Irina Giri is currently an undergraduate of Visual Culture and Performance Studies at the Simon Fraser University, Canada. During her recent internship at The City Museum Kathmandu, Giri says she got the opportunity to explore the art world of the Valley. Giri—who grew up in an environment that let her form strong bonds with books, films and music—talked to the “Post” regarding her love for reading. Excerpts:
How did you first come to love books?
Our house was filled with books. There were shelves full of books that were collected and bought by my family members. I would get suggestions of what to read from them. They would tell me how it affected them and I would be excited to feel what they had felt. Each book would have its own character—its special size, the kind of pages it had and the cover. It was like a compact entity that I could hold, and it had this power to introduce me to people, their ideas and philosophies of life, and new emotions that I could seep into. I would spend time with these books, with an openness and expectation to be changed and deeply affected in unknown ways, and that was pleasant and exciting.
What was the last book you read and how did you like it?
The last book that I specifically remember finishing is Doris Lessing’s “The Golden Notebook”. It was a challenging, powerful novel. Personally, for better or for worse, I am hyper-sensitive about people’s body language in day-to-day situations. I was struck by how acutely Lessing did that in the book itself—it felt like I had met another person who places as much emotional and speculative weight into the hardly visible, physical moments shared by people. But that’s just a small part. I was amazed at how uncompromising Lessing was in revealing the emotional, psychological, political and physical chaos the lead character is embedded with.
What are you reading right now and how is it going?
I am reading Jean Bachelard’s “Poetics of Space” and Italo Calvino’s “Marcovaldo”. Bachelard’s book speaks of the space of a home, its corners, shelves, drawers, windows, and how they shape our imagination and memories. And Italo Calvino’s “Marcovaldo” is about a man in Italy trying to earn a living for himself and his family. But he maintains this innocence in the face of the industrial landscape that colours his attempts at a better life. But what I’m really enjoying is the delicate balance that Calvino has woven between the brute hardships and the seemingly surreal encounters of Marcovaldo. Both these books make my bus rides shorter.
What is your favourite genre and why?
I have been drawn to books that look at human beings at a microscopic level, opening up a wide range of possibilities. Books like Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs Dalloway” or Charles Bukowski’s “Ham on Rye”, dive deep into particularities of human experiences in a brave and uncompromising way.
Name a book that you would or would not recommend, and why?
I would both recommend and not recommend Colin Wilson’s “The Outsider”.
I read that book when I was really impressionable. You know that feeling when a book affects you so much that it gets uncomfortable? I experienced that with the book. It articulated a personal uncertainty through a wide range of evidences and made the subdued realities, which I was uncomfortable with, very real. It was powerful, but at times books can run the risk of being too powerful.
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction? Why?
For the longest time I have preferred fiction because of the poetic experience it offers, and its welcoming nature to ambiguities about things in life. But lately, I’m drawn to philosophical writings that I don’t understand half of the time; but whatever I do understand, feels really valuable and revelatory.
Somehow, these intellectual labyrinths that interject day-to-day life have become a lot more interesting in these past months.
What is good writing for you? What would you say makes a good writer?
I guess good writing is writing that is unafraid to be vulnerable, and that can manifest itself in different ways; and I think I am open to those different ways.
Source: ekantipur
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