By Eileen Daniel
Originally from England, Phil Loosley has lived in Rossland since arriving in 2006 for one winter season. He is a professional game show host / MC and workshop facilitator, an improviser, and psychology student.
Away from the stage or studying, you can find Phil on a snowboard or a mountain bike, exploring in his camper van or watching as much rugby as possible.
• What is your earliest reading memory?
The individual book which stands out to me is the classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I can picture going to the library as a child and picking it out and love that it is still on the bestsellers lists over 40 years later. The books of Dr. Seuss also played a big part of my learning to read and were probably responsible for my love of rhyming and rhythm.
• What is your favourite childhood book?
Badjelly The Witch by Spike Milligan. This book was read to the class by my first-grade teacher in London in 1980 (thank you Mrs. Norman) and we thought it was hilarious. It is such a simple story of two children looking for their pet cow who has disappeared but some parts of it are so absurd that it was as if Spike Milligan had the perfect view inside a six-year-old’s sense of humour. I still own a copy and love that my friends’ kids still find it hilarious 50 years after it was written.
• What book did you most enjoy in school?
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I remember reading it aloud as a class at the age of 15 and just being captivated. It was a world so far removed from suburban England in the 1980s that it stretched my imagination and introduced me to subject matter which hadn’t even been in my awareness at that time. Of all the compulsory books at school, it was the only one that I genuinely enjoyed and is one I keep promising myself I will revisit one of these days.
• What book do you read over and over?
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. If I try and describe the book to anyone it sounds like the most boring novel, but it is a captivating masterpiece. It’s a long book, with so many twists and turns that I always get surprised by elements I’ve forgotten between readings. The constant political battles, backstabbing and struggles between the townsfolk, the nobility, and the church provide so much drama that I feel my allegiance to and outrage at the characters every time I read it. Plus, it’s always incredible to imagine life in England 900 years ago and the ingenious methods used to build a cathedral at that time (which is central to the book – I did say it sounded boring!).
• Name the last book that made you cry.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. Without giving too much away, this book illustrates the selfish ability of some people to inflict suffering on others, just to make money. Based on true events and people, it deals with the exploitation of children, stolen or obtained under false pretences, separated from their parents and siblings, and sold as a commodity to the wealthy and well-connected. The saddest part of all from the story may be the realisation that you can make reparations and reconnections, but you can’t give time back to someone and that it might be too late anyway.
• Name one book everyone should read.
The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. This book was first recommended to me by Keith Johnstone, one of the people credited with inventing improv theatre, during a workshop. The book investigates the constant and often conflicted dialogue between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind and how it affects performance. The setting for the book is tennis but you don’t need any knowledge or interest in tennis to take the learnings from it and apply them to sports, work, or life. As an improviser and a psychology student, I am fascinated by the key takeaway from the book – success often comes when you don’t try so hard and judge yourself less.
• What is your favourite movie version of a great novel?
The movie adaptation of Stephen King’s The Green Mile. When I watched the movie, I discovered that everything was portrayed almost exactly as I had envisioned it when I read the book and in leaving the finished movie at over three hours the production company ensured that nothing was left out.
• What books might people be surprised to learn you love?
I still love books by Roald Dahl. I grew up reading his classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Danny the Champion of the World and still own the boxset I got for my seventh birthday. In recent years I have read his later works like Matilda and The BFG and love his ability to make the surreal feel possible and his use of gibberish, which is somehow understandable.
• What agreed-upon classic do you despise?
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I was given a set of the books as a birthday present but despite a couple of attempts I simply couldn’t get into them. It amazes me that there are kids who love them as I found them hard work and uninspiring.
• What book scared you the most?
One of the most disturbing books I’ve read is Room by Emma Donoghue. The idea of trying to raise a child while enduring the isolation of being held captive in a single room is unimaginable. The book is amazing in capturing the main character’s psychological fight between hope and futility as she attempts to educate her son about the world outside their four walls, wondering if either of them will ever get to experience it.
• Name the most disappointing sequel or third book by the same author.
Surprisingly, my answer is back to Roald Dahl. Even as a kid I never felt like Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was a worthy sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, an opinion which has never left me. It never had the same magical quality and while I have read Chocolate Factory dozens of times, I have only read “Elevator” a handful.
• What genre would you read if you could only pick one?
I don’t know if there is a dedicated genre for the type of book I would choose but it would be something like ‘fictional life stories.’ Many of my favourite books just tell the story of a character as they travel through life, especially books by Bryce Courtenay. They are not as specific as fantasy, mystery, thriller or sci-fi but cover the trials and tribulations of life, often over the course of a lifetime.
• What book are you dying to see a movie version of?
A book called My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares. It’s about meeting the same person over multiple lives and always knowing them, even if they don’t remember you. I loved it as soon as I read it and then years later it took on a personal significance for me when I met someone with whom I connected within seconds and had a number of unexplainable interactions. There have been rumours of a movie and a sequel for years, but nothing has appeared, yet…
• Name your literary love.
My favourite author is Bryce Courtenay. The stories and characters he creates captivate me like no other writer. I was introduced to The Power of One in my early twenties by an uncle who insisted I read it, and that was really the book that reignited my love of reading. Since then, I have read many of his books several times, especially his Australian Trilogy. Sadly, Courtenay passed away in 2012 and I still have yet to read his final book, knowing that once I read that one there are no more to discover.
• What book do you like to give as a gift?
This would be a three-way fight between Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
• What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading (and enjoying) Booth by Karen Joy Fowler, a historical fiction novel based around the family and life of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. While Booth is the infamous figure within the book, the story focusses on the individual and collective struggles of the members of his family, and the political uncertainty of America in the 19th century. I’m around halfway through and it’s definitely a book I get lost in, finding myself immersed in a version of America from 200 years ago for 40-50 pages at a time.