A monthly interview with Bolinas Library readers.
Gail Reitano
After twelve years in London, Gail Reitano, originally from New Jersey, moved back to the states with her husband Nick Bogle and a young daughter, Ava. Gail credits Nick with having “found” Bolinas in 1991, while in the Bay Area scoping job prospects and looking for a house for them to rent. Nick called from the phone box in front of John’s Store , opens a new windowand said, “I found this town. Wait until you see it. You’re not going to believe it.” They moved from Mill Valley to Bolinas in 1995, and Gail became involved in community work, becoming the executive director of the Bolinas Community Land Trust, opens a new window, during the development of the town’s first two affordable housing projects, Gibson House, opens a new window and the Bolinas Station, opens a new window. Gail writes fiction and memoir. Italian Love Cake, opens a new window (Bordighera Press, opens a new window, 2021) is her first novel, and she’s working on a new novel set in her native New Jersey Pine Barrens.
What are you reading now? What’s in your pile of books? Do you read one book at a time or several? What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
The books currently at my bedside are: In This Ravishing World , opens a new windowby Nina Schuyler, an excellent short story collection about how the degradation of the planet affects us psychologically; The Wild Edge of Sorrow, opens a new window, by Francis Weller (with an intro by Michael Lerner) because my mother recently died; The Movement: How Women’s Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973, opens a new window, by Clara Bingham, an oral history told through the actual voices of the women, living and dead, who fought the fight that seems to never end; and, a stack of New Yorkers, opens a new window.
I can only read one book at a time. If I find myself starting a second one, it’s because I’ve become bored with the first.
The best book I’ve read so far this year is Eastbound,, opens a new window by Maylis de Kerangal. It’s a novella, but it’s very full, like reading a great, long Russian novel.
Do you like to read paper or eBooks? Audio books? DVDs?
Paper, always. I only do eBooks on long road trips, and then mostly nonfiction. Here’s a great one with excellent readers: Horse, opens a new window, by Geraldine Brooks.
Are you a browser in the library or do you know in advance what you are looking for? Do you browse the library catalog or pick specific books? If so, how do you find out about them?
I usually know what I’m looking for—a recommendation from a friend, review, or podcast. I’ve found gems on LARB Radio hour, opens a new window (L.A. Review of Books, opens a new window), like The Hare, opens a new window by Melanie Finn. I only browse the catalog when I’m doing research for a book or essay.
Do you have a favorite genre? Any genres that you never read? Have your preferences changed through the years?
Literary is my favorite genre. I tend not to read straight up mystery, crime, horror, or romance, but I aspire to reading speculative fiction. My preferences for long form fiction haven’t changed, but I’m reading a lot more poetry, which I find calming given the state of the world. And the occasional great nonfiction read. Two favorites: Hero, The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, opens a new window by Michael Korda, and The Splendid and the Vile, opens a new window by Eric Larsen.
What was your reading experience as a child? Did you grow up with a lot of books? A favorite book? Did you use the library as a child?
I love this question because it thrusts me back into thinking about my mother, who is the reason I became a writer. She read constantly, right up until the end of her life this year. I grew up surrounded by books, and I loved reading as a child. Mom would take me to the library, and I would sit on the floor of the children’s section, a small musty, dimly lit room within the larger library, and I thought it was heaven. My earliest love was the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, opens a new window series (Betty Bard MacDonald), followed by Nancy Drew, opens a new window, (Carolyn Keene) and later Wuthering Heights, opens a new window, Jane Eyre, opens a new window, anything by the Brontës.
Were there any books that made a big impression on you in your life? Perhaps a book that has impacted your consciousness a bit? (Maybe something you read at an impressionable age, 20s?)
Fear of Flying , opens a new windowby Erica Jong was a real eye opener when I read it in the nineteen seventies. Women’s pleasure wasn't talked about/described/admitted to—Jacqueline Susann had opened that door a crack seven years earlier with Valley of the Dolls, opens a new window. In the decades since, women’s fiction continues to evolve, always new thinking and experiences, saying the quiet part out loud, and these stories inspire me.
What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
World War II histories, books on fascism and the Italian resistance, all the research I did for my novel, Italian Love Cake, opens a new window. I do a lot of research for my fiction, which takes me into subjects previously unexplored that I end up becoming interested in.
Is there a famous author that you ever wanted to meet? Maybe back in time?
William Carlos Williams, opens a new window, poet and fiction writer, had a busy career as a practicing physician in his home state of New Jersey. In his medical practice and in extensive writings, he always fought for the common man, and he considered Walt Whitman his spiritual mentor. Both were renegades who forged a new American language that broke norms. I would like to heap praise on him and ask how he managed to be so prolific. Then I would want to talk about the poor Italian Americans, for whom he delivered babies and had obvious affection, and ask him why, in his writing, he sometimes referred to them in less than human terms.
What’s the last great book that you read and recommended to a friend?
Getting Lost, opens a new window by Annie Ernaux.
What do you plan to read next? Do you plan?
I don’t really plan, but when friends recommend books, I put them into notes on my phone. When I finish the current stack, I’ll pick from these: Disappearing Earth, opens a new window by Julia Phillips, Sweet Thunder , opens a new windowby Vincent O. Carter, and Clear, opens a new window by Carys Davies.
Is there a book that you always meant to read but still haven’t. Any highly rated books that you thought were overrated?
I aspire to reading War and Peace, opens a new window,(Leo Tolstoy), Proust, opens a new window, and Dickens, opens a new window. I may get to War and Peace.
I can’t bring myself to disparage any writer because I know how hard it is, but I’m often disappointed by the fiction that makes the best seller list, whereas the nonfiction best sellers are often great.
Do you have a collection of books at home. If so, where do you keep them?
Yes! Too many! Bookcases in the living room and in my studio. I do use the library, but I also purchase a lot of books. I need to have books around me. I just donated six boxes to the Mill Valley Library.
What books do you return to? Are there any books you like to re-read?
For inspiration, I return often to writers’ and artists’ diaries/interviews. Two favorites: Louise Bourgeois’s Destruction of the Father/Reconstruction of the Father, , opens a new windowElena Ferrante’s Frantumaglia, opens a new window, and also poetry. For my novel in progress, I’m loving New Jersey poet, Stephen Dunn. I have a lovely, signed copy from Mom of his Pulitzer Prize winning collection Different Hours, opens a new window.
I only re-read an entire book if I have to give a book talk.
What kind of characters draw you in as a reader?
Characters with edge and quick intelligence, who are deep thinkers no matter their station in life. And I’ll take character over plot every time, which might be why a lot of best-selling fiction isn’t for me. More and more I want to be inside the female mind. Maybe it’s a case of pent-up demand, because apart from certain classics, I came of age reading books by men about men. These days, I read to find out what women think about their lives.
When and where do you like to read? Describe your ideal reading experience.
I read before bed and fall asleep reading. Because I’m a writer, I also read during the day, but that’s for inspiration and research. If I could figure out a way to hide my phone, to lock it up, or better, throw it in the ocean, I’d read a lot more. My ideal reading experience is lying in a hammock in a foreign country without cell service and where no one speaks English. But since that’s rare for me, I read in bed.
Why read?
To stay sane
To learn
To feel full, like after a meal
To experience the world in a different way
To escape the endless flow of opinion coming at us from every direction
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