MY BOOKS from Lord of the Rings to an re-interpretation of Greek mythology First lines, first books, first literary loves….and more
A selection from Joe Jacobs, child psychotherapist
What’s the first book you remember reading (or being read to you)?
Kemlo and the Craters of the Moon by E.C. Eliott published in 1955.
What’s the first book that a made a big impact on you?
Lord of The Rings
What book are you reading right now?
Patrick Melrose Volume 1by Edward St Aubyn (Volume 1 contains the first three novels in the semi-autobiographical series)
And the one you read before that?
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
From the blurb: …A Frankenstein for a new age, Borne is a tantalisingly daring glimpse into intelligence beyond human understanding.
We all know burning books is wrong on every level. What contemporary novel (and by contemporary I mean one published in the last 30 years or so) would you put your hand in the fire to save.
The Rings Of Saturn By W.G. Sebald
Reviews
“Sebald is the Joyce of the 21st Century” (The Times)
“Most writers, even good ones, write of what can be written. . . . The very greatest write of what cannot be written. . . . I think of Akhmatova and Primo Levi, for example, and of W. G. Sebald” (New York Times)
“The finest book of long-distance mental travel that I’ve ever read” (Jonathan Raban, Times Literary Supplement)
“A desperate intensity of feeling is thrillingly counterpoised by the workings of a wonderfully learned and rigorous mind” (Sunday Times)
“A great, strange and moving work” (James Wood, Guardian)
Synopsis
A Walking tour through the haunted landscapes of the past, in the company of the exiled and the departed. The Rings of Saturn begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia. From Lowestoft to Southwold to Bungay, Sebald’s own story becomes the conductor of evocations of people and cultures past and present: of Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne and Conrad, of fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms.
Same question but this time what classic would you save from the bonfire? (And you can work out your own definition of classic.)
Shakespeare Complete
Favourite non fiction book?
Marriage Of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso.
First line:
On a beach in Sidon a bull was aping a lover’s coo. It was Zeus.
“I have no idea whether or not Roberto Calasso is a ‘genius’ but I do know that The Marriage Of Cadmus and Harmony is a perfect work like no other” – Gore Vidal
And a short story that has lived with you ever since you first read it?
The Star by Arthur C Clarke.
First Line:
It is three thousand light years to the Vatican.
You can read the story HERE
Finally, what do you prefer: a real book with pages that move, an ebook, an audio device?
Paper book.
Would you like to take part in this series on the books we remember, the books that have changed our lives and the books we are reading right now?
Drop me a line at bridgetwhelan At hotmail.co.uk if you would like to contribute. How much or how little you write is up to you.
Please put MY BOOKS in the subject line.
BACK TO CREATIVE WRITING SCHOOL — 120+ reviews on Amazon and over 75% gave it five stars
A Good Confession
"Unputdownable" Miriam Stoppard
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 