In Person
Thursday, August 28, 2003
I'm on my yearly visit to the Isle of Wight, woken each morning by wild geese flapping their wings and organising their travel arrangements in the marshes next to the old Mill House where I'm staying with my vast tribe of family and friends. I am feeling very grubby, like an old hippy. My hair sticks up and I haven't looked in a mirror for days. The highlights of summers in the Isle of Wight are things like sitting watching sunsets while children catch crabs in the river Yar, riding along the old railway line on my (new) bike; eating huge suppers around a large table each night, then playing games when you have to pretend to be animals (thankyou Jack). I have been reading constantly....The Curious Incident of The Dog At Midnight, by Mark Haddon....this is fantastic...a book written from the point of view of an autistic boy. My sister and I agreed that we felt what it was like to be autistic reading this book. It's quite dark and sad, although you think it will be happy when you begin it. Also Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson...very gripping, set in a place not unlike the IOW. Her language is so taut and accurate. And The Colour, by Rose Tremain...bloody fantastic, like all Tremain's work. She should win the Booker I think.
Anyway, it's been nice being on the Booker longlist. I wonder if I shall put a bet on? I think the Dog at Midnight will get onto the shortlist, also probably Margaret Atwood, Coetzee, and now I can't remember who else is on. We have been discussing it like mad round the table at the Mill. It's great that they don't decide the shortlist until 16th Sept, as it's a long time to go around carrying a little flutter. I am very pleased that my friend John Murray is on with his book Jazz Etc. We can flutter together!
I am dying to get back to the new novel....although I love holidays, towards the end I get a bit nervous. If I stop writing for a bit then I fear I won't be able to do it again! Anyway, I had better go...we're all going for a walk along the cliffs to Alum Bay. Maybe I will brush my hair.Posted by julia @ 11:28 AM GMT
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
I've been biking down the Thames on one of the hottest days of the year with my mum, Vic, and best friend Jan. This is the first time I have been on a bicycle since being ill, and it felt like returning to my old self. We met outside the Tate Modern and whizzed off past the Globe and down towards Greenwich. There is something about being on a bike that makes one feel like a kid again...all that wheeling in between things, bumping over kerbs, leaving walkers behind. We stopped to watch a Nigerian wedding, waited hours for the bride to arrive, because it's supposed to be lucky to see brides. From Greenwich we went through the foot tunnel, which was icy cool and dripping, and came out in the Isle of Dogs. From there we went through Canary Wharf with it's big glassy towers and found the canal which tok us back to Islington. This was like the under belly of London...a long scummy waterway, with fishermen (I've never seen a woman fishing) boys throwing stones at rats, dark low bridges, and bits of industry. Every so often we would pass the back of someone's house where someone was playing loud reggae music. It was a memorable ride. I love exploring the secret parts of London.
Now I'm back at my desk, though about to go on the annual pilgrimage to the Isle of Wight (crabbing, Compton Bay, fish and chips, Yarmouth Carnival sports day) I can't quite jump back into the new novel until I have a big enough space. Cold Calling has been on the telly. Because of the heat the picture kept on fragmenting which was maddening. Still, it was succesful in lots of ways....I learnt alot about television writing...like, it's what's going on INSIDE the actors head which matters most....I have never cut a script so close to its bones. I was yet again overwhelmed by the talents of actors Charlie Hardwick and Trevor Fox.
Also Taxi driver's Daughter arrived in shops on Thursday. I've had some really lovely reviews...one in the TLS that talked about all kinds of details in the novel...the kind of stuff that no one seems to notice usually. For anyone who saw Independent piece...my partner is called BEV not Pat, and I have a very important sister, Josie, as well as three brothers. Also it's the Northern Rock Writers Foundation which is different from the bank. And the poetry is published by ARC not Anvil! For all that I really enjoyed that interview, and liked the journalist very much.
May all your Summers be breezy...!Posted by julia @ 03:13 PM GMT
Sunday, August 3, 2003
I'm back home. I suppose I could invent all these journeys and be in bed the whole time! But I really did go to Brazil. Honestly. To finish off the story about my operation; I went again into the current rooms, dressed in my white C and A pyjamas. Again the rooms were full of meditating people, all sitting closely together in rows, eyes closed. About twenty of us shuffled through. In the last room there was a young woman sitting hissing like a snake. We were told by helpers to stand with eyes closed with our hand on the part of our body that needed healing. All I could hear were mumbles and hisses. A few minutes passed. Then we were ushered out of the building and told to take a taxi back to our pousada, to rest, to take our herbs, and to avoid certain foods and alcohol. I did what I was told. I was feeling very tired, but hungry too. We went back and played rummy in the dark back room. I lost by five points. Can you believe it? I have never won a game of rummy. Then I slept deeply, still in the white pyjamas. The next day I had been told to stay and rest, but I felt really ill. All that day I was sick. I couldn't move. Eventually that evening we left the pousada and got a taxi back to Brasilia. I was sorry not to say goodbye to the people at the casa. As soon as we got back I started feeling better. I don't know why I was sick....maybe the altitude, the dry air, the anxiety about seeing the healer. Now I am home I keep thinking about the casa. I think it was a place of miracles. Believing this makes my whole belief system feel shaky. So if this is true, so must so many other things be true too....ghosts, reincarnation, heaven, aliens. It's making me dizzy. When you see things you don't understand, like the visible operations, it's easier to blank them out than to really take them on.
Anyway, it's nice to back with PG Tips, marmite, custard, and Bad Girls. Life is sweet, that's for sure.
This week I am going to work on the new novel. After all the travelling I ache to be writing again, or if not writing, just sitting and contemplating the territory of the book. But it's a busy week. Taxi Driver's Daughter is published on Thursday. I'm doing an interview with Jenny Colgan on Radio 4 that day.Oh, books I read while travelling were...Life of Pi...just loved this book. I am glad it won the Man Booker. It's wierd and thoughtful, and wonderful. Barbara Vine...Dark Adapted Eye, or something like that. Awful I can't remember the title, as I was utterly gripped. It was about a woman who had been hung for murder, set during the war. I woke up in the middle of the night, feverish to read it. Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell is such a good writer...such good descriptions of life and manners in 40s. Also, Interpreter of Maladies (short stories) brilliant stories by an Indian writer, full of heart, joy and sadness. I don't Know How She Does It. This bestseller by Alison Pearson was all I could find in a Brazilian bookshop...I enjoyed it, even though I thought I wouldn't. She writes very intelligently about the guilt of mothering, and I laughed out loud several times, even if the heroine works for the stock market. I'm not surprised working mothers are grabbing it off the shelves.
Posted by julia @ 11:21 PM GMT
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