I love reading! So a couple of years ago I decides to get on with things. It occurred to me that there were a great many novelist that I actually haven’t read! Novelists and writers like Asimov, Leguin, Bradbury, Orwell and Hemingway to name but a few!!
I started off with a lot of online research into a writer’s work. This is because I didn’t only want to read their best works I want to read ALL their works. I’m a bit of a completist that way being a massive geek!
There’s several reasons why. One: massive geek and completist. Two: they wrote so much! Why stop at one book? Why just read 1984 when there’s A Clergyman’s Daughter, Down and out in Paris and London, or Burmese days still to read?
Thirdly, I want to enjoy reading an author and enjoy how they develop as a writer over the years! My only exception to this rule is if a writer has written prequels for his own novels. Like Asimov’s ‘Prelude to Foundation’. But later on I’ll return to a series for any new instalments approved by a writer’s estate like the I, Robot trilogy by Mickey Zucker Reichert which is a prequel detailing the younger life of ‘I Robot’s Great Robopsychologist Doctor Susan Calvin!
Fourthly and lastly, until I can think of another point, the gems of short stories!! Writers like Philip K Dick and Arthur C Clarke actually wrote dozens of short stories BEFORE their first actual novel! Or on the other hand, there are writers like Ray Bradbury who are renowned for their short stories just as much as,!8; not more, than their novels. And indeed many of their novels are known as ‘fix up’ novels which are a collection of short stories of a common theme. One I read was ‘The Martian Chronicles’. Which was an absolute revelation of a novel to me! I cannot recommend it enough!
I just finished reading ‘I Robot’, to then go on to find that ‘The Rest of the Robots’ is a follow up with more short Robot stories by Asimov. Then afterwards I found that ‘The Complete Robot’ collects both these books as well as a few more short stories! So if you want to read ‘I Robot’ and want the complete experience, read ‘The Complete Robot’.
In ‘The Complete Robot’, the final short story is ‘The Bicentennial Man’. ‘The Bicentennial Man’ was adapted as a movie starring Sam Neill and the unforgettable Robin Williams. I won’t spoil the story, or the movie here, in case you’ve yet to experience them. But for me reading the story was so emotional and a bittersweet experience. Not in the least because it deals with themes of mortality and identity. And because it made me think of Robin Williams in his role as I read the story, picturing him. He’s without a doubt one of my favourite actors and comedians and he’s someone I have great love for his work and personality. So to read that short story especially was, because it felt the most human, very special and emotional.
Imagine how surprised I was to find that he co-wrote a complete novel with author Robert Silverberg called ‘The Positronic Man’! The novel is a complete expansion on ‘The Bicentennial Man’ so I’m really looking forward to reading that in the future, pun intended!
To finish up this post I want to tel you about what I’m reading currently! I’v returned to my old favourite series of James Bond novels which I loved reading as a teen and into my early 20s. I read all the Ian Fleming novels and after a bit of research back then I discovered that the Fleming Estate had enlisted novelists to continue the adventures of 007. Beginning with ‘Colonel Sun’ by ‘Robert Markham’ aka Kingsley Amis! Whom was followed by former Royal Marine, John Gardner whom wrote more 007 novels than even Fleming himself! I’m currently reading his 007 book ‘Win, Lose or Die’, which so far is great!
So I have a bit of reading to catch with these days, why not right? Reading is one of the great pleasures of life!
Thank you for taking a moment to read the latest post from my new blog! I hope you enjoyed it and will read more posts I plan to write in the future. Please ‘Like’ my post and share it, and come back to read more! I really appreciate your support!
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