{"id":617,"date":"2014-09-20T06:56:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T13:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=617"},"modified":"2016-06-09T12:04:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T19:04:00","slug":"617","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=617","title":{"rendered":"The 10 books that left a lasting impression challenge&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1. The Victor Comic 1966<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/9d3ead6f0147b40e4eda8c9b6fc37cee\/tumblr_inline_nb6m3oVsbx1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>My step-grandfather was illiterate and had the Victor comic in his farm labourer&#8217;s cottage to help him to learn to read..I remember reading it to him when he in his sixties as he puffed clouds of tobacco around my head from his pipe&#8230;.I was 7.<\/p>\n<p>2.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Ian Allen Combined Locoshed Book 1974<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/9bf615eca48b3281b9d93cbe6c4a84bd\/tumblr_inline_nb6m59nXhc1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Any real trainspotter will know this volume and also the point in travelling to places like Birmingham New Street to collect train numbers&#8230;it was how I discovered the world&#8230;.and honed my research skills:-) In fact most trainspotters would make better researchers than most academics.. they far more &#8216;rigorous&#8217;:-)<\/p>\n<p>3.\u00c2\u00a0Roger Price &#8211; Droodles 1974<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/4d1e25477ac3c0e12be4b71b0c34a507\/tumblr_inline_nb6m5nj0mq1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Shrigley before Shrigley&#8230;from a jumble sale I think&#8230;wonderful visual puns..<\/p>\n<p>4. Percy Bysse Shelley &#8211; Poems 1976<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/e937be787aeec457c98c03579d82986e\/tumblr_inline_nb6m95eWs61qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Masque of Anarchy&#8230;..says it all..<\/p>\n<p>5. John Clare &#8211; Poems 1976<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/b09e1f584a348774933c780ba24f39c1\/tumblr_inline_nb6mf93mu81qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mrs Millington maddest most conservative spinster English Teacher who taught me value of writing&#8230;forever&#8230;.bless her.<\/p>\n<p>6. Joseph Conrad &#8211; Nostromo 1975<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/48ee66d906191da37abe68b40e4155a9\/tumblr_inline_nb6n3mTZVH1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mr Peyton my other English teacher who taught me the value of sarcasm&#8230;and Conrad who I loved&#8230;I went on to read every book I could I think I made 8 or 9&#8230;&#8230;obsessive&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>7. John Berger &#8211; Ways of Seeing 1977<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/5504b411a15f8a1abdaa6ef620091058\/tumblr_inline_nb6mgfvha61qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Art Foundation a whole new way of seeing things and Punk Rock&#8230;.went well together \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>8. Seamus Heaney &#8211; Death of a Naturalist 1978<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/c30ccc6696bfd9ff4f59fb14ea1d4855\/tumblr_inline_nb6mk12UA41qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A voice I could trust&#8230;.still do.<\/p>\n<p>9. Raymond Carver &#8211; Fires 1985<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/c9fc44c8eac60217d5f4fde9639944f9\/tumblr_inline_nb6n06YI7A1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The book that made me a writer&#8230;literally salvaged from a St Anne&#8217;s Tottenham Haringey Library fire&#8230;.I told that story years later to his widow Tess Gallagher..<\/p>\n<p>10. W.G.Sebald &#8211; Rings of Saturn 2008<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/1f5bce69050ab2abc6e1ee5eaa4dd879\/tumblr_inline_nb6mwkTwui1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Fine art course Lincoln 2008 &#8230;read it every day on train to Lincoln as it coincided with a pretty pretentious art show there on themes associated with Sebald ( as pretty much every artist\u00c2\u00a0seems to have done since).<\/p>\n<p>Still a good book&#8230;.and way better than any art ever &#8216;influenced&#8217; by it.<\/p>\n<p>(Finally if this list went up to 11 and yes the first woman on the list)<\/p>\n<p>11. Alice Munro &#8211; Too Much Happiness 2014<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/31.media.tumblr.com\/19e4f9d14dc323a0cdee03ce9e5296bc\/tumblr_inline_nb6mv9CjGe1qz5u7n.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back to creative writing and first volume of short stories I chose to read&#8230;great choice&#8230;.now time to put pen to paper again and again and again and again&#8230;..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. The Victor Comic 1966 My step-grandfather was illiterate and had the Victor comic in his farm labourer&#8217;s cottage to help him to learn to read..I remember reading it to him when he in his sixties as he puffed clouds of tobacco around my head from his pipe&#8230;.I was 7. 2.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Ian Allen Combined Locoshed Book&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38,33,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative-writing-m-a","category-poetry","category-short-stories"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6nhh-617","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1343,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}