Books
Reading's a pretty big hobby. Buying books obsessively and stacking them shoulder-high is another one. Here's what I recommend, if you're really interested.
Tolkien
I've been a Tolkien fan since I was about four, when my brother read The Hobbit to me. Then I read The Lord of the Rings, and followed half of it. Then I read The Silmarillion and followed none of it. Then I started all over again, and haven't stopped since. I am really looking forward to the forthcoming movies, and I hope they're only half as good as the Radio 4 adaptation.
Travel
Travel books are something special. If you're as unadventurous as I am, it's the only way you're going to get to experience some of these more exciting places. Travel writing is also one of the most exciting forms of literature, and knocks the crap out of most contemporary fiction for its quality of prose and intellectual depth. Current favourites are:
Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler. One of the best pieces of modern travel writing. Sarah Wheeler documents the several visits which she made recently to Antarctica. Brilliant history, gorgeous prose, intelligence, wit and integrity. Also by Sara Wheeler: Travels in a Thin Country: a journey through Chile.
Bad Land by Jonathan Raban. Raban is the most gifted travel writer alive. Raban's Old Glory, about his solo journey down the Mississippi in a tiny boat, is probably a better book. but Bad Land, about the failed homesteads of Eastern Montana, is a beautiful, measured, jewel of a book. Raban's boat trip round the coast of Britain is documented in Coasting; his journey took place at about the same time as Paul Theroux was travelling round Britain in the journey written up as The Kingdom by the Sea. The difference between these books is immeasurable - Raban's book has patience, empathy, wisdom and integrity. Theroux's is a steady whinge about us funny Brits.
Amazonians is edited by Sara Wheeler and Dea Birkett, and is a collection of essays of women's new travel writing. Wheeler and Birkett's essay at the start traces the history of women's travel writing from the 'monstrous tribe' of mad Victorian ladies swatting their way through jungles with parasols, to the modern writing, astute and psychologically aware. Particular gems in this book are Dea Birkett's account of her love-affair with Folkestone. and Imogen Stubbs' haunting account of her journey, with her own child, back to her childhood home in Northumberland.
Tracks by Robyn Davidson, was the first book by a woman to win the Thomas Cook Book Award, in 1980. It is the account of her journey, by camel, from Alice Springs, across seventeen thousand miles of Australian desert and bush to the western coast. Sometimes you feel you wouldn't find Davidson easy to get on with, but that's just a testament to her individuality, her force of personality, and her courage.
Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks. From the sublime... The title of this book is self-explanatory. The content is extremely funny.
Other favourites
Sylvia Engdahl is a children's SF writer who wrote two books which had a formative effect on my imagination: Enchantress from the Stars and The Far Side of Evil. If you manage to track down copies of these - grab them. They are wise, wonderful modern fables. If you're a publisher - REPRINT HER BOOKS!!
Although it's easy to dismiss Stephen King, he is an excellent short story writer. His triumph, for me at least, is The Stand. I love this book, this 'tale of dark Christianity'. For other post-apocalyptic novels, have a look at the Decimated Earth site. What a chuckle!
The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge. When will the Booker Prize Committee do the honest thing and award the it to Beryl Bainbridge? This is the book that should have got it - an astonishing account, told from different viewpoints - of Scott's fatal journey to the South Pole. An outstanding novel.
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