A life-long Reader

Is reading a lost activity? In this time of instant gratification - Tweets and TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest - do people still read books, either fiction or non-fiction? Sometimes I wonder. For those that don't I think they are missing out. I have been a reader all my life, transported delightfully by the written word. But before I share my journey as a reader . . . About Clapping: Rewards for blog posters and viewers are based on clapping. For the viewer you receive a daily reward for 'clapping 10 blogs' for the poster it is based on 'claps received'. Viewers, you can clap a single blog to receive your reward, simply do so slow and steady: clap & clap & clap ... 10x. Posters require first 100 and then 500 claps. A viewer can clap up a blog to 20x. So if and when you clap this blog, please clap 20x, not once or twice, as claps may have been intended to serve as a measure of blog quality, value, enjoyment but in reality are simply a means to a reward. I still remember the first book I read that was not part of school classes. I must have been 7, maybe 8. It was the last day of our holiday with family in South Africa. We were in my granny's flat before heading to the airport. A woman (who I don't recall) stopped by to say good-by and I received a gift, something to occupy me on the flight back to England - "The Mark on the Door", a Hardy Boys story. And so it began. A year or so later we moved to South Africa. We arrived on the day of my 9th birthday. My aunt took me shopping. What a treat she bought me a number of Hardy Boy books. I discovered the local library and read all they had. And then the Nancy Drew mysteries, The Three Investigators, Willard Price's adventures, Arthur Ransom's and so much more. And when nothing from the library caught my eye, my parents encouraged reading by buying us classics, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and the Count of Monte Cristo. When I'd finished the Count of Monte Cristo I spotted the word 'Abridged' on the cover page. 'What does that mean?' I asked my mother. She told me it was a shortened version Not the full story - I was upset by this. I found the full story in two volumes at the library. For 10 year old it looked intimidating. Undaunted I read it, and it was my first adult read. Shortly after that came Wilbur Smith's When the Lion Feeds, perhaps not the most suitable for an 11 year old, but I didn't look back and so began to read from my father's collection of paperbacks. I was too young to have library tickets (who remembers old school libraries with tickets, date stamps, catalogue cabinets) for the adult section, so my father would allow me to make two choices, while he settledd for three to fill his five ticket quota. My favourite picks were adventure stories, thrillers, detective stories. I read all of the James Bond novels, first being Thunderball after seeing the film. Based on my read of the books, the young Sean Connery was well cast based on my imagined Bond. Never a fan of Roger Moore as Bond. Now Moore as Leslie Charteris's Simon 'The Saint' Templar is perfect. I read all The Saint stories they had in the library. Alistair Mclean was another favourite, again have seen some great film adaptations of stories like Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Naverone, The Satan Bug. Other authors who were prolific and regular fare were Desmond Bagley, Hammond Innes, and Tom Clancey. Sure many more that I have forgotten now. My father had loved police and detctive stories. Of course Agatha Christie's Poirot is a favourite. Ustinov makes a fine Poirot but I think Suchet's portrayal is as perfect a portrayal of a fictional character as you will ever find. Ellery Queen, Earl Stanley Gardner and Rex Stout were all at my finger tips. Nero Wolfe such an awesome character. I don't recall the first fantasy I read as a youngster. It would be a toss up between The Hobbit or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I would develop a love of fantasy and have reat The Lord of the Rings many times. Even as an adult I could appreciate the full Narnia Series. So many series would follow, a stand out memory is Magician by Raymond Feist. Along the way discovered the joys of Douglas Adams Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe, a trilogy in 5 parts. Some of the most amazing lines and characters - Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Pan Galagtic Gargle Blasters, Vogons and their poetry, Marvin the depressed paranoid android. Adams, yet another troubled genius. His book "Last Chance to See', written with zoologist Mark Carwardine, was just as good a read, albeit sadly thought-provoking/ And I have to make mention of Tarry Pratchett. I first read of the Disc World, Rincewind and the Luggage made of sapient pearwood, in the 80s. My son also developed a love of reading at a young age. And echoing my own reading of When the Lion Feeds, I had to tell him after I had read A Game of Thrones myself, that he should not mention just how adult it was to his mother. I guess like me he was around 11. I shall blame the woman in the book store who said it was nothing like the TV series which I new was not for children. Over time we bought the entire series. They are all amazing, hard to pick a favourite, could have been Mort featuring Death and his apprentice, or one of the Nightwatch stories, or one with the witches. In the end I chose for a cover illustration, Soul Music. If you know your music then the references are delightful. For a long time, circumstances of life brought my reading almost to a halt. The lowest moment at that time was when I just couldn't keep going halfway through book 4 of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Needless to say my son pulled my leg repetedly without mercy. Today I am back. I read almost every night, albeit about 20 minutes, in the lounge, with just a reading lamp. And as my eyes begin to grow heavy, I move directly to bed and fall asleep within minutes. Obviously finishing a novel as long as one of the Wheel of Time takes some time, given the few pages per night. Even worse for books in Erikson and Esselmont's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I confess I am generally confused when reading Malazan but it is still somehow gripping to just be in the moment. And usually at the end I have some idea of what happened. It is just so long, zero exposition, so many races, characters, concurrent plotlines - but as I say it still keeps me reading on. I alternate between Malazan and Wheel of Time, my son teases me, suggesting finishing both series may take me until 2030. Not helped by taking a break in between to read William Gibson's Neuromance and Count Zero, so one more to complete the Sprawl trilogy. Are you a reader? What's your favourite, most memorable stories or genres? As the vloggers like to say - love to hear from you in the comments below. And before you do comment . . . About Clapping: Rewards for blog posters and viewers are based on clapping. For the viewer you receive a daily reward for 'clapping 10 blogs' for the poster it is based on 'claps received'. Viewers, you can clap a single blog to receive your reward, simply do so slow and steady: clap & clap & clap ... 10x. Posters require first 100 and then 500 claps. A viewer can clap up a blog to 20x. So if and when you clap this blog, please clap 20x, not once or twice, as claps may have been intended to serve as a measure of blog quality, value, enjoyment but in reality are simply a means to a reward. Thanks, hope you enjoyed this, are perhaps inspired to pick up a book, and appreciate your gift of 20 claps.