I can remember the first book I read because my dad brought it home from the library for me. It was "Danny Dunn and the Anti Gravity Paint" by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams. I have been hooked on reading ever since. As a teenager I read constantly - in the school holidays I went to the library every day, often getting through a book in...
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I can remember the first book I read because my dad brought it home from the library for me. It was "Danny Dunn and the Anti Gravity Paint" by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams. I have been hooked on reading ever since. As a teenager I read constantly - in the school holidays I went to the library every day, often getting through a book in 24 hours. I read lots of science fiction - Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Bob Shaw, Frederick Pohl . (NOTE: anyone who uses the term sci-fi in my presence will get the scathing response, "skiffy", don't tempt me. For the record, I hate Star Wars, which is most definitely sci-fi), Also lots of whodunnits and thrillers - Agatha Christie, Alistair McLean, Ian Fleming. I read a little more seriously as I got older, did English at University (we didn't have Uni in those days, thank goodness), and lapsed back into popular fiction since then (it has to be well written, mind you, no Botticelli Puzzle or Marlowe Enigma for me, thank you very much). For a while I wrote reviews for a fan magazine with the British Science Fiction Association. I got fed up with the creeping popularity of fantasy and gave up on it.
I read about 30 - 50 books a year, I suppose, so I have slowed down since I was a teenager. Recent favourites include Ed McBain - great dialogue, wonderfully humane writer, I have read the 87th Precinct novels right through in order - as Evan Hunter (his real name) he wrote the script for Alfred Hitchock's The Birds, as he constantly reminds you in his novels: Colin Bateman - funny and dark by turn. Barbara Vine - weird and often unconvincing psychology, but page turning stuff. John Le Carre - best spy writer ever, a fine novelist to boot. Arthur C Clarke - a true visionary, his science fiction is awe inspiring when at its best. Iain Banks - predictable, I know, but he has written amazing science fiction and compelling "mainstream" novels, too.
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