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What
I’m reading now
The Bookseller of Kabul
by Asne Seierstad
I’m drawn by the controversy the book has arisen and the
issues it raises. The subject of the book – an Afghan bookseller – claims
he is being slandered by the author’s unflattering portrayal.
Do we have permission to write about people from distant places?
What if they think their portrait is unfair? I faced some of
these same criticisms after the publication of Serpent
in Paradise,
about Pitcairn Island.
I have written about
this writer’s prying eye at here
What I'm reading to my children now:
Little Bear's Little Boat
by Eve Bunting
I get inspiration from the books I read my children - glimpses
of how to write simply and convincingly about big ideas, and shapes
for stories and structure. But reading to them is also a huge pleasure.
Not yet grown, they respond to a book not only with their mind
but with their body, literally jumping for joy at a passage which
makes them feel happy, and slumping back in the chair at one that
makes them feel sad. At the moment, we’re enjoying a very old fashioned
tale about growing up – Little Bear’s Little Boat by Eve Bunting.
It introduced the children to the wonderful word ‘destiny’, as
the little bear’s destiny is to grow bigger and bigger while his
little boat’s destiny is to find another little bear to ride in
it. The word ‘destiny’ is
now heard all the time in our house.
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