Reading

In 1963 among lots of Gerald Durrell, C.P.Snow, Austen and Dickens, I read Brazilian adventure by Peter Fleming. I was fascinated by the story of Colonel Fawcett. It was to be many years later that I finally got to South America! In 1963 I read 50 books and in 1964 47 most of them got an A or B. In 64 I started my BA degree at Wits studying English and History of Art. The latter because of our family doctor Dr Sieff who said to me that I would be able to appreciate art when I went to Europe.How right he was! I was also struggling with Plato and philosophy and beginning French. I was never great at languages. I was very happy staying at home and going to university on the bus. There was one awful incident when the bus conductor accused me of not paying the fare and marched me to the police station. The whole thing was a mistake but he was very reluctant to back down. We had been very well prepared for university by Mr Rose and I sailed through the first year. Mrs Gordon wife of the Presbyterian minister was a great help with English lending me books and encouraging me.
In 1965 I read 60, 66 it was 64 and 67 was a bumper year 75 including 8 given an A. A lot of Shakespeare. I am very scathing about "The death of Jesus" by Joel Carmichael an unscholarly, untruthful book! I loved Middlemarch and Dickens and The Spiral Road by Jan de Hartog seems to have struck a chord although I cannot remember it now. Nostromo was a wonderful book and in fact influenced much of my thinking about colonialism and development. I am also reading about nature and religion. I read a book on how to paint in oils but commented that too much time and money would be involved. Of course I am doing it now but it took 50 years!