This morning, in our next Shelfie Feature, we meet Corrine Louw….
Asked to explain who she is, her response – Mother of Tristan and Nia. Group Editor at Caxton Local Media in Durban.
Here is her Shelfie….
Oh, I love this guys and it fits right into what’s happening in my life right now.
Here’s why:
A few weeks ago my phone broke.
I was broke and could not afford a new phone, so I was without a phone for about two weeks, until I was able to buy a new phone on Wednesday, 31 January.
I have always been an avid social reader but when social media started taking a grip I began slacking in my reading.
While I am forced to read at work, I stopped reading socially.
I often felt tinges of guilt but it seemed easier for me to just grab my phone, squizz over to Facebook, scroll on TikTok.
I lied to myself and said I am not reading anymore because of my flailing eyesight and while that is just slightly true, it’s an excuse.
With my phone gone, I was forced to go back to reading.
And I re-discovered my love for reading.
I picked up a book I have had for years, it’s called, The God of Small Things by Indian writer Arundhati Roy.
I first discovered Roy at The Time of the Writer many moons ago and read The God of Small Things from start to finish.
In the years following that I would read it the way some people read the bible, open it at any page and read just a few lines or few pages, depending on my mood.
But I did not read it cover to cover again.
Until my phone packed up.
I love that book because it makes me cry. It makes me laugh and when I read some of the lines Roy has constructed, I want to read them over and over again, just to admire the sentence.
I am often in awe of people who are able to craft beautiful sentences.
Or who can describe little things with such detail. Some sentences are one word, or two words yet fit perfectly and beautifully.
So to answer your questions:
What do you love about reading?
Sounds cliché but I love how it allows me to escape.
Allows me to let my imagination run free create a vision which will be only mine and nobody else’s vision.
Quite unlike TV or TikTok.
What was your favourite book last year?
Coloured: How Classification Became Culture by Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel.
What are you reading at the moment?
The God of Small Things by Arundhathi Roy.
Shelfie Feature – Corrine Louw
