Virginia Evans: ‘I loved books about things that couldn’t exist’ | Fiction

My earliest memory of reading
I don’t know what we were reading – The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams or the poems of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein – but I definitely had my sister, two years older, who modeled me as a reader. I imagine in the back of our family car or lying on our twin bed in our shared bedroom.

My favorite book growing up
I loved mysteries and fantasy. I read a lot of Nancy Drew books, and The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. And I loved the stories of Narnia and The Wind in the Willows. I loved books about things that don’t exist. I think it’s all escapism – cases solved by children, talking animals, time travel, two inch tall people. I always wanted to enter a better world.

A book that changed me as a teenager
I read about John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath I was 15 years old. It was my first understanding of what stories can do, how a story can progress, how words can express the difficulties of life. I extended my compassion, seeing what the Joad family endured, learning through the stories of that place and time in American history.

The author who changed my mind
Joan Didion. Every time I read his work, I am changed in some way. Her writing makes me think about the world, people, politics, land, water, time, motherhood, marriage differently.

The book that made me want to be a writer
I was in college and I was studying English and writing. I read Interpreter of Maladies and Jump Lahiri and I discovered what can be done with language and words to create something beautiful and engaging. I thought: I must do this, I can do this, I will do this.

The the author returned
I tried Jane Austen when I was very young. I did not understand the language or the story. I felt lost. When I returned to Pride and Prejudice in the late 20s, I really enjoyed it.

I also read books
Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Steinbeck’s East of Eden are books I read over and over again, and instead I have to go to East of Eden right now.

I can’t read this book anymore
I devoured the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson, but I was horrified throughout. I’ve thought about going back, but I’m very disappointed with it and I don’t think I’ll go back.

A book I found later in life
I didn’t read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott until the 2019 movie, and I cried at the scenes of Jo trying to become a writer. It came very close, and of course I wasn’t done yet. I was still spreading leaves on the ground with hope and despair. I had my own children at the time, and I really identified with the girls’ mothers – something that would not have happened if I had read it when I was younger.

The book I am reading now
When I Went with Sue Miller. This is another reading for me. I discovered Miller 15 years ago, just walking through a used store and looking at the backs. I love his stories, especially the old ones. I love the horror of this book and the construction of the whole thing – from the story to the sentences.

My comfort read
Can I choose more than one? Strange Reader By Alan Bennett, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, I Capture Castle by Dodie Smith.