Recommended

I was asked what I used as source material for my paintings. Rather than write out by hand those books I have used (and can remember using), I thought I could add the details to the blog and add to it as I get one of those ‘Oh yeah, I remember now...’ moments. By some considerable distance, the best photographic reference for the human body (once you are familiar with the anatomy of muscle groups), is the one shown above: Howard Schatz' Nude Body Nude.

Dorling Kindersley (now part of the not-funny joke that is Penguin Books) have also produced a good book by the artist Sarah Simblet. The photographs in that case are by John Davis, most famous perhaps for photographing the Australian Olympic team of Sydney 2000 in the nude. This is your best bet as the second-hand copies of Howard Schatz’ books are worth hundreds of pounds (or dollars). No wonder. And, no, you can’t have my copy.

As I work during the daylight hours as a bookseller, I also get asked for recommendations on good books to read for fun. I could go on and on about the great stuff I’ve read over the years; after all, it’s one reason why I still take home naff-all pay. Alongside art, books are a real passion. So, if you’re after something good to read, then look to the menu bar on the right. I’ve tried to choose a real mix of books including literary, crime, short story collections, stories for children/ young adults and a couple of horror novels. The best way to approach any of the books - as with life - is with an open mind. With this in mind, I haven’t listed the categories the books would usually be filed under in a shop or library.

Here’s how the selection works:

The absolute numero uno rule I gave myself when composing this list was that I had to have read the book myself. If something you are looking for is not on the list, it is for one of three reasons: I haven’t read it; I’ve forgotten I’ve read it and thought it was good (easy to do as some weeks, I can go through five or more novels in a week), or; I thought the book was rubbish.

All authors are listed alphabetically by surname.

Where an author appears more than once, assume they’re good. If you can’t find any of the listed books in a shop, then take something else.

Where an author apppears more than once, it may be that I’m recommending a whole series to you. You won’t know until you pick up the books.

There are no links to Amazon. Firstly, that’s cheating: if you had a link, you could read reviews and what the book is about and, second, the point of this is that you’ll got to a shop and have a look around. Maybe, you’ll surprise yourself.

As a concession to those readers who can’t abide made-up stories, I’ve put a note next to those books that are non-fiction but come on, do you really think that any ‘autobiography’ is being entirely honest?

Unlike other literary snobs (yes, I am one), I’ve included some science fiction. If your idea of sci-fi is tight-fitting spandex and fiction that holds women in contempt, then I’m sorry, you’ve lost any argument you could have put to me. The science fiction chosen includes strong female characters, strong stories and as with any great classic story, great ‘moral mazes’. A novel without at least one moral dilemna is no novel at all for how else do characters - and real people in real life - grow? The technology takes a back-seat in favour of the story, so don’t worry if you couldn't hack physics at school.

No poetry. While an individual poem may be the outstanding work of literature of it’s time .eg. WB Yeats' poem, The Second Coming. It is absurd to believe that any human can be consistently great across a whole book of poems (that aren’t posthumously collected and are more a reflection of the editor’s own choice).

No movie tie-ins. A film is one medium; a book quite another.

Nothing derivative, contrived or just plain rubbish, therefore, very little in the way of contemporary British fiction.

The list will be added to. Beneath the selection is another list of those books I am currently reading. They may make it onto the list; they may not: an unbelievable number of books I have read have been ruined by a rushed or contrived ending. Nul points for a ruined experience. The entire book has to be good or it doesn’t get onto the list. I am a Very Fussy Reader.

PS. This is going to sound ungrateful but if ever it crosses your mind to present a book to me as gift, please don’t. I have run out of ways to hide my embarrassment at being given something I’ve rubbished at work. If I haven’t discovered a book in ten years of bookselling that I’m going to like then I have been doing something wrong: either I have read the book or I have bought it and it’s on the pile of books to be read or, it hasn’t been published yet.

PPS. Think about it: would you give a spare tyre to a guy who drove buses for a living?