| Product: |
Top Ten Non Fiction - General |
| Date: |
17/05/06 (125 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Right, that's enough from Thomas Aquinas, now here's Steerpyke.
I have been waiting to do a challenge that I found interesting instead of the usual "what's your favourite colour underpants" and "do you prefer Marble Arch or Christmas" and at last something presented itself when I was least expecting it. It was always going to be something that had a music or literary bent. Found this floating about a while ago and thought I'd have a go, I believe it was launched by that stalwart of the community Malu, so thanks for that.Anyway here we go.
Question: What is your favourite genre?
I used to read a lot of Fantasy books but in the last decade have limited my reading mainly to reference works. I'm fascinated by history, archaeology and the like and especially interested by the "big bang" of civilization. I guess that I'm just not taken with the idea that man wandered about in an ape-like state for two million years and then only about ten thousand years ago developed the trappings of civilization, such as cities, agriculture, religion, astronomy, trade etc. Something doesn't add up and I'm constantly hunting down the missing evidence.
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Q: Do you read the classics, i.e., the great authors of the 18th and 19th century?
I always feel that I should be better acquainted with the classics and to quell the guilt have read some of the classic authors. I do like Thomas Hardy, though his plots do all tend to be based around that similar love triangle (decagon in some cases) and some of the gothic era appeals also. More interesting were some of the writers that are regarded as modern classics. Kerouac and Salinger and especially Mervyn Peake who should be seen as the latter day Dickens. I also like to dip into some of the poetic icons of that era, Wilde (Ballad of Reading Jail is always worth a re-read) Yeats and even the older stuff, Ben Johnson, John Donne, but mainly to rip off interesting turns of phrase to use in songs. It will be interesting to see what are regarded as the classic writers in another couple of hundred years time. Any comments?
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Q: Are you interested in thrillers?
Read a couple of Dan Browns recently. Da Vinci Code just to see what the hype was all about and Angles and Demons to waste a few hours on a flight, but its not what I natural aim for. I also read Mo Haders "The Treatment" which is morbidly fascinating but not the sort of subject matter that I would go back to a lot.
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Q: What about horror stories?
I do like horror; after all it's really a branch of fantasy, which as I said is where I spent my formative years. I have similar tastes in written horror as I do in films. The whole slasher genre seems pointless to me, set a deranged psychopath as the main antagonist and you can get away with murder, as it were. The whole vampire and gothic end of things is more appealing and so I am drawn more towards Poe and Lovecraft than King and his ilk. In fact I would go as far as to say that much of kings work is over rated. James Herbert's "Once" was the last big name horror writer I read and I did enjoy that and Portent is also equally original.
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Q: Do you read Science Fiction?
If you count Fantasy under this heading then it's a big yes. Even with a purer definition of the genre I have more than a passing knowledge, if you ignore the last decade. Pratchett, Leiber, Tolkien, Howard (the Conan books are a million times better the crappy films) Clarke, Asimov and loads more. One of the problems with Sci-Fi is that it much of it is illogical. Whilst that seems an odd thing to level at a otherworldly genre, let me explain. Any world no matter how far removed from the one that we know would still be ruled by a set of balanced basic laws and this would instill a set of predictable cause and effect based laws. Many writers flaunt this idea and move the plot along with feats of magic or unfathomed technical advancements. One of the things i liked about Tolkien is that it is set almost in a parallel dark age Europe and the powerful characters in it act more as mentors than heroes. Similarly in Discworld, Pratchetts characters are based on the same traits as in our world, the Witches, for example pursue "headology" to get results rather than energy sapping feats of magic. Good Sci-Fi (and therefore fantasy) must seem to be set in a world that works and has a balance and consistancy to its fundamental machinations.
Q: How many Harry Potter books have you read?
None but I've seen a couple of the films.
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Q: Have you ever read and enjoyed biographies or autobiographies?
I do like biographies and do enjoy them, especially music related people. I think it's because I am a semi-pro musician and it's interesting to read about how normal jobbing musicians made that jump to stardom. It's generally a lot of hard work and being original as well as the most important factor, being in the right place at the right time. Actors are a similar breed. I have recently read Biographies of Billy Connelly, Jack Hawkins, Paul Simon and Andrew Loog Oldham. The latter, famous for managing the Rolling Stones through their heyday, is one that I would warn people to steer clear of as it is, like the subject matter, a pile of pretentious clap-trap.
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Q: Do you remember any of the books you read and loved as a child?
Not really, I do have memories of a character called Mr Meddle and another called Mr Twiddle but I think that they may have been working under assumed names.
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Q: Have you reread these books as a grown-up?
No.
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Q: Is there a book of which you can say it has influenced you?
The biggest influences come from academic theories that have really opened up my mind to how flawed our understanding of history is. Andrew Collins and Graham Hancock really began the ball rolling for me and now I seem to be on the edge of an avalanche of so many new ideas that I don't know what to believe any more. There are always more questions than answers and so the quest goes on.
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Q: Which are your favourite authors?
Mervyn Peake and Terry Pratchett played a big part in my reading and before that Tolkien and Robert Howard. More recently I have revisited Bernard Cornwell as I have a leaning towards historical novels for obvious reasons but as I explained above, its all about pushing the historical realities back and looking for the suppressed forbidden archaeology these days.
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Q: Which book would you take with you on a desert island?
A really big one so that I could use it as a raft.
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Q: What is your attitude towards translations?
In the world of reference translations are a big part of knowledge and with them comes the misunderstanding of the past through miss-translation. Still it keeps life interesting.
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Q: Do you buy your books/get them from the library/borrow them from friends/steal them?
Charity shops and cheap outlet shops mainly, but e-bay and Amazon can throw up a few rare gems. I dare not go into Waterstones and the like as I want to rant at the staff that the prices they charge for books are killing reading, but I know its not their fault. Still at least the government are funding loads of new libraries… joke.
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Q: When you buy books, do you prefer hardcover editions or pocket books?
Because I am as much a collector of books as a consumer, it's nice to have nice hardback books on the shelves but price is obviously an issue. I am a member of a couple of book clubs and that helps but there are more tatty charity purchases than pristine Folio Society acquirements. But it's the contents that count.
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Q: Have you ever tried Audio Books?
Only a couple. Whilst decorating I do tend to put on the Pratchett audiocassettes with Tony Robinson doing the honours. Audio books work only if you find the voice appealing and for me Robinson has an articulate and velvety delivery. Bernard Manning reading Plato probably would not have the same affect.
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Thanks to Malu once again, its very interesting to stop and think about what you read…don't you think?. Dave
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