Reading and Viewing Recommendations

Favourite Books

The Cosmic Trilogy - CS Lewis
Lewis is best known for the Narnian Chronicles, but few knew that he dabbled in science fiction. It was not very scientifically accurate even in its day (late 1930s) it is thematically very rich and complex and touches on themes of theology, Medieval Cosmology, transhumanism, colonialism, and social engineering, all of which makes up for its shakier parts. Consisting of three novels, the first is Out of the Silent Planet, which criticizes the works of HG Wells, Olaf Stapledon as well as European Imperialism. Perelandra is about the concepts of sin, temptation in a world where it does not exist (yet). That Hideous Strength, arguably the most interesting (and uneven) work in the trilogy, has little or no space travel in it, but touches on several themes Lewis spoke of in The Abolition of Man.

The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
You don't have to like Tolkien to write fantasy (tips hat to China Miéville) but reading CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien was an "Ah" moment for me and made me realize how much I loved the genre; love it enough to start writing in it.

The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
Chandler's most mature work as an author.

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Possibly one of the most influential novels on me, as a writer and a reader. No movie or musical can capture its majesty.

The Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Almost a counter-point to Les Misérables, this book taught me how a good story should be layered.

1984 - George Orwell
One of the best dystopian novels ever written, it is also the source of my low opinion of politics and politicians in general.

Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
At times it may read like a dramatized encyclopedia, but this novel is a pretty amazing deconstruction of conspiracy theories, occultism and post-modern literary theory. Despite being published in 1980s, some people (including the author) refers to it as 'the autobiography of Dan Brown'.

The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
A mystery set in Medieval times. If you've seen the movie, forget it. The novel is far more interesting, engrossing and fascinating than it could ever be. Not an easy read, but less encyclopedic than Foucault's Pendulum.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Don't panic.

The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco
Between Foucault and Rose lies The Island of the Day Before, about a man stranded on a ship stranded off an island on the international date line. A combination of a historical novel and non-fiction book on the Longitude problem. At times too drenched in irony, it is still a haunting, intriguing work in itself. Speaking of which....

Longitude: The True Story of the Lone Genius who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time - Dava Sobel
A fascinating history of an attempt to solve one of the more complex scientific problems of the 18th Century, and how it was solved by a carpenter turned watchmaker.

At the Mountains of Madness - HP Lovecraft
There is a fascinating level of darkness and despair to Lovecraft's work that make them unique for their time. Mountains of Madness is unique in that its closer to science fiction than fantasy (compared to 'The Call of Cthulhu' and some other tales) but is still a horror story of ideas, as opposed to just blood and guts.

Till we have Faces - CS Lewis
A re-telling of an ancient Greek myth, this is arguably Lewis' most accomplished, perfect work, just waiting for the patient reader to find.

Crime and Punishment - Fyodr Dostoevsky
The action mostly takes place in the character's heads, with the exception of a double murder, but is in itself an exploration of guilt, familial stress, despair, suffering in19th century Russia.

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Essentially one novel, though published as two, it is a science-fiction reworking of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with Keats, Teilhard du Chardin, time dilation and nightmare fuel thrown in for good measure. Seven pilgrims travel to the world of Hyperion to visit the fabled Time Tombs, structures that travel backwards through time, and a holy site for the Church of Final Atonement. One is a Starship Captain, a Consul, a Scholar, a Poet, a Detective, a Soldier and a Priest, none of them members of the above-mentioned church. They travel because each of them have a special connection to the mysterious being known as The Shrike, and their actions may avert an interstellar war.

Ilium - Dan Simmons
A professor of literature is resurrected from death and forced by the gods of Olympos to record the Battle of Troy, being fought thousands of years into the future... on Mars! Meanwhile, biomechanically augmented humans live in an utopian paradise, but have no idea of their past. Finally, the moravecs, human-created biomechanical beings that colonized the gasgiants of the solar system, discover energy fluctuations around Mars and send two robots to investigate, one a scholar of Shakespeare, the other a fan of Marcel Proust. Together, these characters attempt to find out just what the hell is going on. The thing I like the most about Dan Simmons' science fiction works is that in them Literature is practically a force of nature. True of The Hyperion Cantos, even more true of Ilium. Though the first book is one of my favourite books, its sequel, Olympos, is rather limp.

Misery - Stephen King
Not for the feint of heart. Although I don't think as highly of King as I used to. I read most a lot of his books in one go and burnt out on them fairly quickly. Yet I am indebted to him because more than any other author he made me want to be a writer. Misery is, outside of his memoir On Writing, his most measured and unflattering look at writing.

The Green Mile - Stephen King
The movie is good, but the book (written and published in parts) is much better. This series instilled in me a love and appreciation of stories told in parts.

The Shining - Stephen King
Better and more expansive than the movie (which has its own charm).

Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges
Mind-bending short-stories, most of them brilliant. Borges was something else. The same could be said for...

Nine Hundred Grandmothers - R.A. Lafferty
Nominally considered science fiction, Lafferty's short-stories defy casual classification. At best they could be considered tall tales. One of the few short-story collection I managed to finish quickly and not take my time with. They go range from funny stories, black humoured stories, to tales that will definitely terrify you. Snuffles may just be the creepiest story in the collection.

The Man who was Thursday - GK Chesterton
If Monty Python and the Wachowski Brothers teamed up to write a Christian allegory in the form of a James Bond parody, they might have written something like The Man who was Thursday, a metaphysical thriller that tackles the Problem of Evil, turn of the century paranoia surrounding anarchism, philosophy, duals and dualism. Also, a whole lot of fun to read.

The Sandman - Neil Gaiman
Not for the feint of heart, but certainly well worth it in the end. Gaiman is a fine prose novelist, but I've always preferred his graphic novels.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susannah Clarke
Written in a style reminiscent of early 19th century novels, this seemingly cheerful and whimsical tale about two 'practical magicians' takes dark turns towards the end. Though great the first time reading it, I appreciated it more the second time.

The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb
A young man named FitzChivalry is dumped on the doorstep of the Farseers, the Rulers of the Six Duchies. He is the illegitimate son of the crown prince. Because he is family and bound by blood, Fitz is drafted as the assistant to Chade, the Royal Assassin. Ever heard the complaint that 'the villain is more interesting as the hero?' Not so with these books. Hobb has a deft hand in creating a fascinating but flawed heroes whose personal lives tend to be messy but who come across as likeable, noble, yet unpredictable. Part of a massive universe concerning several books. The first trilogy is Assassin's Apprentice, the second book is Royal Assassin, and the last book is Assassin's Quest.

The Golden Fool Trilogy - Robin Hobb
There is an intermediate trilogy between this and The Farseer Trilogy, unread by me, known as The Liveship Traders, that follow a different set of characters, with the exception of one minor character from the first trilogy who becomes a major player in the second FitzChivalry trilogy.

Dracula - Bram Stoker
The original is always best. Or is it?

The Dracula Tape - Fred Saberhagen
A wry alternate take on the original novel, telling it from the point of view of the vampire fiend. Dracula essentially sees himself as a good person wronged, but he's not exactly a nice guy himself.

Silence - Shusaku Endo
"Trample!" A Jesuit travels to a Japan where Christianity is outlawed and sees the persecution first hand. This book will chew you up and spit you out, then poke what's left with a pointed stick. Words fail me regarding this book. In the words of Martin Scorcese regarding the book. "He [Endo] understood the conflict of faith, the necessity of belief fighting the voice of experience. The voice that always urges the faithful – the questioning faithful – to adapt their beliefs to the world they inhabit, their culture.  Christianity is based on faith, but if you study its history you see that it's  had to adapt itself over and over again, always with great difficulty, in order  that faith might flourish. That's a paradox, and it can be an extremely painful  one: on the face of it, believing and questioning are antithetical. Yet I  believe that they go hand in hand. One nourishes the other. Questioning may lead  to great loneliness, but if it co-exists with faith – true faith, abiding faith  – it can end in the most joyful sense of communion."

Onsigbaar - Deon Meyer (English name: Blood Safari)
The title of this novel in Afrikaans means 'invisible' or 'unseen', indicating the type of body-guard the anti-hero Lemmer is. It also indicates his status in this world. He is hired to accompany a woman searching for her lost brother. Initially seeing her quest as Quixotic he soon discovers that the windmills she's tilting are indeed giants. I liked the novel because it had, at its heart, a plausible conspiracy mixed with interesting characters, satire and blunt social commentary. On a side not, the English publishers opted for a more pulpy title, eschewing the novel's social and existential themes, unintentionally becoming  for me an endless source of amusement.

Spoor - Deon Meyer (English name: Trackers)
A very literate blend of current events and thriller, its essentially three novels written over each other dissecting the philosophical void most white South Africans try to ignore. Milla Strachan escapes an abusive marriage by finding a job as an analyst for an Southern African intelligence firm investigating the actions of an Al Queda-linked cell. Meanwhile, Lemmer is hired to smuggle black rhinos across the border from Zimbabwe to a farm outside Loxton to save them from poachers, but finds himself embroiled in something bigger. And cop-turned-private investigator Mat Joubert is hired by a wife to find her missing husband. Three stories that intersect in unsuspecting ways.

Killing Kebble: An Underworld Exposed - Mandy Wiener
Non-Fiction: Bret Kebble was a mining magnate who was murdered in an attempted hi-jacking not far from his home in an upmarket Johannesburg suburb, seemingly another victim of rampant crime. Not so much, as South Africa would learn. Rather, it is the story of someone who bit off more than he could chew when he forged connections to the crime underworld of South Africa and the ANC government. A good document of how crime and corruption seeped into South Africa after the fall op Apartheid.

Peace - Gene Wolfe
A literary puzzle that I still need to crack completely. On the surface it looks like a man writing his memoir, but something is lurking beneath the surface, and it takes re-reading to start and see the edges of a terrible truth. To quote Neil Gaiman, "Peace really was a gentle Midwestern memoir the first time I read it. It only became a horror novel on the second or the third reading."

Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
A fascination Dickensian nightmare of a castle and its inhabitants. Interesting story, exceptionally created characters and arguably some of the finest prose in the English language. Unfortunately, I still need to read the sequels.

The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Four Books: The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, The Citadel of the Autarch. For books, one story, of a man trained of a young age to be a torturer but finds himself exiled. Like Peace not all is as it seems, as this is possibly the best use of an unreliable narrator you'll ever read.

The High House - James Stoddard
Out of print, but not out of mind. A fascinating, intriguing fantasy set in a massive house where rooms contain whole worlds. Enjoyable and creepy.

Ubik - Philip K Dick
Dick was not, in terms of prose, the strongest author, but his novels are brimming with ideas, and Ubik is one of his more intriguing, philosophical works.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick
Inspiration for Blade Runner, but a complex work in its own right. Not the same as the movie, though both, in a weird way, compliment each other.

Several Discworld Novels - Terry Pratchett
I don't feel equally about all, but any story with Commander Vimes is an instant winner.

Favourite Movies

I am a big movie fan, and like a lot of good movie fans I don't have a favourite movie. Rather, I have favourites.

This list is subject to change, the change being it getting larger. This list is a work in Progress

All-Time Favourites

• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Dark City (1998)
• The General (1926)
• Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
• Ikiru (1952)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Return to Oz (1985)
• Amadeus (1984)
• Fargo (1996)
• True Grit (2010)
• The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
• Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark

Page Last Edited: 18 April 2013