Coming back to blogging?

I haven't been paying any attention to blogging for some time. I see my last post here was well over a year ago. I'm sure no one is reading this, so I feel free to write whatever I like!

I'm going to blog a few things from time to time, like what I'm reading and what I think of the book, and what I'm writing. I'm working on a thesis for a PhD, so that will definitely feature.

I've just finished reading Vivian Gornick's new book, The Odd Woman and the City, a memoir of superlative quality. I was fascinated by her vignettes of what she sees as she walks, and what friendship means to her, and relationships of an erotic nature, and what being a woman means, and notes about writing and reading, and other writers and readers.

I have started Eric Kandel's In Search of Memory: the Emergence of a New Science of Mind (2007) and so far he's describing his childhood and his family's escape from Vienna and the Nazis. This was recommended by one of my PhD confirmation report writers, and I thank him for drawing my attention to it!

What I really need to catch up with in my thesis research work is reading on trauma and testimony. For reasons of family I haven't been fully attentive to the work since about November last year.

So, a lot of work to do in the next year and I can see myself taking some leave as well.

My research interests are adoptee memoir, life writing generally, essays, and fiction; writing about illness; medicine and literature. Relationships within families.