From the mid-1970s
Lynne Murray
In January of 1975, I started writing down every book I read in an orange notebook. That was also about the time that I decided to devote my life to writing fiction. I thought it might be fun to look at what I was reading 30 years ago and what I'm reading now. Of course, I actually am writing every day. That definitely cuts into my reading time--back them I was still working on establishing the writing habit!
I'll start where the notebook started, but it shouldn't take long to catch up to March.
January 1-15, 1975:
All the President's Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Mumbo Jumbo, Ishmael Reed (Returned unfinished)
The Young Lust Reader, Griffith & Kinney
Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy L. Sayers
Dealing, Michael Douglas
The Loo Sanction, Trevanian
Anatomy of a Murder, Travers
Pogo Revisited, Walt Kelly
50 Best American Short Stories, Martha Foley (ed.)
Polly's Principles, Polly Bergen
A Different Woman, Jane Howard
The Continental Op, Dashiell Hammett
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year, Third Annual, 1974
Wow! I was discovering Sayers and Hammett, that was a good month.
January 1-15, 2005
I was writing the last stages of my tenth novel, but I took some time out to read:
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=29564&cgi=search/search/&searchtype=kw&searchfor=Eyre%20Affair%20Fforde
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Really fun, although I probably didn't get all the cultural allusions, I loved an alternate universe where fanatical Baconians go door-to-door trying to convince people that Francis Bacon wrote the plays of Shakespeare, and surrealists riot against Raphaelites.
Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
Anything by Terry Pratchett
I suspect I would have been happy back in '74 to know that I would have written this many books, and writing down what I read back then was an important step for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment