what that is. Or that was my take on the book anyway. 

 

What I like about literature is that it doesn’t give you ‘the answer’ to questions, the way self-help-type or textbooks do. It makes you think, it explores ideas through stories and gives you different impressions. It’s why discussing them with others is fun. We all take from these what’s useful to us. A book can be useful to different people in different ways or to the same person differently at different times in their life. I have reread ‘Hope is the thing with feathers’ by Emily Dickenson more times than I can count and gotten something different each time. 

In the wake of BLM, I found myself in many conversations about structural racism. I’ve noticed that people (myself included) draw on works of fiction, like the stories and themes in ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ to convey and explore ideas, more often than books that tackle the issues directly. There is something about stories that conveys meaning in a way facts never will. Jung knew this and that’s why he studied fairy tales from around the world (rather than the people themselves), it’s why ancient people’s created gods and goddesses, it’s also why the storyteller was such a prestigious occupation in ancient Ireland, and why the Bible is told in parables.  

Knowledge acquisition  

 

I continued reading broadly as I began my studies, I just added to the mix, prescribed academic texts. The accumulation of knowledge is an obvious reason why people read. It’s (partly) why I get over-excited in bookstores and end up buying books I never end up reading. As my studies became more focused and self-directed, my book reading became more narrow. To the point that during my PhD and my first years lecturing, I felt guilty if I read something unrelated to my pretty narrow field. 

Oscar Wilde talked about ‘art for arts sake’. But literature (intentionally or otherwise) holds a mirror up to society. The power of ideas (from books) is that they can change you. In my experience this isn’t usually a metamorphosis, sometimes it’s just a new fact, a different perspective, or the kick up the ass you need at the time. Whatever it is, if books can change a person, then they can change society. That’s why censorship is an effective form of social control, and so totalitarian regimes and haters take to book burning. For that reason, a very narrow range of book reading probably isn’t ideal if part of your goal is personal growth. Jung talks about this in terms of the Mandala - developing lots of different aspects to the self.

 

Escapism  

 

In an effort to rekindle my youthful relationship with books, I joined a book club. As a result of the seriously random collection of people involved, who proposed the books we read, I found myself reading and discussing everything from the classics, through fantasy, to just plain junk. The kind I would usually have turned my nose up to, like true stories and self-help-type books. It was the junk that caught my attention. I devoured ‘Boy A’ in an evening, while it took me weeks to get through a shorter Tennessee Williams play. I think I was looking for some escapism from what had become a mostly intellectual life.

 

Stimulation and Connection 

 

I left the book club after less than a year, my love of non-work-related books reignited. I’m convinced that much of life is habit - we become what we do. I was back in the habit of reading before going to bed and reaching for my book on a Saturday morning. Post-book club reading, started to focus more on my own definition of ‘good books’ (it’s likely to be something different for everyone). I enjoyed the challenge and time it took to explore the dense writing that is Maya Angelou. I read true stories and considered human experience through books like Silvia Plath’s ‘Bell Jar’ and got self-help-like advice from Frankl's ‘Mans Search for Meaning’. I was reengaging with the broader world outside the ivory tower of academia – finding connection with self, Other and others through books. 

 

Necessity  

 

When I found out I was pregnant, my relationship to books changed again. Books on pregnancy nutrition, parenting, and child development slowly took over. When my daughter was born though, all bets were off, and reading for fun or even to consider big questions like ‘what type of parent do I want to be?’ went out the window. Reading become focused on necessity - what activities does a 5 week (or now 5 month old) need, how to breastfeed, approaches to sleeping, and recipes for weening. I think I was initially too sleep deprived and out of my depth to contemplate reading for anything other than survival. 

Then my sister gave me American Dirt which I read while breastfeeding. I was exploring the experiences of and people’s relationship to migrants from South and Central America. All it took was one book, a reminder that I had an imagination and a brain, and that good book-related habits can be fostered whatever your lifestyle. It’s a gripping read, despite the writing and superficiality. 

Spending all day with my baby is great fun. It’s also a combination of feeling in awe of your baby and each tiny new development and continually trying to invent new ways of doing things one handed - positioning the baby ‘just so’, to avoid fussing, while also lacking in intellectual challenge. So my current book ‘100 years of solitude’ I’m hoping will provide both the escapism and stimulation I need, right now.  

 

My relationship to books has changed over the course of my life, I think largely in reaction to what was going on. So I have read and currently read for different reasons.  

 

When you’re thinking about what books you’d bring to that desert island, maybe you need to think about the person you will be when you’re there, what that life will bring, and so what you would need to get from books.  

 

Books are my accompaniment to life - they’ve brought and bring me entertainment, stimulation, meaning, knowledge, escapism, survival, a job, and connection. It’s not just connecting with other worlds and experiences, some of the happiest times have been spent with good friends discussing ideas from books. Putting the world to right is probably the best use of book reading, but that’s for another blog!  

 

Since life changes, so too does the accompaniment. At the moment on my desert island, I need knowledge (to keep my baby alive and thriving), escapism (to forget the sleep deprivation and the daily grind), and stimulation (to remind me I’m still a person with a brain). But that could change and next year, you never know, I might be reading trashy true stories about WAGS or (god forbid) the Kardashians - it all just depends who and where I am.