…just this morning I had an exchange of greetings with Crooked Cat Publishing Authoress, Jane Bwye, and discovered she had spent most of her life in Kenya… her books are on offer at present on Amazon, I LIFT UP MY EYES and BREATH OF AFRICA…
JANE BWYE
…but it triggered a thought process with me… I’ve never been to Kenya, but one of the greatest novelists whose WURK I’ve enjoyed is Robert Ruark, and his UHURU (Freedom) dealt with the aftermath of Independence in that country, with all the ramifications of the guerrilla group, the infamous Mau-Mau…
…in my early twenties at the time, forty years ago, it led me to immerse myself in some of Ruark’s other classics, and specifically POOR NO MORE and THE HONEY BADGER… in previous posts, I’ve alluded to the debt I owe to guys like Ruark whose writing formed the benchmark for my LUV of good literature…
…great quill-scrapers such as John Steinbeck, whose books about the rigours of life through the decades of the Depression and the Dust Bowl exodus toward the promised land of California are written in such a ‘phalanx of writing’ where it’s sum’times difficult to tell where one book ends and the next begins…
…the overlap is masterful in tomes such as THE GRAPES OF WRATH, OF MICE AND MEN, CANNERY ROW and EAST OF EDEN among a stable of prize-winning novels…
…include also, John O’Hara, another literary giant, whose coverage of the East Coast American scene through the forties and fifties is immense, with A RAGE TO LIVE, FROM THE TERRACE, and APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA superb reading…
…the common element for me with all of these writers is the sheer solidity of their prose… it’s almost as if yeez could slice portions of the narrative, wrap it up, and take it away with yeez… they breathe life into their characters, warts and all, that yeez are alongside them in everything they do in the stories… LUV ‘em!… go pick up some of these titles and enjoy a throwback to how the ‘oldies’ strutted their scribbling stuff… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!…
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My, Seamus – thanks for that. I’ve never been in such illustrious company before!
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….enjoy, m’Lady:):)
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Great blog Seumas. I still remember reading GRAPES OF WRATH. It left quite an impression.
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these guys could REALLY write! 🙂 and they used old fashioned pen and ink and old typewriters! )
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How about robin hood by Howard Pyle and the three musketeers? And especially the books by john Patterson…I loved The Man Eaters of Tsavo. As much as I loved Ghost and the Darkness, Patterson’s own account of the events blows the happenings in the movie away!
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…good choices, all, m’Lady 🙂
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Thank you Seamus. You gave given me a list of books I haven’t read…some yes but also some new. It’s always wonderful to have a solid recommendation from such an acclaimed “Quill Scraper”.
Books….happy days! Who could not love the smell and anticipation of a new book?
Blessings, Susan 💖
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..yes, I think you’ll enjoy getting into these writers!:)
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