Denzil Meyrick on his memories of being read Treasure Island by his grandmother, his favourite three books of the year so far, and being inspired by the the late Angus MacVicar.
The first book I remember reading:
The first book I remember was Treasure Island, read to me by my grandmother, Margaret McMillan. I was around four years old when she sat with me and worked through its pages, as I looked on wide-eyed. She did it so well that it’s stuck with me ever since. I can still see the ‘black spot’ and hear Silver’s wooden leg tapping as he walks. Robert Louis Stevenson was such a fabulous writer. I suppose one of the first books I read myself would have been something by Enid Blyton. But it is Treasure Island that looms large in my memory even now.
A book I recommend to everyone:
That’s an easy one, Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian. It’s the first of the Aubrey/Maturin series of books, that take us back to the Royal Navy at the time of the Napoleonic wars. O’Brian – a complicated man – wrote history with such free-flowing joy, it was hard to read any other works of historical fiction once I’d finished his. It’s as though he managed to take himself back to those long-lost days under sail, and could see, hear, smell, and feel every part of it. O’Brian called those old men-of-war sailing ships wooden worlds, with rules and a morality all of their own. Everything was presided over by the ship’s captain; in this case the tough but jocular Jack Aubrey, assisted ably by his peripatetic ship’s surgeon, the waspish, all-seeing and sometime-spy, Stephen Maturin. They say the purpose of fiction is to remove the reader to another place. You can rest assured that nobody does this like O’Brian, a writer of such talent, it’s hard to come to terms with.
The best three books I have read in the last year:
David Gran’s The Wager. An outstanding book, throwing the spotlight on a scandal in the Royal Navy, dating back to the nineteenth Century. A work as absorbing as it is revealing, from an author who is going from strength to strength at the moment.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a novel that takes the reader somewhere else entirely. Tchaikovsky is a master of his genre, and for some reason I particularly enjoyed this outing. It’s been called a book filled with, ‘marvels and wonders’ – I can’t disagree. And if you favour the Space Opera subgenre of science fiction, then you’re in for a treat. Tchaikovsky is another writer who goes from strength to strength. He almost has it all, if not quite the same wit and mend-bending invention of the late, great Iain M Banks. Still, an outstanding read.
France by John Julius Norwich. Bittersweet because it’s the last, published just prior to the writer’s death in 2018. I suppose I’d put off reading it for that very reason. Though, as expected, it was a treat to enjoy his witty observation, agile analysis and uncomplicated narrative one last time. No heavy, impenetrable tome here; as always, JJN brings an almost novelistic style to his history. I guarantee, you will be happier and more knowledgeable for reading any book by the late John Julius Norwich.
A book I didn’t finish:
This is a very subjective world, where one person’s meat is another’s poison. Only reading for yourself will cement an opinion, one way or the other.
An author who has inspired me:
The late, great Angus MacVicar from my own neck of the woods in South Kintyre. Angus wrote everything from crime, sci-fi, thrillers, to historical and children’s fiction and memoir. There was nothing he couldn’t do. He also penned magnificent radio drama in the nineteen-fifties, which made him rather kenspeckle at the time. As a thirteen-year-old, I was sent to interview him for the school magazine. He was as generous with his time as he was with his advice, to the young lad who wanted to write books. He told me writers were born and not made. He warned, that until I had a go, the unwritten book in my head would haunt me forever. He was right!
Every time I met him in the following years, he’d ask if I’d written anything. Always, he shook his head with a mixture of sadness and irritation when the answer was inevitably returned in the negative. I’m only sorry that I took so long to get going, he wasn’t there to see it. Neither were my parents. I wish I’d acted on his sound advice much sooner. But a lack of faith in one’s ability is difficult obstacle to navigate. In my case, it was only a matter of time and many hard knocks that gave me the courage. God bless you, Angus.
My favourite place to read:
Just about anywhere. But not whilst driving or operating heavy machinery.
Denzil Meyrick is from Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula in Argyll. After studying politics, he worked as a police officer, distillery manager, and director of several companies. He is the No.1 bestselling author of the DCI Daley series. His latest book, The Estate, can be bought here.
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