A bit of an odd one this, no links, just some ramblings of an old man.
It most probably started with an encyclopaedia in the house - the sort of book you could look through for interesting pictures. I remember a medical one we had which was unusual as it must have been a pricey set. We also had a bible, a dictionary, and a ready reckoner. No works of Shakespeare.
Then I was at school winning prizes, collecting tea cards and watching TV, and then possibly the Observer series of books. I had a handful of those that have gone by the wayside. I say that, as I recently saw some for sale in an Oxfam charity for £30 a copy-! The first fiction book I remember having comes to me with a saying, "the sun shines but the ice is slippery". I can't remember what the book was called or who wrote it or who was in it but that sentence was a code for the gang of two that was in the story. Even Google falls down on the job. It was a square fronted, hardback probably just over a hands-width. My Robinson Crusoe was the same style.
An old black and white movie was "The Tales of Robinson Crusoe" that I watched on the Saturday matinee along with Flash Gordon. I also saw it on TV and the haunting theme tune has always been in my memory. Any road up, I had a copy of the bought for me, "Robinson Crusoe". Then there was a lull and lack of funds meant I didn't have many books myself until the early 70s when I landed myself a paper round job. I now had money to fritter away on the important things in life - the SF section of John Menzies.
The "Golden Age" of science fiction pre-dated me by a good 10 years but I now caught up quickly with the masters - Simak, Asimov, Silverberg, Smith, Heinlein, Bradbury...a quick Google or search on Wiki will find it all listed.
I don't know how or why it happened but I stopped reading SF and moved genres to spy fiction. My top authors are Deighton, Forsyth, Le Carré, Follett and Ludlum. Deighton in particular has me hooked from the first words - he really is a master story teller.
Well, Ludlum died and Deighton stopped writing fiction so I found a new genre - police procedurals probably on the tail of Hill St. Blues on TV.
My first was most likely Wambaugh but followed with the characters: Hamish Macbeth, Bob Skinner, Jo Faraday, John Rebus and Tweed.
As usual, throw your comments in after reading this or have a look at some other posts that will take you to my reviews on Goodreads but, in all honesty, I'm not sure what, if anything, you'll see there that isn't already here.
Next up in this series will likely be something that I am currently reading or something I have read recently. We'll see.
