The Good Books, Jenni Daiches: ‘Books have been my companions from earliest memory’

Jenni Daiches on books being her eariest companions, listening to audio books during a period of near blindness, and why she loves Elizabeth Strout and Hilary Mantell.

The first book I remember reading:

Books have been my companions from earliest memory. I’m not sure how old I was when I read The Little Reindeer and I don’t remember the author but it has stayed with me ever since. The little reindeer is lost and during its search for its mum has scary encounters with a polar bear, a walrus and other fearsome creatures. It has a happy ending! There is something particularly satisfying about the resolution of danger. 

A book I recommend to everyone:

Currently I’ve been recommending Hilary Mantell’s Memoirs of My Former Self. This collection of essays and other short pieces sparkles with wit, irreverence and incisive intelligence. Almost better than her fiction, of which I’m a serious fan. She is hugely missed.

The best three books I have read in the last year:

During a period of near blindness I listened to Chimimanda Ngosi Ndiche’s Amerikanah which helped to preserve my sanity at a time when I couldn’t read or write. The rhythm of her prose and the recreation of contrasting worlds – the US and Nigeria – was totally absorbing. Eyesight restored, I discovered the short stories of the amazing Lore Segal – Ladies’ Lunch and other stories. Expertly crafted, they look at life with a wry empathy. A revelation. I was very moved by the late Carl MacDougal’s memoir, Already, Too Late, a rich and powerful account of growing up in Fife and Glasgow in difficult and dislocating circumstances.

A book I didn’t finish:

Everything I’ve read over the last year has been worthwhile. My reading is eclectic but also pretty discriminating. I hate not finishing a book I’ve started – it has happened – so I’ve developed a good eye for what I’m going to enjoy. But Sue Lawrence isn’t the only person to find Sally Rooney’s Normal People boring!

An author who has inspired me:

Most of the fiction writers I most admire are American and female. If I have to select one it would have to be Elizabeth Strout. She conveys the heart of complex lives with unassuming clarity and understanding. The profound care she takes with the people she creates is totally engaging. I wait in anticipation for her next novel.

My favourite place to read:

In my garden not far from the Firth of Forth, in summer sunshine, where I can look up from the page at the sound of a blackbird and admire the runner beans and raspberries and be distracted from time to time by the dog digging up the spuds. Although I can’t match Naomi Mitchison’s ability to read and write in the most unlikely circumstances (while pushing a pram, for example) I like to know that life goes on around me. 

Jenni Daiches (also published as Jenni Calder) was born in the USA and has lived in Scotland since 1971. She is the author of three previous novels and two collections of poetry. As Jenni Calder, she has published biography and literary and social history. Her books can be purchased here.