My reading life as a student, 1978 to 1985

In this series of posts, I am reviewing my reading life (not my Reading life).

Since my early reading life, I have kept a list of nearly 1,500 books I’ve read since 1978. Each year, I choose my book of the year.

At roughly 25 books a year with an average life expectancy, I might read another 425 books.

What must I read before I go to the library in the sky?

Most of the books I read as a student were, of course, set books. Some of these were influential but the books I enjoyed the most were mostly not on the curriculum.

1978 Animal Farm by George Orwell

I rarely reread books. But I have read Animal Farm several times. The first time I read it was for O Level. It had a profound influence on me. I did my dissertation on Orwell (in 1984) and read all of his published novels. I still think Animal Farm is his most perfect novel in terms of its execution.

1979 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird was another O Level text that shaped my thinking and is still vivid in my mind.

I made the mistake of reading Go Set A Watchman many years later.

Sometimes we have to accept that writers have one book to offer us. But what a book!

1980 Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake    

My mother had Mervyn Peake’s grey Penguin classics on her shelves. She knew the author from Brighton Art College where he lectured during his declining years. Peake’s cover illustrations intrigued me, I wish he had illustrated his own trilogy.

1981 Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

This was my peak Peake period. I loved the overwrought prose (I read the books with a dictionary) and loved the exotic names of the characters like Irma Prunesquallor, Swelter the chef and Steerpike the schemer.

1982 Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger

I loved this book from the very first line.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

1983 The Vivisector By Patrick White

I was drawn to writers called White. This novel about the cruelty of an artist’s gaze, the sliver of ice in a writer’s heart, spoke to me.

I wrote a fan letter. His agent wrote back to say that Patrick White had died.

1984 Middlemarch By George Eliot

At university, I read this while the adaptation with Rufus Sewell was on TV.

Proper grown-up novel. I have never read another George Eliot but have always mean to. What would you recommend?

1985 Waterland by Graham Swift

I have read nearly every Graham Swift book since I encountered Waterland.

The film starring Jeremy Irons is to be avoided!

I went to University because I was given a grant to read books for 3 years – what a privilege.

But I was glad to get off the reading list treadmill. Now, I could choose what I wanted to read, wouldn’t I?

Next week: my reading life as a book reviewer.