|
Books"You speak to me about books. I have always loved books. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they were windows on a world that existed beyond mine. Books are portals trough which you can escape for a while. You can travel forward or backward in time. You can be an actor in the drama portrayed, or simply a spectator. You can make new friends and lose them � and if it becomes too overwhelming you can always close the book and return to the real world again. Of course, there are occasions when the world of the book becomes so powerful that part of it returns with you. And then it lingers for a while before fading. Sometimes its shadows touch your life forever." - Extract from a letter of mine to a friend, 2013. Other boys bought toys and chewing gum with their allowances. I bought books. And when I could not buy them, I traded them or borrowed them. In the town library, there were a selection of books that the librarian lady literally kept renewing for me without me asking. One of them was the encyclopaedic Medicinal and Poisonous Plans of Southern and Eastern Africa by Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk. All 1,457 pages of it. I was 12 years old when I began devouring that book. And it remained my friend until I left home for good. I seldom read easy books. The only comic books I really enjoyed were the old Classic and Comet comic books from when my dad was still a boy. I liked Superman and the other fantasy heroes, but my biggest favourite was still Buffalo Bill. I was taught to read in Afrikaans only, and by the time I 8 or 9 I had read most of what would interest a boy in the house. My dad suggested that I might enjoy his hunting books - of which he had quite a collection. He handed me a thick green volume. It was Harry Wolhuter's famous Memories of a Game Ranger. The book was intimidatingly thick, and written in an old-fashioned style that was hard to read. But it contained the true account of how Wolhuter had killed a lion with his hunting knife. And once upon, long-long ago, my spinster great aunt had been his sweetheart. It was just the book for me. It was hard in the beginning, but somehow the words just made sense, and I read through it in no time. Today my life is still surrounded by books. My reading taste is eclectic, but some of my favourite book topics include Africana, history, Anglo-Boer War, general military history, poetry, classical literature, business, autobiographies and world affairs - plus others.
Some of my favourite books of all time: Religious books
Fantasy
Military
Real life drama
Fiction
Youth Books
Classic Afrikaans
Inspirational
Business
|
This website was built by Ewisoft Website Builder.