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Interview Summary Sheet Project: Memories of Fiction: an Oral History of Readers’ Lives

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Interview Summary Sheet Project: Memories of Fiction: an Oral History of Readers’ Lives Interview Summary Sheet Project: Memories of Fiction: An Oral History of Readers’ Lives Reference No. Interviewee name and title: Joanna Crooks Interviewee DOB and place of birth: Reading, year unknown. Interviewee Occupation: Teacher Book group(s) attended: Putney Date(s) of recording: Thursday 21 May, 2015 Location of recording: Interviewee’s home, Putney. Interviewer: Dr. Amy Tooth Murphy Duration(s): 1:35:07 Summariser: Haley Moyse Fenning Copyright/Clearance: Interviewer/Summariser comments: Key themes: Reading, book groups, libraries, All books and authors mentioned (those discussed for >20 seconds in bold): Enid Blyton Noel Streatfeild Richmal Crompton, Just William series Anthony Trollope John Updike Naguib Mahfouz Old Lob series Jane Austen Charles Dickens, David Copperfield Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd George Eliot William Shakespeare Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree Thomas Hardy, Tess Thomas Hardy, Jude Thomas Hardy, Mayor of Casterbridge Charles Dickens, Bleak House Charles Dickens, Great Expectations Howard Spring Monica Dickens Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca John Buchan, The 39 Steps E.M Forster James Joyce, Ulysees Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird William Golding, Lord of the Flies Alan Johnston, This Boy Philip Larkin Andrew Motion Evelyn Waugh John Le Carre, A Most Wanted Man Nicholas Monserrat, The Cruel Sea Noel Streatfield, The Ballet Shoes Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Just William series D.H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë , Villette Ian McEwan, Amsterdam Ian McEwan, Enduring Love Ian McEwan, Atonement Rose Tremain Kazuo Ishiguro Emma Healey, Elizabeth is Missing John Updike Malcom Bradbury David Lodge, Small World W.B Yeats Agatha Christie, Miss Marple Agatha Christie, Poirot J.G Farrell, The Seige of Krishnapur J.G Farrell, Troubles J.G Farrell, The Singapore Grip E.M Forster, Passage to India E.M Forster, Howard’s End E.M Forster, A Room with a View Paul Scott, Jewel in the Crown George Orwell, Burmese Days George Orwell, Coming up for Air George Orwell, Clergyman’s Daughter George Orwell, 1984 George Orwell , Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Kate Saunders, 5 Children on the Western Front E.Nesbit, The Treasure Seekers Arthur Ransome Pat Barker Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot C.S Lewis J.R.R Tolkein Margaret Atwood Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills Kazuo Ishiguro, Artist Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro, Remains of the Day Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter, Tom Kitten Richard Adams, Watership Down Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows Muriel Spark, The Girls of Slender Means Irène Némirovsky, Suite Francaise Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment Patricia Highsmith Tove Jansson Jeanette Winterson Sarah Walters Andrea Levy, Small Island Andrea Levy, The Long Song Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel, Bring out the Bodies Hilary Mantel, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Iris Murdoch, The Sea The Sea Salley Vickers Alan Titchmarsh Kathryn Stockett, The Help Ruth Rendell Iris Murdoch, The Sea The Sea Kingsley Amis, The Folks that Live on the Hill J.K Rowling, Harry Potter Thomas Mann Gabriel García Márquez Orhan Pamuk Robert Harris, Enigma Robert Harris, Fatherland. Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong Michael Frayn, Headlong Edmund De Waal, The Hare with the Amber Eyes Margaret Drabble, The Millstone Margaret Drabble, The Summer Bird Cage A.S Byatt, Possession Tom Stoppard, Arcadia Helen Dunmore Colm Tóibín Michael Frayn, Spies Rosamond Lehmann, Weather in the Streets [1:35:07] [Session One: 21 May 2015] 00:00:00 Joanna Crooks [JC] comments that the demands of teaching meant it was difficult to read but that she has read much more since retiring. Comments that she began reading very early. Mentions Enid Blyton. Mentions Noel Streatfield. Mentions Richmal Crompton, Just William series. Anecdote about telling her sister not to read Enid Blyton. Discussion about reading habits in retirement. Mentions Anthony Trollope. Comments that the reading group have encouraged her to read authors she otherwise would not have. Mentions John Updike. Mentions Naguib Mahfouz. Mentions Thomas Mann. Comments that the reading group reminds her of reading books with a class as a teacher. 00:02:58 Discussion about reading habits in childhood. Anecdote about the Old Lob series. Remarks that she read books obvious to the time. Comments that she did not enjoy novels given at school. Mentions Charles Dickens, David Copperfield. Mentions Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped. Comments on not liking the obligation to read books at school, but feeling different about the reading group. Remarks on attending the reading group even if she did not finished the book. Mentions William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair. Comments that she was not widely wide when beginning her English degree at University. Comments that the Oxford University English course reading list only had novels written before the 1830s. Mentions Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot. Mentions Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. Comments on enjoying reading and teaching drama and preferring teaching plays to novels. Mentions William Shakespeare. Remarks on going to all- girls school in Oxford. Mentions Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, Tess, Jude and The Mayor of Casterbridge. Mentions Charles Dickens, Bleak House and Great Expectations. Mentions Anthony Trollope. 0:07:31 Discussion about reading during leisure time in childhood. Mentions Howard Spring and Monica Dickens. Comments on Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca: read later as a teacher and did not like it. Mentions Elizabeth Jane Howard. Mentions Agatha Christie. Comments on John Buchan being unreadable for modern peoples. Anecdote about landlady in Oxford winning literature prize. Further discussion about John Buchan an detective stories: atmosphere, politics. Mentions The 39 Steps. Mentions E.M Forrester. Remarks on importance of plot. 00:11:01 Further discussion about importance of plot. Comments on books where a plot has not been engaging. Mentions James Joyce, Ulysees, Mentions Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy. Brief discussion about Jane Austen: comments that all of her male/female relationships are family or fantasy. Discussion about GCSE texts Mentions Pride and Prejudice. Mentions Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird and William Golding, Lord of the Flies. Mentions L.P Hartley, The Go-Between. Comments on enjoying biographies: interested in early struggles rather than stories of success. Mentions Alan Johnston, This Boy. 00:15:18 Further discussion about biographies. Mentions Evelyn Waugh: comments on reading the biography alongside a novel for the Putney reading group. Mentions Alan Turing biography. Comments on enjoying history focusing on people. Remarks on skipping some sections of biographies. Comments that they are enjoyable even when you know what is going to be happening. Anecdote about reading a Jackie Onassis biography. Discussion about influence of author’s biography on enjoying their novels. Mentions Philip Larkin. Mentions Andrew Motion: comments that he has no sense of rhythm. Mentions Evelyn Waugh. Remarks that the greatest writing is often based on personal experience and so a troubled past can be important. 00:21:47 Discussion about family reading habits. Anecdote about father reading Thomas Hardy at the time Thomas Hardy died. Comments that her mother studied History at University, and preferred biographies to fiction. Mentions Evelyn Waugh. Mentions Graham Greene. Anecdote about giving her father A Burnt-Out Case as a gift when he was in hospital. Mentions John Le Carre. Comments that it was the Putney reading group who got her back into reading John Le Carre. Mentions A Most Wanted Man. Comments that her grandmother’s bookcase was full of green Penguin novels, which were the detective series. Story about Nicholas Monserrat, The Cruel Sea. Comments on visiting the library as a child: remarks on not being able to take a book back within the same day, though she would often have read one. Mentions the autobiographical nature of Noel Streatfield, The Ballet Shoes. 00:26:07 Discussion about re-reading books. Mentions re-reading and teaching The Go- Between. Mentions Lord of the Flies. Comments on the last page of L.P Hartley, The Go-Between still making her cry upon re-reading. Mentions the Just William series. Comments that her children were great readers. Remarks on the importance of reading books at the right age. Story about Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. Brief plot description and discussion of Anne of Green Gables. Mentions Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden: draws parallels with a prequel of D.H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and other novels. Mentions Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights. Mentions Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre and Villette. 00:31:33 Discussion about contemporary authors. Mentions Ian McEwan: remarks that he is artificial. Mentions Amsterdam, Enduring Love, Atonement and A Child in Time. Mentions creative writing course at UEA and not liking a number of authors who attended: Rose Tremain, Kazuo Ishiguro, who attended. Mentions Emma Healey, Elizabeth is Missing. Mentions Still Alice film. Mentions Graham Greene. Mentions Evelyn Waugh. Mentions John Updike. Mentions Malcom Bradbury and David Lodge. Comments on enjoying satire. Mentions David Lodge, Small World: An Academic Romance. Anecdote about pilgrimage to W.B Yeats’ grave. 00:38:09 Discussion about detective fiction. Comments on not liking violent crime. Mentions Ian Rankin. Mentions Simon Brett. Brief discussion about Agatha Christie, Miss Marple and Poirot. Discussion about Simon Brett’s characters. 00:39:55 Discussion about choosing what to read next, moods for reading. Comments that if a reading group book has been particularly heavy, she will look for something lighter to read next.
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