Måndagsmöte: Posy Simmonds

Serieveckan till ära möter vi den engelska författaren Posy Simmonds som är aktuell på svenska med sitt album ”Tamara Drewe”. Hon har ritat seriestrippar i över 43 år, mest för The Guardian. (”Tamara Drewe” gick som följetong i Guardians litterära del.) Hon har även skrivit och ritat en hel hög med barnböcker.

What are your reading at the moment?
”Outsider” Brian Sewell (autobiography)
”Bunch of Fives” Helen Simpson (short stories)

When it comes to Graphic Novels, which books are your favourites?
”C’etait la guerre des Tranchées” – Jacques Tardi
”Maus” – Art Spiegelman
”Le Chat du Rabbin” – Joann Sfar
”Jimmy Corrigan” – Chris Ware

Please tell us about your greatest reading experience. As a child, and as an adult.
The first book that impressed me as a small child was ”Mr Tod” by Beatrix Potter. One of the first books I read on my own… at bedtime on a winter night. It’s a scary story – live baby rabbits shut in an oven, waiting to be made into a pie, while a fox and a badger have a terrific fight – and was made more frightening by the barking of real foxes in the field near our house. After that fairy stories seemed pretty tame.

As an adult….. in 1966, reading Tolstoy on a long train journey, with many changes, from London to Athens. ”War & Peace” on the outward trip, ”Anna Karenina” on the way back.

Have you embraced e-books yet? Or do you prefer the old, familiar way to read?
No, I like the feel and smell of books. Also you can go to sleep under them.

When and where do you prefer to read?
I would read all day if I could, preferably on the sofa, under a rug, but it’s usually for an hour or so at bedtime.

Would you ever judge someone by their bookshelves?
Well, you couldn’t help forming an opinion about their taste, but I wouldn’t make a moral judgement – unless ALL the books were about torture or New Ways with Macramé.

Best read this millenium?
No best – but many good.