Skip to main content

She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons by Kathleen Hill: book review

 



 

She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels (2017) is a memoir and a journey about the love of reading throughout life.

 

The author, from England, begins with her introduction to author Emily Dickinson and, at 12 years old in middle school, to Willa Cather’s Lucy Gayheart – the novel about drowning that reflected her own reality. Her trip to Paris, the river Seine, Mozart’s death, it all had an impact on her. 

 

When she married and was a teacher, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was part of the syllabus (as it was mine). The author is living in Nigeria in 1963 just after its independence, and the legacy of a violent colonialist past has a great influence on her life. At the same time, she reads the Henry James novel A Portrait of a Lady. And Isak Dineson’s (Karen Blixen’s) Out of Africa set in Kenya, just before its independence in December 1963: independence found (the countries Kathleen Hill was reading about) and independence lost (her singledom).

 

At 25 years of age, with two children, in 1965, Kathleen Hill accepts a teaching position in Avesnes and Paris, France. Next on her reading list is Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary while listening to Paul McCartney’s song Michelle Ma Belle: ‘His was the voice of possibility, of hope.’ 

 

Still in France, she reads Diary of a Country Priest, a 1936 French drama about poverty and suffering by Robert Bresson. In 1996, Hill befriends author Diana Trilling in Venice, soon after she is diagnosed with cancer, where they discuss novels and the routine of writing, and she reads Proust to the author and her family in the late afternoons. 

 

This is not just a reading-log, but also a travelog, and an introspective look at the situations and books that change thoughts and lives. This memoir is a step back in time, to the books I read, and I found myself comparing my experiences with the author’s. This memoir is a heartfelt love of literature and how it influences our lives or puts it into historical context and perspective. 



 

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

 


MARTINA NICOLLS

Website

Martinasblogs

Publications

Facebook

Paris Website

Animal Website

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more