I began writing this newsletter out of a desperate longing to read. Writing felt justifiable—active, productive. Reading, in contrast, seemed restful, leisurely, and it made me feel guilty. Yet it’s what I was longing for - long stretches of time to be alone with my intellect.
I came to Substack with an agenda. I was curious to peek into lives mirroring mine—busy, unglamorous mid-life existences. I sought kindred spirits carving space for deeper thoughts amidst the prosaic. I hoped that I would become friends with these people and we would create for each other a sense of community - no, you are not crazy for wanting that, you are not alone and I will help you stay accountable. Months passed. Now, tentatively, I have it—Substack friends who whisper, Me too.
Today, I am so nervous and excited to start introducing some of them to you. In what I hope will become a somewhat regular interview series, I will share some of my favorite readers… people just like you and me, who have decided to make reading a big part of their busy, normal lives and how that makes their days richer, deeper, more beautiful.
The moment I decided to try this series, I knew that would have to be the first person I would reach out to. Kate publishes the wildly popular newsletter where she writes about women's literature and the lives of women writers. What I admire most about Kate is that her taste in books and authors is unequivocally her own. She's done fascinating deep dives on the work of Nora Ephron and Joan Didion, on the topic of auto-fiction and, most recently, we have bonded over our intense experience reading Miranda July’s All Fours. When I discovered that her newsletter isn't tied to a publishing career but is purely a passion project, I knew I had to interview her first. I was eager to understand what fuels her reading, how she carves out time for it, and to learn the specifics of how she's made literature such an integral part of her life.
Tell me a little bit about yourself. Are books and reading part of your professional life?
Unfortunately, books and reading are decidedly not a part of my professional working life - just one of the many reasons I decided to both return to education as a mature student (first for a BA in English Literature and later for a Masters in English Studies) and to start my newsletter.
I currently work part-time as an administrator within the National Health Service in the UK, which, although not my ideal work role in comparison to, say, being paid to write about books, I do feel that the role helps to keep me grounded and both fits around my family and allows me the time and space to indulge in my inner life of reading and writing about the books, writers, and ideas that I find fascinating.
PKG: Can we give a little collective cheer for the jobs that pay the (book) bills?
What are you currently reading, and how is it influencing your daily life?
Well…I know you have written about the stunningly visceral Miranda July novel All Fours on your newsletter and…just wow, right?! I could not put this book down. I carried it around with me for several days, reading whilst making dinner, reading before work, reading after work…I love it when a book does that to you. I remember you responding to a Note I put on Substack saying this book would change how I thought about everything and you were absolutely right!
Before that, I also read Sandwich by Catherine Newman, and again, I didn’t let go of it for about three days. It was a much shorter book, and so I read it really quickly, but the thoughts and ideas in it lingered for much, much longer.
I am being heavily influenced right now by books about and around the midlife transition for women. And when I say ‘heavily influenced’, I basically mean obsessed!! I have been searching for quite a while for books that discuss women’s difficulties around this time of life, but also, ones that show joyful expectations for their protagonists. I have read enough accounts of doom and gloom for this life stage (both fiction and non-fiction) and also the type of fictional characters who portray the ‘hilarity’ of the rage and hot flashes of middle age and I just couldn’t see myself in those characters, and so I kept getting frustrated.
The first book I came across that changed that for me was Wayward by Dana Spiotta. Her female narrator takes agency for her own experience and begins to examine the areas of her life that are not making sense to her. Then I came to Sandwich and finally, All Fours. All three of these books gave me female protagonists I could get on board with. Whilst the artist narrator in Miranda July’s book is the least like me (she is a total force of nature!) the ideas July explores in that book were like a siren call. I have so many pages turned down and lines that resonated…
Here are Kate’s posts that include reviews of work by Miranda July, Dana Spiotta, and Catherine Newman. I also really loved her deep dives into Jean Rhys and Tillie Olsen.
What's a reading ritual or habit you've developed that's unique to you?
I took a piece of advice from my daughter a while ago. As I have always read a lot in the evenings before bed, I had been struggling to focus on this as I was often finding myself falling asleep as soon as I picked up a book. This meant I was not getting engrossed in a new novel and abandoning them unfinished. She suggested taking a new book to a cafe on the weekend as a treat, in order to get into the story. This has meant that I am already invested in the book and so pick it up regularly for shorter bursts.
This is such smart advice! I think that one longer stretch of time of reading when you first pick up a book will kill or supercharge your reading experience.
How do you incorporate reading into your self-care or mental health routine?
I think reaching fifty years of age and the surging hormonal shifts also finally made me realise that if I think that reading is a really important part of my identity, then I need to let go of all the distractions that keep me from doing more of it, or of seeing it as an additional task on my to do list. I haven’t made a reading plan as such, but I have begun taking control back of my time more to make reading a priority, which I suppose I realise now is a form of self-care.
When I switch off my phone and dive into a book for a longer reading session, or go out to a favourite cafe and order a special coffee and pull out a novel, this is a thrilling indulgence for me but also I know that my brain feels calmer and more creative. This then feeds into my writing life, which is another hugely important part of my identity, and having a creative outlet such as my newsletter also feeds into my positive mental health.
Finding other newsletters such as yours, where reading is seen as something that is joyous and as important as all the other things we need to do, also encouraged me that I wasn’t alone in thinking about books and reading in this way.
Kate’s archives are a real treasure trove. In addition the some of the author deep dives I inlcuded above, I also love her essays on Sylvia Plath and her discussions of motherhood in literature.
Do you have any tips or advice for people who wish they were reading more?
I think the best advice I heard about reading more came from the writer and professor of computer science Cal Newport, of all people! He talks on his podcast Deep Work about building a deeper life in which we focus on the things we find important and letting go of the superfluous distractions that consume much of our modern lives. He has several work roles and a young family but says he regularly reads 4-5 books a month because of one thing: he makes book reading a default distraction instead of scrolling on his phone. He also utilises what he calls The Rory Gilmore method (shout out to Gilmore Girls’ fans!!) which basically means he takes a book everywhere with him, so that he never finds himself looking for mindless distraction.
I love the fact that his advice is so simple, yet it can be so difficult to do. With this in mind, I would say that the best way to read more would be to put the phone away and make picking up a book the easiest option. Even five minutes of book reading really adds up. I know that I have to physically remove my phone from my eyeline in order to do this, but it really does work.
Finally, something I have realised recently and that has really turned my reading life around: stop reading books that you feel you ‘ought’ to read…or ‘should’ be reading. The ones that other people are raving about and therefore you should too. Or even the ones that you think make you look like an intelligent reader, but actually bore you to tears! This was a big hurdle for me to overcome as someone who studied literature: it can be so difficult to admit that you just want to read a fun novel for a change!
THANK YOU SO MUCH, KATE!
A question for you:
Which of Kate’s tips and ideas resonated the most with you?
Such good advice on how to read more, Kate! Phone/book is a never-ending battle.
Thank you so much for having me over to your newsletter, Petya! :)