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By Vikki Weston

There are a few things you ought to know about me. Firstly, that I am a writer, secondly, that I’m currently working as an actor in residence at a boarding school in Norfolk (from which you may infer two things; 1) that I am also an actor of sorts and 2) that I have a lot of free time). Thirdly, you should know that as a writer, and a person with a vast amount of free time, I have a great passion for reading. I also have a passion for Film and Television, particularly HBO’s The Wire at the moment, but that would be an entirely different blog. I have, in fact, had a passion for reading since I could hold a book and turn pages. Books and I have a deep and meaningful relationship that I tend to find very rewarding, apart from the time I tried to read Jeanette Winterson – I’m sure she’s very good but it’s just not for me.

Whilst doing my undergraduate degree, and drinking copiously, at Royal Holloway University of London I was the literary columnist for the university’s independent newspaper The Founder. It meant I was allowed to write about something I was passionate about – reading. I wrote a very specific article for almost every edition from The Founder’s inception in my first year to my graduation entitled ‘1001 Books to Read Before You Die’. If this title seems oddly familiar yet you’ve never even heard of Royal Holloway, apart from the prison, then it’s not because my articles have travelled beyond the confines of Egham (although you can find them on the web) but because you’ve heard of the book my articles took inspiration from. 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die is a compendium of, as the title suggests, the books you must read before you die. It was put together by over 100 experts and critics of literature and edited by Peter Boxall. Each entry is accompanied by a synopsis and a critique of why the book made the list.

I know what you’re thinking, 1001 is a lot of books. I’m not sure it’s even possible to read them all in one lifetime, to be honest I’ll only be getting to 1000 at best because I’ve never been able to finish War and Peace and I doubt I ever shall. I was once asked by a fellow student if I would be critiquing all 1001 over the course of my degree. I actually managed to write 27 reviews. I’d have to have written almost one a day for the whole three years to do them all, and that’s not including reading the books. 1001 is, indeed, an awful lot of literature. However, having perused the list at length I have found that, in my opinion, there are titles missing. The fact that Coetzee and Dickens both have 10 classics on the list and C.S. Lewis not one seems bizarre to me. Nevertheless, once a month I shall continue my 1001 endeavour with the help of eNovella. I’ll be reviewing classic books, from Aesop to Zadie Smith, which 100 experts agree you should read before you die.

But ‘1001 Books…’ will only be a monthly segment of The Book Blog. I also intend to include a monthly article covering a recently released book or, failing that, whatever happens to be eNovella’s ‘Book of the Week’. I will also be including a monthly segment called ‘The Writer’s Block’ covering the careers of various celebrated authors and my own experiences of writing. My final monthly segment is a little harder to define but will be dealing with literary current affairs and events. I’ll be covering literary debate, literature in the news and any other bits and pieces of literary interest that I come across.

So I hope this will be enough to keep all you eNovella subscribers up-to-date and interested. I’m also hoping it will be enough to keep me interested while I’m stuck at boarding school – an odd thing to be for a fully grown adult. I live here six nights a week and as soon as I step outside the sanctity of my room onto the floor of sixth form girls I reside with I become Miss Weston, a persona I’m not completely satisfied with. Save the teachers I see during the day or when I’m on evening duty I spend my time almost entirely with a choice of two kinds of company. It’s either 17 year-old company or my own. I’ve not yet figured out which I find most bearable.

The school is delightful, don’t get me wrong, but in lieu of conversation that revolves around Zac Efron, Twilight or the ever ubiquitous Hollyoaks, I have reading, I have writing, I have The Wire and I have eNovella.

Posted on Thursday 15th October 2009