women read

Name: Lu Reading: On Not Knowing, Emily Ogden Why did you want to read this? Emily Ogden’s writing is erudite and poetic. I came to  On Not Knowing , a beautifully written suite of personal — but widely relatable — essays, a number of years ago, at a time of change and loss. Informative and honest, Ogden presents accounts of trying to live, and embracing a reinvigorated desire to live, with the un...

Name: Susan Reading: Nightwood, Djuna Barnes Why did you want to read this? I'm friends with the filmmaker Sophie Lee. She has great taste, meaning that as soon as she told me that she was working on a reimagined version of this book, I ordered a copy. And I wasn't disappointed. The originality—not to mention density—of the description is just wild. However, having now read it out loud I wish I'd...

Name: Lauren Reading: The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer Why did you want to read this? Sometimes I feel exhausted by systems dictated by ''more'' (do more, have more). Usefully, The Serviceberry asks us to consider "enoughness". The presiding economic system we live in (in the modern Western world anyways) is founded on competition, perpetual growth and the hoarding of wealth and resources.  T...

Name: Julide Reading: Is Mother Dead, Vigdis Hjorth Why did you want to read this? I believe everything in life begins with and through a mother. I chose to read Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth because this book shows the importance of the mother. In order for patriarchal societies to function, misogyny must be maintained. Understanding ourselves and our mothers requires unlearning many inherited...

Name: Indira Priscilla Reading: Alphabetical Diaries, Sheila Heti Why did you want to read this? I chose this book because I love how poetic the fragmentation of thoughts can be and love how Heiti did a copy-paste technique using a decade of her own journals. I find it a very brave and vulnerable act that somehow shows the very subtle yet powerful truth that lie in every day life. How did you reco...

Name: Mia Reading: Sodom and Gomorrah, Marcel Proust Why did you want to read this? In Search of Lost Time  is my life manual for its anthropological overindulgence, opulent but precise use of language, and outbursts of clarity concerning the artistic impulse, disappointment, experience, and time. It is so thorough and extensive in its rhythm that I remember certain scenes as if they happened to m...

Name: Jessie Reading: Pitch Dark, Renata Adler Why did you want to read this? It’s one of my favourite books, and I try to re-read it every year or so. I suspected that reading it out loud would reveal some new aspect of it, which it did. How did you record yourself? On my laptop at my desk very early in the morning.

Name: Grace Reading: The Sorrows of Others, Ada Zhang Why did you want to read this? The stories in this collection feel so familiar to me--the subtle ways Ada Zhang plays with memory, emotion, and interiority inspire me.  How did you record yourself? On my bed with my cat sleeping next to me.

Nombre: Paola Leyendo: La hora de la estrella, Clarice Lispector ¿Por qué quisiste leer esto? Mi cariño por Clarice es inmenso. La Hora de la Estrella fue el primer libro que leí de ella y la vida no fue igual después de eso. Pocas veces leo en voz alta y qué mejor que tener la oportunidad de hacerlo con las que ella escogió y puso en este libro. Me parece que hay algo especial, único y mágico en...

Name: Sharon Reading: The Princess of Clèves, Madam de La Fayette Why did you want to read this? I had re-read Marguerite Duras’s novel  Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein , and that caused me to think of  La Princesse de Clèves , perhaps the first psychological novel. I thought of the moments of ravishing encounters or encounters that ravish, that take place through the gaze: seen, unseen. How did yo...

Name: Carol Reading: Cassandra Float Can, Anne Carson Why did you want to read this? I chose Float by Anne Carson, a collection of individual chapbooks that can be read in any order and from these I picked Cassandra Float Can. Three increasingly short  cuts  of the same story. Cuts, holes, silences, absence and veils flying up; she takes the reader on a sharp meander through the prophecies of Cass...

Name: Suyin Reading: Familiar Stranger, Stuart Hall Why did you want to read this? I first read this book in 2023 and so much of it has stayed with me and shaped my work and thinking since then. As I was re-reading it for this project, I realised how many common threads and themes there are that have appeared in my own life experiences -- it seemed almost serendipitous. Familiar Stranger was publi...

Nom: Amélie En lisant: Angel, Ronan Guillou (texte de Wim Wenders) Pourquoi voulais-tu lire ça ? Je suis d’abord tombée en amour avec une photographie ( Tim Claar, serveur au Ruby's ) puis avec tout le travail de Ronan Guillou. J’ai rencontré Ronan lors du lancement de Angel à la librairie photographique à Paris (Merci Kiki !). J’avais dans les mains le livre Once de Wim Wenders. Ronan a trouvé ça...

Name: Hilary Reading: Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein Why did you want to read this? I had a few different ideas but  Tender Buttons  won out for being the most fun to read aloud. I have a few deadlines at the moment and it was therapeutic to spend thirty minutes thinking of nothing but the shapes and sounds of the words, focusing on not tripping up because nothing unfurls in an expected way. The l...

Nombre: Lia Leyendo: Romance Artístico, Chris Kraus ¿Por qué quisiste leer esto? Traduje y edité este libro: le tengo mucho cariño. ¿Cómo te grabaste? Con un micrófono que me prestó Juan Pablo, después de bañarme, en la primera tarde lluviosa del año. / Why did you want to read this? I translated and edited this book, so I’m very fond of it. How did you record yourself? With a microphone that Juan...

Name: Sarah Reading: Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Why did you want to read this? This is the story of a 15 year-old Nigerian girl’s coming of age. It’s about the relationships in her life, set against a military coup. I chose it because it lets you into her world and her steps to independence and it allows you to imagine the society in which she lives. The relationship between her and...

Name: Afton Reading: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, T Kira Madden Why did you want to read this? This book has been a huge teacher text for me. It’s incredible at the sentence level--I love the scrappiness of her sounds, consonants especially. I want everyone to listen to and read her.  How did you record yourself? In the middle of the day, I turned off the heat, which is loud, and sat o...

Bonus episode if you'd like to listen to the text read in the original French by Selbi's mum Leila. Épisode bonus si vous souhaitez écouter le texte lu en français par Leila, la maman de Selbi.

Name: Selbi Reading: King Kong Theory, Virginie Despentes Why did you want to read this? I was very moved by this book, it changed the way I think. It's raw and speaks to a woman's condition. It's a feminist manifesto but not the commercial Beyonce T-shirt feminism. I wish I read this book earlier in my life - it is one of those life-changing books, it will not leave you unshaken. How did you reco...

Name: Laura Reading: Potiki, Patricia Grace Why did you want to read this? Potiki is a novel about indigenous land rights in Aotearoa New Zealand, it follows a Māori community who's ancestral land is under threat. It was published in 1986 but Māori are still facing the same issues as the current government has introduced a bill that limits the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, Aotearoa New Zea...

Name: Rebecca Reading: Look at Me, Anita Brookner Why did you want to read this? Brookner opens 'Look at Me' with a series of close readings of the history of the representation of sickness and madness in art. This has a quality of non-fiction (and reflects Brookner's other life as an art historian) but she also manages to convey so much about her narrator, Frances Hinton. Her isolation, self-estr...

Name: Anna Reading: Lisa Robertson, Cinema of the Present Why did you want to read this? I chose Cinema of the Present because I'd needed to read it aloud to myself to fully experience it - I love books like that. It's a long poem that moves in and around and through its subjects: time, thought, surfaces, structures and language, and many, many, other things. Evenly spaced lines alternate between...

Name : Ruby Reading : Quantum Listening, Pauline Oliveros Why did you want to read this? I aspire to be a good listener. Oliveros's approach to listening is poetic and practical, yet also incredibly complex. The theory of Quantum Listening stretches from the observation of a slight change in pitch to the wide stance of a worldview. It reminds us that listening is an ongoing practice of attunin...

Name: Sophie Reading: The Hearing Trumpet, Leonora Carrington Why did you want to read this? I got to know and love this book through teaching it a few years ago, which is a nice way to become familiar with a novel: i.e. with lots of other people. Reading it aloud now reminded me of that time. I find it very, very funny and – if this makes sense – as a book it seems sort of free and unbothered. It...

Name: Freya Reading: The Emigrants, W.G. Sebald Why did you want to read this? Lately Sebald’s books have been exactly what I want to read and it felt like it would be really nice to share this one. I think that’s partly what I like so much about the podcast - people sharing what they love, in a gentle way - just putting it out there - and the intimacy of reading aloud. How did you record yourself...