Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton was interviewed on the 'Sunday' programme last week. What a beautiful, interesting and unaffected woman she is despite her Man Booker win for The Luminaries. While the programme did not delve in any depth into her writing processes, inspiration other than she thought of the idea when 14, it did give us an insight into who she is. Many may have been surprised that she was only viewing the originals of the Hokitika Press for the first time, the wonders of digitising and Papers Past. Sparkling eyes, wide grin and a nice partner obviously attained while studying in the US Eleanor Catton is a writer of whom we can be very proud.


My copy of this magazine arrived in my mailbox this week. I took a subscription believing I could learn from the writing styles, variability of topic and perhaps move on to other works by the writers which would inspire and challenge my own writing. I have been very disappointed as originally I took out a digital subscription and could not read the tiny print. Ordering a hard copy I have again been frustrated at the font size. I now have several mostly unread copies of an expensive subscription which have been of little use to me. The way they are bound makes it difficult to enlarge and read them on the myReader machine so another wasted effort at attempting to remain a continuing part of the reading world. 

Lying awake stressing over my inability to visit a dying friend - no visitors allowed - yet others seem to 'be allowed' I read Winds of Change   for many hours on my VRS on Thursday night. My sudden descent into the world of cheaper fiction frightens me, yet I find these stories relaxing, appealing and full of twists and turns which some of the more staid appropriately acceptable fiction does not have. Characters become real, one wonders at their ignorance, and as Sally removes to the Crimea and war how she returns to England and finds herself in Australia keeps readers interested.