Hey! Did you read the one about......?

       
      We're continually looking for new authors to enjoy. George haunts the local library regularly and is always bringing home new authors - well, their books, anyway - to try.   Marion prefers to buy her own books so she can read and re-read whenever she likes. The book-shelves are filling up!

       
      What do we enjoy reading?
       

      We both still enjoy detective stories. Dick Francis, Ellis Peters (especially 'Brother Cadfael') and Sue Grafton are some of our favourites these days.


       

      George enjoys thrillers such as those of Jack Higgins,Tom Clancy, HelenMcInnes, John Gardner, John Grisham, Wilbur Smith, Colin Forbes and many others like these whom he's discovered at the library.
       

      Marion enjoys science fiction. She began her science fiction reading many years ago with John Wyndham (The Midwich Cookoos, The Day of the Triffids,The Chrysalids, etc) and proceeded through stories by Isaac Azimov.

       
      She's tried many authors recommended but often these turn out to be Fantasy books, which she finds she's doesn't really enjoy.  Why are Science Fiction and Fantasy always linked together in people's minds? The two genres are quite different.

       
      Some time ago he picked up The Postman, by David Brin and really enjoyed it. Then she read The Practice Effect and was fascinated by the originality of Brin's writing.  Now she's started reading the Uplift novels - finished Sundiver, has started Startide Rising and has The Uplift War, Brightness Reef and Infinity's Shore waiting in the pile.

       
      Through recently joining a book club and needing to make a selection, she's discovered Ben Bova.  She's read Moonrise and Moonwar, is in the middle of Mars and has Return to Mars waiting to be read.  Good yarns!

       
      For inspiration...
       
      Well, if the above aren't inspirational enough!!!!!  For inspiration of a different kind......
      As a Christian, Marion enjoys and appreciates various Christian writers.  She has recently read books by Philip Yancey: What's So Amazing About Grace?, The Jesus I Never Knew, both refreshing and thought provoking, but easy to read.  She has ready to start The Bible Jesus Read - a look at the Old Testament, probably from a different viewpoint than we usually have  towards the Bible, if Yancey has continued in his usual style.

       
      While on holidays in Central Australia, Marion acquired From Strength to Strength , the story of Sara Henderson. What a life and how well she tells her story!

       

      Old Favourites

      Twelve months ago we moved house and that gave us the opportunity to review the books we've enjoyed over the years.  As well as the books we packed away when we were preparing our home for sale, we found  books stored away in all kinds of cupboards and corners.

      In over 35 years, we had gathered quite a collection! There were books from our childhood, from school and Teachers' College days. There was a set of encyclopaedia that Marion's parents had bought when she was a small child - or maybe before that!  She can remember pouring over the pictures and consulting it for general knowledge information during her school days, when she had no access to libraries or other sources of information. All very much out of date now, of course.

      Some of the books we found and which now again share our bookshelves with more recent acquisitions are:

    • Ian Fleming's James Bond stories - enjoyed long before they were made into movies. (Our editions published in the 1950s)
    • Arthur Upfield's novels about the aboriginal detective, Bony(Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte).
    • Detective novels of New Zealand author, Ngaio Marsh.

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      Marion reads and re-reads the books of Anne McCaffrey, especially those of the Dragonriders of Pern series.

      Pern fans: check out the Dragonriders Club, the best Pern Fanfic club on the Web, where you can have fun, with the permission of Anne McCaffrey herself, playing on Pern.

      Marion also has some favourite children's books which she has used in her career as a kindergarten teacher and now will enjoy sharing with the grandkids. Some of her favourite children's authors are :

    • Pamela Allen, (Mr. McGee - who lived in a tree, Who Sank The Boat?, Black Dog and many others)
    • John Burningham (Mr. Gumpy's Car, Mr. Gumpy's Outing and many other delightful picture books),
    • Pat Hutchins (Goodnight Owl, 1 Hunter, Rosie's Walk.) I love her style of illustrating
    • Quentin Blake (Mr. Magnolia) Great sense of humour
    • Eric Carle (Hungry Caterpillar, etc.) Great simple ideas to fascinate the littlies
    • Lynley Dodd (Hairy Maclary books) I love the rhythm of the language as well as the great illustrations.
    • And another favourite illustrator: Julie Vivas (Possum Magic, I Went Walking)



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