Books I have read
My first Passion
Another Life
My late friend, Julia, who lived in Seattle was suprised by the scope of the books I have read.
My Opinions
Before I go further, I should clarify the distinction of "I have read".
The distinction is there are many books I started but never finished. I had always wanted to read Chekhov, at one time my wish to be regared the same as him, a great short story writer. That changed after I started a book of his stories, the storeis were so innane, to say the were boring is a big compliment.
The odd reason I read some books came from recalling a Monty Python Flying Circus sketch about a football match, involving philosophers. I recalled having a story by Marcel Prost on my shelf.
Another writer I read, but couldn't get into is Sartre'. The story I read started well, but soon got lost in its complexity of reason. The story began with a man being handed a stamp from the Spanish Civil War. From that good start, the story went awry, and devolved into why people make choices, I suppose I should have expected that from a philosopher.
As well as Chekhov, I wished to read Pushkin, another great writer from Russia, I don't have a "thing" for Russian writers, if the story seems interesting I will try to read it, no matter what the nationality, or gender of the writer.
Another writer I tried to read, and have been compared to, is Wilkie Collins. I pray my stories are not as boring as the one of his I tried to read. The Moonstone started well with the theft of a jewel from a statue in India, the story then came back to England, where the main story happens during a garden party. What stopped me from going on is he then spends over 30 pages telling the reader how to strip paint of a door, and the terrible smell of the stripper. Who would I like to be compared to?
Now I have dismissed Chekhov, writers I would like to be compared to are the likes of Edgar Alan Poe, James Sheridan Le Fanu, and Cherie Priest, to name a few. If my style of writing had a direction it would be for Gothic.
Writers my friend was startled to know I read include Solzhenitsyn, again NOT a Russian trend, I was intrigued by his stories. One that stuck with me is about an eldery lady who each day takes her barrow across a railway line to do her shopping. Her routine is so defined, she never gets hit, until one day she is a little slow. I have also read the classic story, The Gulag Archipelago.
Another story on the same theme, Russian Prisons, I started to read is Dolgun. This book is about the imprisonment of journalist Michael Dolgun from the USA. I never finished the story because I misplaced the book, and it costs too much to replace it.
One series I did enjoy are the books written by a group of lawyers who use the penname Michael Slade, the stories delve into the dark areas of pyschology. When I was in Scotland, I began to read a book called The Minatour Factor by Stuart Stern, again I lost my copy when I was osted to Germany during my service in the Royal Air Force. This story is about the effects taking drugs can have on people, it is based in Chelsea, London. I came across a copy on Amazon for £20, but I didn'r wish to pay that, a few months later in St. Nicholas's Market, in Bristol, I got my copy for £1.50.
If you wonder, YES, I do read female writers, as I say it is the story that attracts me. One of my favourite, unkown writers, was Marianne MacDonald.
