What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

In terms of fiction, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers has affected me profoundly, and in so many ways. It reminded me of the places a novel can take you. When I was reading it I was transported to two places at once: 1. to some distant nostalgic place in my childhood, of getting lost in books and tales of other people, of sitting curled up and reading for hours and hours. 2. to the place evoked in the story. McCullers’ use of language is so deceptively sparse, yet manages to contain and convey all elements of human experience within it. There were times when I was just totally knocked out by how wonderfully she expressed particular things, but most of all, loneliness. This woman just seemed to understand it and able to sum it up in such a succinct way that makes you feel, maybe, a little less alone. It is a book about how we see people as we want to, as we need to, we endlessly project our needs and desires onto them, however far removed from reality that may be. Everything is misunderstood, miscommunicated. Human frailty and strength. The hopelessness and necessity of hope. I know that this is a book that I will frequently return to.

Likewise, the best non-fiction book I’ve read recently would have to be The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers by Virginia Spencer Carr. I make no secret of the fact that I am slightly obsessed with Ms. McCullers. Discovering her work has been one of my highlights of this year. It is inspiring, sad, beautiful and strong. Evocative, poetic, humane. There aren’t enough words for how I feel about her work. Then there was the haunting dark-eyed woman that stared out at me from the Google Image Search. She looked so child-like and yet she wrote of these eternal human struggles in such a powerful way. I was hooked, I was intrigued and I had to know more. This biography was really, really thorough. All the scandalous aspects of her life are examined in details – of particular interest is her tumultuous relationship with Reeves McCullers. She married him quite young, divorced him a few years later, then after he’d gone to fight in the war and she was a hugely successful writer, remarried him. This marriage ended in Reeves’ suicide, intended to be a double suicide, which Carson narrowly escaped from. It has all the makings of salacious gossip, but it is treated with such careful respect for all involved, while not afraid to look at the really messy, horrible parts of their relationship. Her instant success at such a young age, her endless struggle with the creative process, her spiritual loneliness, her unrequited loves. I think she was a beautiful and sad individual, troubled and talented. Through all she went through, she seemed to maintain a really strong sense of self and spark. Her life story was terribly melancholic, but I also found it hugely inspiring.

One of my favourite parts was when McCullers and Tennessee Williams got their revenge on an interfering neighbour by pouring good scotch into their pig trough; they spent the evening sitting and laughing at the pigs getting drunk. Williams said of the event: “It was an expensive amusement – all that scotch – but we both felt better afterwards.”