Shania Gooris’s World of Reading

Schopenhauer famously said that reading is thinking with someone else’s head. But what is it that we hope to find in the other person’s head? Peace and quiet, distraction, knowledge? Welcome to the World of Reading, a series of interviews in which we talk about the role of reading, beauty, and language. In this instalment: Shania Gooris of the READ THIS podcast!

Interview by Matthias M.R. Declercq
Translated by Sandy Logan
-> naar de Nederlandstalige versie van dit artikel
© Michiel Devijver en Iedereen Leest

“I really don’t understand my generation sometimes”, says Shania Gooris. “When it comes to books, they often say: ‘Reading makes me sleepy’. But you also fall asleep binge-watching a Netflix series on the couch,  right? So, what’s the point? With a book, you can fantasise about the setting and characters, which, in my opinion, is what makes reading so powerful. In films and series, nothing is left to the imagination because everything is spelt out.’

Shania Gooris is 23 years old, and the more she talks about books with her peers, the stronger the urge to attempt to turn the tide: “Yes, I’m really up for showing my generation how relaxing reading can be.” With Booktokker (a readers’ community on TikTok), Shania already reaches a large audience through short videos with book tips. READ THIS!, the podcast in collaboration with Flemish radio station MNM, in particular, acts as a catalyst to get young people reading. “Young people tend to think of reading as a chore in a school context. But reading is or can also just be entertaining.” Shania definitely has her work cut out for her as the host of this podcast, in which she discusses books with other booktokkers. You can feel her experience, the result of many years of reading a wide range of books. Shania’s World of Reading really does span a very wide range of genres. “I like to read books like The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, but I’m equally happy to read Untamed by Glennan Doyle, about no longer wanting to please others and wanting to live your own life. Romance, biographies, self-help books, fantasy and crime: I don’t believe in limiting myself to one genre.”

“I really don’t understand my generation sometimes. When it comes to books, they often say: ‘Reading makes me sleepy’. But you also fall asleep binge-watching a Netflix series on the couch, right? So, what’s the point?”

Magnolia Parks

© Michiel Devijver en Iedereen Leest

But things used to be very different. As a teenager, Shania Gooris almost exclusively read romance novels. Encouraged by her mother, who liked to read sensual novels, as well as thrillers and biographies, and who instilled a love of reading in her daughter.

“It was all I read,” says Shania, “I essentially spent all my time reading about girls who fell in love with the cowboy who lived up the road. (laughs) But those days are behind me now. Whenever I read romance novels these days, I mainly look for realistic, rather complex love stories that mirror the times we live in instead of just focusing on the relationship. Like the Magnolia Parks series by Jessa Hastings, which is set in London’s high society and zooms in on the lives of its nepo babies. Magnolia is the daughter of a famous producer, and her mother is a supermodel. The father of the boy she is dating, BJ Ballentine, owns a supermarket chain in the UK. While I don’t find their lives relatable, I know the prejudice they have to deal with. Although my situation is very different. (Shania Gooris is the daughter of singer Sam Gooris and media personality Kelly Pfaff, ed.) No idea how the series will end, but I hope Magnolia and BJ won’t fuck things up.”

Matilda

Shania’s Dutch is interspersed with a lot of English words, like so many teenagers and twentysomethings. “I’ve been reading in English since the age of 11,” she says. “This made perfect sense, given that I had been speaking English at home with my mother since childhood. Matilda was the first real book I read. I had seen the film, and learned that Matilda loved books, and then my mum gave me the book when I was six years old, and nothing was ever the same again. Later I read the Twilight series and switched to English and to romance novels. At home, I read my mother’s books. Including Fifty Shades of Grey!” (laughs)

“Matilda was the first real book I read. I had seen the film, learned that Matilda loved books, and then my mum gave me the book when I was six years old and nothing was ever the same again.”

Patti

Building a World of Reading as a teenager is far from easy. You can read your mum’s books, but life changes, you get older, you start to formulate your own thoughts, your body changes, and you’ve got so much going on as a teenager that matching your books to this changing world can be pretty tricky. However, Shania succeeded in this endeavour thanks to her heroine, Patti Smith.

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‘As a seventeen-year-old, I was really into the seventies and eighties and so I decided that I wanted to read a book set in these decades. I asked the shop assistant at the Standaard Boekhandel: “Do you have a book about this period? They recommended Just Kids by Patti Smith to me, and honestly? After a few dozen pages, I still thought it was a novel. Until I came across the name Robert Mapplethorpe, which reminded me of the photography classes at school! The book also mentioned Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, and once I Googled ‘Patti Smith’, a whole new world opened up to me. What. A Badass. Woman. The more I read, the more I identified with Patti. I couldn’t stop reading. She is so talented, so effortlessly cool that I also started wearing white shirts. Soon I realised that I could never be as cool as Patti, and that I never will be. And she is almost eighty years old! She has been drinking coffee in the same bar for 50 years, still wears braids, still gives concerts, writes music and poetry, and despite all the difficulties in her life, she shakes everything off so easily. Patti Smith is the epitome of cool. Unfortunately, I have never seen her live. I miss her. When she came to Antwerp two years ago, I didn’t know - shame on me - and so I was super disappointed. I remember thinking: “Damn it, Patti, I’m right here!’ (Laughs) I’ve read Just Kids six times, and each time, I use a different colour to highlight interesting passages. It’s fascinating to see myself evolve, to see what I highlighted the first time and what I find relevant now.’

“I’ve read Just Kids by Patti Smith six times, and each time, I use a different colour to highlight interesting passages. It’s fascinating to see myself evolve, to see what I highlighted the first time and what I find relevant now.”
© Michiel Devijver en Iedereen Leest

‘There are other people I look up to, like Matthew Perry, for example. As a Friends fan, I adored Chandler. I felt very sad when I read his biography - Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing- about his never-ending struggle with addiction. And to be honest, I’m still in mourning since he died (in 2023). I just can’t bear to watch Friends anymore. I cannot even imagine what it will be like when Patti Smith is no longer around. Fortunately, I can keep reading Just Kids and will always keep on learning. In the best possible world, I can help others find such a book. A book that changes their lives, but also the kind of book that opens the door to so many other books, in hopes that people will keep reading.’


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