On My Bedside Table - Gretel Killeen
The Age
Saturday December 20, 2003
I only read one book at a time. I know a lot of people say they are reading several books at once but I wonder if this is a ploy to appear multi-faceted - you know, romantic, scientific, into cooking and the history of wigs. Then again, maybe I'm just mono-faceted and should extend myself by reading more books at once.
I recently read Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. It won't change your life but will certainly give you a giggle. I've also just finished The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I found this one pretty annoying. It's a love story about a man afflicted with a mysterious medical condition that transports him naked through time to different periods in his life. Lots of women I know love this book and enjoy the romantic connection the man shares with his wife but personally, I found their love unsubstantiated and her life relegated to that of yet another woman whose existence is dominated by the comings and goings of a man. I think the essence of the book is old-fashioned and ideologically unsound.
I'm currently reading Running With Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs. Burroughs has an extraordinary writing style. The book is autobiographical and the story is largely tragic but he has a unique ability to juxtapose tragedy, innocence and humour all in the one sentence.
I don't read in bed a lot. I have children and I work, which means sleep is an incredibly precious commodity. I have never stayed up all night reading a book. When I do stay up all night it's because I'm having an amazing adventure of my own, not reading about someone else's.
Unless a book has really pushed my buttons, I give it away to a friend. I have a bookcase full of books I use for research and the books I've written but I'm not interested in having our home chock-a-block with my own reading history. I read a book and what I experience from it becomes part of me, so I don't actually need the hard copy any more.
Gretel Killeen's latest book is My Life Is A Girdle, Random House, $15.95.
© 2003 The Age
