Gary Corby is the author of the Athenian Mystery series, starring Nicolaos, his girlfriend Diotima, and his irritating twelve year old brother Socrates. The latest book in the series is The Singer from Memphis.Corby lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife, two daughters, two ducks, two budgerigars, and a brush turkey that is almost as irritating as Socrates.
Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Corby's reply:
Writers read, indeed. I love writing these articles for this blog because I always end up with a ratherVisit Gary Corby's blog.strange list. And it's happened again, so here we go with what I've just been reading.
Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: a melodic approach, by Garrison Fewell.
It's a terrific book. Mr Fewell was a musician and teacher at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. I'm very sorry to say that he lost his life to cancer only a year or so ago. But his music lives on. For most people that would be a cliché; for Garrison Fewell, it's true.
Philby: KGB Masterspy, by Phillip Knightley.
I got into trouble from my elder daughter for mislaying this after I read it, because she needs it for school work. On the plus side, it's fascinating. Kim Philby was a brilliant spy who rose to become head of anti-Soviet operations for MI6. Which was kind of embarrassing because actually he was working for the Russians. This biography includes personal interviews with Philby in his comfortable apartment in Moscow, to which he retired after he was found out and defected.
The Gardens of Delight, by Ian Watson.
I am a huge fan of Hieronymus Bosch. If you haven't heard of Bosch, it's because he was a 15th century Flemish painter. Bosch's most famous work is the amazing Garden Of Earthly Delights. The book by Ian Watson has a space ship in the far future landing on an alien world, only to discover that someone has sculpted the entire planet to be an exact reproduction of Bosch's weird, mediaeval landscape.
My Book, The Movie: The Singer from Memphis.
--Marshal Zeringue
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