J.D. Oswald on his memories of reading as a child, how he doesn’t enjoy Dickens and becoming addicted to audiobooks.
The first book I remember reading:
I devoured books from the moment I was first able to read them myself, having been read to by my parents from a very early age. I have only vague recollections of Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Biggles and the like, but I do remember reading John Masefield’s The Box of Delights. My mother had given it to me just before I was sent away to boarding school, aged seven. I loved it then, escaping into the fantasy of it and away from the misery of being in that horrible school. Memory’s a strange thing, though. I tried reading it again recently and gave up after a couple of turgid chapters and a story very different to the one my seven year old mind had built. You can never go back.
A book I recommend to everyone:
Apart from my own? I’m not really one for recommending books in that way. I review ones I’ve enjoyed in my monthly newsletter, and sing their praises on social media, but there’s no one book I insist everyone should read. That would be tiresome, I think.
The best books I have read in the last year:
I’ve very much enjoyed Laura Shepherd Robinson’s The Square of Sevens. The Song of the Huntress by Lucy Hounsom was brilliant – I listened to the audiobook excellently narrated by Kristin Atherton. I devoured The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams as well. Two historical novels with fantasy overtones and one modern folk horror story with supernatural elements. I’m not sure what that says about me.
A book I didn’t finish:
There are many books I’ve started and then abandoned because they’re not right for me, or I’m not in the right frame of mind for the story being told. A few I’ve rejected because I can’t get on with the author’s writing style when everyone else is singing their praises. Quite a few of the classics have left me cold – I’m no great fan of Dickens – but that’s probably because they were set texts at school and nothing robs fiction of its allure faster than being told you have to read it and there’ll be an exam after.
There was a time when I’d soldier on through something I wasn’t particularly enjoying, but realising you can just stop and pick up something else is very liberating. There are too many books and too little time.
An author that has inspired me:
There are so many, but first and foremost would be Terry Pratchett. On the face of it, he was a fantasy author, but there was so much more to his work than that it really defied pigeonholing. I’d call him one of the greatest satirists in the English language, and his work inspired me to try writing a novel myself. That was an abject failure, of course, but it set me on the path I’m still walking to this day.
My favourite place to read:
I generally read in bed for an hour or so before lights out. It would be nice to have time during the day to read more, but running a farm and writing my own books makes that hard. I have become addicted to audiobooks though, and listen while I am out and about on the farm, checking livestock or driving the tractor. Long car journeys to literary festivals and library talks are another great place for audiobooks. There’s something very soothing about being read to by a skilled narrator. Perhaps it harks back to my early childhood and falling asleep to the sound of my parents telling me stories. 
J.D. Oswald is the pseudonym for award-winning crime writer James Oswald. He’s author of the Sunday Times bestselling Inspector McLean series of detective mysteries, as well as the new DC Constance Fairchild series. J.D. Oswald’s dark coming of age story, Broken Ghosts, is out on 12 September.
Read more of The Good Books here.
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