Early Reading and Favourite Books
Claire Fuller’s earliest reading memory is from age five, when she read a metal plaque on a coach that warned: “Mind your head when leaving your seat.” Her favourite book growing up was Phenomena by John Michell, a collection of strange occurrences like showers of fish and spontaneous human combustion. She recalls lying on the carpet, flicking through pages and loving the chills it gave her.
Teenage Inspiration and Changing Minds
At 14, Fuller played Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard in a school production of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood. Reading those mellifluous words aloud made her first understand that writing could make her feel everything. Later, Learning to Love You More by Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher changed her mind. The book contains assignments, some simple (take a picture under your bed) and others challenging (have a one-person demonstration). Public assignments terrified her, but she loved having done them and has sought that feeling ever since.
Becoming a Writer and Rediscovered Authors
The book that made Fuller want to be a writer is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It was the first book she read through a writer’s eyes, trying to understand how Jackson created the extraordinary Merricat. She came back to Denis Johnson after initially reading Angels 15 years ago and thinking “what’s all the fuss?” Then she read Train Dreams and Jesus’ Son, and now his books are among her favourites.
Rereading and Comfort Reads
Fuller keeps only one book on her desk while writing: Wildlife by Richard Ford. She picks it up to read a page or two to remind herself what she’s supposed to be doing. She could never reread Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry because it’s 843 pages and there are too many other books to read. She discovered classics later in life, starting with Pride and Prejudice last year, which she rather enjoyed. Currently, she runs a book club at Cabinet Rooms in Winchester and has selected The Stand by Stephen King to read over a year. Her comfort author is Elizabeth Strout; she just finished The Things We Never Say and found it a delight.
