Drystone waller Kristie De Garis on the books of her childhood, her love of O’Brother by John Niven and why life is too short to keep reading the books you don’t enjoy.
The first book I remember reading:
Slugs by David Greenberg. A children’s book that could only have been published in the 80s. I was both horrified and fascinated by the grotesque illustrations, and the rhyming verse about slurping slugs, blending slugs, and slug gangs breaking into your room at night and beating you up. Now that I’m middle-aged and heavily into gardening, I cannot see a slug without thinking of this book. A perfect example of the power of reading. How books stay with you, whether you want them to or not.
A book I recommend to everyone:
Stoner by John Williams. Quiet, devastating, perfectly made. It tells the story of an ordinary man’s ordinary life with such restraint, trusting the reader completely. It’s about mundanity, weakness, failure and inevitability. Never in a loud way, but so subtly that before you know it a whole life has passed. There’s such honesty and humanity in its pages, along with the best prose I’ve ever read.
The best book I have read in this year:
Early days, but so far the standout is O’Brother by John Niven. It’s brutal, loving, and furious all at once. Niven has such a strong voice, and such a firm handle on writing Scottish culture: unsentimental, attuned, emotionally layered, unafraid of contradiction. He never flinches but he also never postures and that is such a delicate balance to strike.
The book I am most looking forward to:
That would involve planning. Most of the books I buy are fly by the seat of my pants purchases. If I become aware of a book and like the sound of it, I’ll buy it in the next six minutes or not at all. I’m never really waiting for a book, it’s all instinct.
A book I didn’t finish:
I don’t finish a lot of books, and I used to beat myself up about that. Now I understand that life’s too short to slog through pages that do nothing for you. Sometimes I come back to them years later and it feels easy, sometimes it never does. Either way, I don’t force it anymore.
An author that has inspired me:
Maggie Nelson. Specifically, The Argonauts. I really wasn’t sold on this book at first. I told a friend that it felt like ‘a cerebral onslaught’, but once I got used to its unusual form, I loved it. Part memoir, part theory, part cultural critique and philosophical inquiry, yet it never feels overdone or indulgent. It’s sharp, clear, deeply vulnerable and doesn’t make you choose between intellect and feeling: a combination I find inspiring. I also loved Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch. Every mother should read it. It’s a manifesto, a primal scream, a work of immense generosity.
The book I am reading now:
I’ve currently got seven books on the go. Some are research for my next book: The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand and Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit. Some are for pleasure: The Fathers by John Niven, The White Darkness by David Grann, Ava Anna Ada by Ali Millar, Shogun by James Clavell, Mayflies by Andrew O’ Hagan. I read in rotation, depending on energy, mood, what my brain (and life) will allow that day.
Kristie De Garis is a writer, photographer and drystone waller based in Perthshire. Her debut memoir Drystone – A Life Rebuilt explores identity, recovery and the healing rhythm of stonework. Her writing has appeared in The Times Magazine, and she has also been featured in The Bookseller and Smithsonian Magazine.
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