Saed News: “Lily King,” the American novelist shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, spoke in a new interview about her love for the works of “Judy Blume” and the hatred she once felt toward “Pride and Prejudice” by “Jane Austen.”
According to SAEDNEWS, Lily King, whose novel Heart, Be At Peace is considered one of the contenders for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, spoke with The Guardian about her literary interests and the book that first made her think about becoming a writer. Below are excerpts from the interview.
“The Little Engine That Could.” My mother used to read it to me at night, and then one day I was able to read it myself. I read it over and over again in bed—the story of the brave little train that made it over the mountain when all the bigger trains refused. The excitement of it never grew old. I was probably four years old.
Actually, I was obsessed with Judy Blume. Completely obsessed. My favorite book, the one that first made me think about becoming a writer, was It’s Not The End Of The World. It’s written in the first person by a 12-year-old girl whose parents are getting divorced. The dialogue is funny and sharp.
I read Sherwood Anderson’s short story collection Winesburg, Ohio when I was 14 or 15 in high school. Like George Willard, I lived in a small town and watched everything. Like him, I saw many strange behaviors and wanted to escape. I think that was the book that truly solidified my desire to become a writer at a young age and made me feel that wanting such a thing was not strange.
I pursued graduate studies in creative writing and had written many short stories full of concise observations, with a unique and minimalist voice. As soon as I entered, two things happened. I met my dear friend Laura McNeil, and for the first time I read Virginia Woolf. The writing of both of these women changed my own writing.
I have to return to Blume’s It’s Not The End Of The World. I vividly remember sitting in bed reading that book and deciding that I wanted to become a writer. I thought I would write books for children exactly like hers. It still surprises me that things did not turn out that way. I still have not written even one book for children.
I was assigned to read Pride And Prejudice during the summer when I was 16, and I hated it. I could not get past the first 20 pages. Later, when I was heartbroken, I picked it up again—maybe I even wanted to feel worse—but that became a moment of revelation. Now I have read all of Jane Austen’s books again and again. I always return to them, especially Persuasion and Pride And Prejudice.
The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner is another book I did not appreciate in high school but have returned to many times throughout my life, discovering more in it each time.
Oh, don’t make me say it. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough.
Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book had been recommended to me for years, and finally I read it last summer. Now I have become one of its advocates too. One hundred and sixty-six exquisite pages. I have never read a book that captured the feeling of being alive and fully open to life more completely than this one.
