The evolution of my reading habits
This was initially going to be a reply to a thread on the "westeros" forum but it quickly became far too long winded for a single post so i decided to post the unadulterated version here (and savagely edit the forum post). Anyway, here it is:)
I started with thundercats and transformers from the age of 3-5. I couldn't even read Transformers at first - I just enjoyed the pictures (comics are an excellent reading tool, especially when it's of a cartoon you love). I think those two comics formed a foundation that lasts until this day.
From 5-10 I was lucky enough to get a school teacher, who although she only taught a single year actually moved through the school at various stages resulting in her being my teacher for 3 years. She'd always read a book out to us before the end of the day. Books I remember being read out to me were "the iron man", "the black Cauldron", "the hobbit", various Norse/greek myth collections, the "weirdstone of brisingamen" and one other which i can't remember/find the title of*. She clearly had an agenda.
Between the ages of 8-14 I was a reading monster. I honestly had my head in a book pretty much all the time. I also discovered that it wasn't considered "rude" reading a book when visiting family :) Becauase of my appetite my parents quickly realised that it was cheaper to send me to the local library. There was a little bit of crossover here between my teacher and the librarian as my teacher had suggested I try the illiad/oddysey at some stage. The librarian (quite wisely) thought I wasn't ready for that but she did point me towards some good sci-fi and fantasy for kids/teens. It was a dream scenario as I think the lbrarian loved having a kid with a genuine interest in reading and I loved the books she suggested. I went through so many books. Comics reared up again in the form of "Asterix" collections but I also got through the rest of the "Prydain" novels and pretty much everything by Colin Dann (Animals of Farthign wood etc)as a follow up to "watership down". The big influences were the "redwall" books (combined anthropomorphism with , Dr Who novelizations (Terrence Dicks always wrote the best ones) and Douglas Hill, who wrote the "last legionary" and "posioner" books. What stood out for me with these books was the slightly darker edge or sense of loss (Dr who was usually just dark) and Hill and Jacques weren't afraid of killing important characters off (Colin Dann was also ruthless in Farthing wood too), which while it was emotionally devastating, made the whole thing more memorable and enjoyable. The perfect marriage of "darkness" and fantasy was encapsulated for me when I read the "lone wolf" novelisations - I was absolutely blown away by the scale, the characters and the violence (this is clearly what would drive me towards Abercrombie and Bakker later in life). On the other hand I read Pratchett's kids books which I enjoyed but found too whimsical (I tried discworld but found them inferior to Truckers/carpet people). My appreciation for dark was probably sealed when I was given "Lord of the flies" to read by my english teacher, who was trying to challenge my tastes. Brilliant book and even better the same teacher set it as the GCSE literature coursework 3 years later - easiest A-star I ever earned :)
At 15 something went awry. I think it was probably a mixture of hormones, TV, computer games, hanging out with friends and comics but books started to fall by the wayside. To be fair there was a lot of good sci-fi on at the time with X-files, Babylon 5, Deep space nine, sliders etc and I'd ran out of Dr Who books, so felt that was being filled. I also discovered a comic shop that sold US comics and I became an x-men addict. Comics were easier to dip in and out of with my "busy" schedule and books were just taking too long to read. The nail in the coffin was probably "tom bombadil" in "LOTR" where I thought "if this is the best fantasy written, I give up" and "Martin the warrior" by Brian Jacques where I was saddened to discover I'd grown out of the redwall series.
Until I went to university the only books I recall reading were the "Rats" novels by James Herbert - Domain is still one of the most horrific apocalypse books I've read. I also read the Green Mile by King and I think it was only the fact he has too many books to choose from that stopped me from becoming King exclusive for 4 years.
Off to uni and most of my time was spent drinking, playing games and watching TV (I did some studying too). Reading was very much comics oriented but I at least started reading some vertigo trades such as "Preacher", "the sandman", "V for vendetta", "watchmen" and "100 bullets". I still had a clear leaning towards fantasy but I also read a few crime novels - usually the Puzo ones (and I'm determined to start getting back into crime/noir properly at some point). I did manage to read most of the Neil Gaiman books and thought "Stardust" was amazing and "american gods" a damn good yarn. The release of "Lord of the rings" got me to steal my flatmates copy of the trilogy and I made another stab at it - this time knowing it got better once they arrived at rivendell. I finished the book and stood corrected - I'm still not convinced it's my favourite fantasy (mainly because the writing style/focus is perpendicular to what I like) but I knew it was the grand-daddy which everyone else emulated. I also dodged a bullet by managing to watch all of Buffy the vampire slayer withouut reading any urban fantasy.
When I started my PhD I had a new flatmate, who had just spent 2 years working in Ottakers/waterstones bookstores and was a dedicated book fan. His first course of action was to get me to read "his dark materials" by Phillip Pullman which ticked all the boxes. He then gave me "altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan which blew me away in terms of sci-fi/noir and "the arabesk" novels by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Still, the problem I found was the time to read books (PhDs are time consuming) and the only serious readin I managed was when travelling. Another student loaned me "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" and it took me 8 months to read it (partly because it was long and partly because i found it dull in places).
After my PhD, I moved down to London and knew i was going to be spending at least an hour a day on the tube so I went down there armed with some fantasy books. I'd become a big fan of HBO over the years and I'd heard there was a book called "a game of thrones" that was possibly being adapted by them. I figured a HBO style fantasy was exactly the kind of thing I'd like to read so i ordered it. While I was searching on amazon I noticed a lot of positive things about abercrombie's "the blade itself" and Lynch's "lies of Locke Lamorra". I also decided to buy the "gunslinger" by King as I was curious to see his take on fantasy and there was a finite numnber of books in that series. Needless to say AGOT met my expectations and more and I devoured the rest of the series. The fact that abercrombie and Lynch were excellent companions made me realise that Fantasy was still pretty damn good. In the last 4 years I've read far more than I had in the previous 10 and it's been pretty good reading throughout. I've started getting back into sci-fi with "hyperion" "Iain Banks", etc. My next goal though is to try and read some more non SFF.
In terms of the future, I still want to check out some good crime/noir books and I'm tempted by Westerns/historical fiction - this is again probably thanks to HBO/AMC showing me that these genres can be very good and that you don't need monsters/aliens to be entertaining. As i get older I realise I like things that are good moreso than being in a specific genre. This happened to me first with music (whereas I used to be an exclusive rock fan) and then TV. I strongly suspect my favourite SFF books are mainly because of the strength of writing and the characters present within and that the SFF elements are just dressing. So I do intend on grabbing some good westerns and noir over the next couple of years - Blood Meridian is high on the list as I loved "the road" (which i still insist is SF) and probably some historical fiction (when I can confidently sort wheat from chaff). I think my reading bias is still firmly in the fantasy and sci-fi genre though which is still not that far from the transformers comic.
It's interesting how my reading has been shaped a lot by teachers, Librarians and flatmates. Clearly my own bias has made these collaborations rewarding but I still find with all the choice that's out there it's always worthwhile getting informed recs from others. For instance I'm always checking what the heat is on various books on the westeros forum these days before buying anything :)
*The book was about 2-3 kids who were staying out in the countryside with an uncle/family. They went walking around in the countryside and encountered a dwarf and there was reference to a villain called "old nick" (devil). The striking memory is a section where the kids are potholing and they have to go through a section with water. It was very Alan Garner/Narnia ish but I can't find a book that matches up. Any ideas are much appreciated :)
EDIT: Can't believe I forgot to mention Roald Dahl. Read all of his kid's books as a child and I'm sure that was a nice stepping stone into dark fantasy as his books were definintely dark.
I started with thundercats and transformers from the age of 3-5. I couldn't even read Transformers at first - I just enjoyed the pictures (comics are an excellent reading tool, especially when it's of a cartoon you love). I think those two comics formed a foundation that lasts until this day.
From 5-10 I was lucky enough to get a school teacher, who although she only taught a single year actually moved through the school at various stages resulting in her being my teacher for 3 years. She'd always read a book out to us before the end of the day. Books I remember being read out to me were "the iron man", "the black Cauldron", "the hobbit", various Norse/greek myth collections, the "weirdstone of brisingamen" and one other which i can't remember/find the title of*. She clearly had an agenda.
Between the ages of 8-14 I was a reading monster. I honestly had my head in a book pretty much all the time. I also discovered that it wasn't considered "rude" reading a book when visiting family :) Becauase of my appetite my parents quickly realised that it was cheaper to send me to the local library. There was a little bit of crossover here between my teacher and the librarian as my teacher had suggested I try the illiad/oddysey at some stage. The librarian (quite wisely) thought I wasn't ready for that but she did point me towards some good sci-fi and fantasy for kids/teens. It was a dream scenario as I think the lbrarian loved having a kid with a genuine interest in reading and I loved the books she suggested. I went through so many books. Comics reared up again in the form of "Asterix" collections but I also got through the rest of the "Prydain" novels and pretty much everything by Colin Dann (Animals of Farthign wood etc)as a follow up to "watership down". The big influences were the "redwall" books (combined anthropomorphism with , Dr Who novelizations (Terrence Dicks always wrote the best ones) and Douglas Hill, who wrote the "last legionary" and "posioner" books. What stood out for me with these books was the slightly darker edge or sense of loss (Dr who was usually just dark) and Hill and Jacques weren't afraid of killing important characters off (Colin Dann was also ruthless in Farthing wood too), which while it was emotionally devastating, made the whole thing more memorable and enjoyable. The perfect marriage of "darkness" and fantasy was encapsulated for me when I read the "lone wolf" novelisations - I was absolutely blown away by the scale, the characters and the violence (this is clearly what would drive me towards Abercrombie and Bakker later in life). On the other hand I read Pratchett's kids books which I enjoyed but found too whimsical (I tried discworld but found them inferior to Truckers/carpet people). My appreciation for dark was probably sealed when I was given "Lord of the flies" to read by my english teacher, who was trying to challenge my tastes. Brilliant book and even better the same teacher set it as the GCSE literature coursework 3 years later - easiest A-star I ever earned :)
At 15 something went awry. I think it was probably a mixture of hormones, TV, computer games, hanging out with friends and comics but books started to fall by the wayside. To be fair there was a lot of good sci-fi on at the time with X-files, Babylon 5, Deep space nine, sliders etc and I'd ran out of Dr Who books, so felt that was being filled. I also discovered a comic shop that sold US comics and I became an x-men addict. Comics were easier to dip in and out of with my "busy" schedule and books were just taking too long to read. The nail in the coffin was probably "tom bombadil" in "LOTR" where I thought "if this is the best fantasy written, I give up" and "Martin the warrior" by Brian Jacques where I was saddened to discover I'd grown out of the redwall series.
Until I went to university the only books I recall reading were the "Rats" novels by James Herbert - Domain is still one of the most horrific apocalypse books I've read. I also read the Green Mile by King and I think it was only the fact he has too many books to choose from that stopped me from becoming King exclusive for 4 years.
Off to uni and most of my time was spent drinking, playing games and watching TV (I did some studying too). Reading was very much comics oriented but I at least started reading some vertigo trades such as "Preacher", "the sandman", "V for vendetta", "watchmen" and "100 bullets". I still had a clear leaning towards fantasy but I also read a few crime novels - usually the Puzo ones (and I'm determined to start getting back into crime/noir properly at some point). I did manage to read most of the Neil Gaiman books and thought "Stardust" was amazing and "american gods" a damn good yarn. The release of "Lord of the rings" got me to steal my flatmates copy of the trilogy and I made another stab at it - this time knowing it got better once they arrived at rivendell. I finished the book and stood corrected - I'm still not convinced it's my favourite fantasy (mainly because the writing style/focus is perpendicular to what I like) but I knew it was the grand-daddy which everyone else emulated. I also dodged a bullet by managing to watch all of Buffy the vampire slayer withouut reading any urban fantasy.
When I started my PhD I had a new flatmate, who had just spent 2 years working in Ottakers/waterstones bookstores and was a dedicated book fan. His first course of action was to get me to read "his dark materials" by Phillip Pullman which ticked all the boxes. He then gave me "altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan which blew me away in terms of sci-fi/noir and "the arabesk" novels by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Still, the problem I found was the time to read books (PhDs are time consuming) and the only serious readin I managed was when travelling. Another student loaned me "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" and it took me 8 months to read it (partly because it was long and partly because i found it dull in places).
After my PhD, I moved down to London and knew i was going to be spending at least an hour a day on the tube so I went down there armed with some fantasy books. I'd become a big fan of HBO over the years and I'd heard there was a book called "a game of thrones" that was possibly being adapted by them. I figured a HBO style fantasy was exactly the kind of thing I'd like to read so i ordered it. While I was searching on amazon I noticed a lot of positive things about abercrombie's "the blade itself" and Lynch's "lies of Locke Lamorra". I also decided to buy the "gunslinger" by King as I was curious to see his take on fantasy and there was a finite numnber of books in that series. Needless to say AGOT met my expectations and more and I devoured the rest of the series. The fact that abercrombie and Lynch were excellent companions made me realise that Fantasy was still pretty damn good. In the last 4 years I've read far more than I had in the previous 10 and it's been pretty good reading throughout. I've started getting back into sci-fi with "hyperion" "Iain Banks", etc. My next goal though is to try and read some more non SFF.
In terms of the future, I still want to check out some good crime/noir books and I'm tempted by Westerns/historical fiction - this is again probably thanks to HBO/AMC showing me that these genres can be very good and that you don't need monsters/aliens to be entertaining. As i get older I realise I like things that are good moreso than being in a specific genre. This happened to me first with music (whereas I used to be an exclusive rock fan) and then TV. I strongly suspect my favourite SFF books are mainly because of the strength of writing and the characters present within and that the SFF elements are just dressing. So I do intend on grabbing some good westerns and noir over the next couple of years - Blood Meridian is high on the list as I loved "the road" (which i still insist is SF) and probably some historical fiction (when I can confidently sort wheat from chaff). I think my reading bias is still firmly in the fantasy and sci-fi genre though which is still not that far from the transformers comic.
It's interesting how my reading has been shaped a lot by teachers, Librarians and flatmates. Clearly my own bias has made these collaborations rewarding but I still find with all the choice that's out there it's always worthwhile getting informed recs from others. For instance I'm always checking what the heat is on various books on the westeros forum these days before buying anything :)
*The book was about 2-3 kids who were staying out in the countryside with an uncle/family. They went walking around in the countryside and encountered a dwarf and there was reference to a villain called "old nick" (devil). The striking memory is a section where the kids are potholing and they have to go through a section with water. It was very Alan Garner/Narnia ish but I can't find a book that matches up. Any ideas are much appreciated :)
EDIT: Can't believe I forgot to mention Roald Dahl. Read all of his kid's books as a child and I'm sure that was a nice stepping stone into dark fantasy as his books were definintely dark.