Khaleel Datay's Blog - Posts Tagged "reading"

I grew up in a household where I was the middle child. number 4 out of 6. Mom was always too busy with the latest in the brood or going with father to support him in running his business. He was in the shop seven days a week, which meant we never went anywhere most of the time. Family time on a picnic was a rarity. All my school holidays were normally taken up by helping out in the shop. So what's a youngster supposed to do? I found my escape to a world of adventure and exotic places through reading. Comic books,cereal boxes and cartoons in the paper, I read anything and everything. Every morning the news agency delivered bundles of Cape Times and Die Burger to our door for resale that day. So I read the paper every day, both English and Afrikaans ones. We grew up speaking Afrikaans at home but I was enrolled in an English-medium school. Naturally, I didn't do too well in English at primary school. When my friend and neighbour(Wayne Naidoo)started sharing his Hardy Boys and Louis L'Amour books, things changed quickly. Wayne's aunt worked at the Athlone Library which ensured us a steady supply of old books that I consumed at a rate of four or five per week. At high school I picked up a love for Shakespeare's works and poetry, and started excelling in English. Later I studied accounting at university but still spent many hours in the English section of the library reading plays. Many of them originally written in Italian and French. I started reading Robert Ludlum in the 80's and have since read every single book he wrote, even keeping up with the franchise when Eric van Lustbader took over after Ludlum's death. I'm an ardent fan of the spy thriller and have been reading guys like Deighton, McCarry, Forsythe,DeMille etc for the last 30 plus years. I've also become a great fan of Barry Eisler, Lee Child, Daniel Silva and Alex Berenson. Why do you read?

A year ago I would have said you cant beat the feel of a real book in your hand. That familiar friend that's been with you for years through winters and summers taking you to new places every day. Maybe paper still edges the ebook for me and hopefully paper will never disappear. The fact though is that since I got my Kindle I've read more than 70 books in just 18 months. Then also the odd paper book along the way. The ease of buying a book, of reading a book on your Kindle has made a huge difference in how we access new works nowadays. It doesn't matter what device you use (Kindle/IPAD/Kobo etc), that's down to personal preference, but there's been a revolution in the books business that's swept through the last few years. Bricks and mortar bookshops have been major casualties along way. Traditional publishers whose profits depended on printed books have also felt the heat and there's been a scramble of mergers and acquisitions in the industry just to ensure survival let alone make profits. Ultimately I don't know how much it matters, but what I do know is that people wont stop reading. I often hear people saying that they haven't read a book in the last twenty or thirty years since they left high school. I think they've sorely lost out. Yeah there are readers and there are non-readers. There's hope those self-confessed non-readers all own IPADS and are reading stuff online. I say three cheers to Amazon and Apple for being market innovators and leaders that have made such a huge impact on our lives. So which one is better, ebook or paper book, who cares, as long as you're reading.

The Labyrinth of Osiris by Paul Sussman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Brilliant. A fantastic story filled with so many twists and plot complexities it keeps you guessing all the way. Sussman turns a murder mystery into a treasure hunt, a fast paced thriller, political commentary and just one enjoyable read. Sussman's passing last year is a great loss to the writing world



View all my reviews

A few months after completing my first book, I started writing the second book as a follow up novel. Problem is I found second time a lot harder. You keep second guessing yourself. I wonder if other writers have the same problem. First time round I just sat down and wrote with a general idea of where the plot was moving. Along the way I did my research and wrote some more. Things more or less flowed. This time round plotting has been a lot harder. Not that there are a shortage of ideas. One has to be so careful not to get too elaborate with the plot. A good story is still a good story. The first book was about a former soldier who is also an academic in Eastern languages and history. A product of a mixed marriage, father English and mother Kashmiri. Although the story is a thriller about finding a terrorist and stopping a terror plot in Mumbai, there are also some deeper questions asked. Questions about friendship, betrayal, and love. Do we really know ourselves? Do we really know who our parents are, what they were before we got to know them as our parents. Respect, honour, and integrity, are becoming foreign concepts to many people. While we seem to be getting smarter technically, we seem to be regressing ethically, with disastrous consequences. The protagonist in my books, Nick Winter, is someone who suffered racial prejudice in his youth and in his adulthood has taken it upon himself to help others. A good soldier, he always acts with honour and respect. In the second book he seeks vengeance for a wrongful act. Some would say that's a bad thing, but he sees it differently. When the woman he loves is brutally sexually abused, his response is to fight for her honour. What if he gets the chance to take his revenge but is forced to stand down in the interests of the greater good. Can he do that? Can we do that?
At the moment I'm at a point where I'm adding layers to the main plot idea to flesh out the story. Its been lots of fun doing this. Events in South Africa and elsewhere in the world certainly are keeping writers on their toes and providing endless plot material. After years of saying writing is something I've always wanted to do, I'm finally there. I'm writing and enjoying every moment.

A few weeks ago our president sent the POPI Bill (Protection of Personal Information) back for redrafting before he could sign it into law. This bill has been an issue for several years now with citizens giving their input and government trying their hardest to push it through. Its a contentious issue and personal freedoms are at stake. Then last week I watched Enemy of the State starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. I've seen it before but seeing it again just brought the Bill's debate alive. Whereas the congressman in the movie was arguing for a similar thing to counter terrorism, our government have been trying to push it through so we cant see what they were up to. Like the president spending over 200 million on his private residence. On many levels I wouldn't like to see it going through. look at what the abuse thereof did to Will Smith's character. He lost his job, his wife and kid, everything. It was scary to see how much we'd advanced technologically since that movie was made. They still had those big clunky cell phones and wire taps with actual wires. Great movie, I'd advise anyone to see it again. I've also recently read George Orwell's 1984. So I've had enough of Big Brother's big eyes and big ears. That little cabin in the woods I've always been thinking of is looking like a good idea again. But you cant hide out forever, can you. We are social creatures and need each other for the sake of our sanity. That's why solitary detention is such a feared punishment. I hope our government gets the balance right with this Bill. Can you just imagine being in the room alone with a stunning woman and you say "wow what a bombshell", next thing you know ten cops break through the door shouting to get your hands up, wanting to know where's the bomb. Do you think the mind police will get there?

I've been a reader for as long as I can remember, like most of you out there. Over the last three to four years I started writing as well. Driven by a number of factors, one of which was contributing something to the discussion of the human condition. In South Africa we had some very specific problems with apartheid. Although it was seen as a colour issue, which it was, it was also about the denial of access to very basic human rights like a space to live, clean water and participating in the broader economy. Things that are universal to us all. The world also marched on in that time, with terror attacks, wars and invasions. Many countries have progressed economically but regressed in other ways. Journalists and writers are curbed, and we are monitored electronically like never before. The Arab Spring has toppled regimes but also seen a greater scramble for the key resources in the Middle East. So where is this all going? I wish I knew. As writers we are always looking at new plots for our books but I dare say that reality these last few years has proved that truth is stranger than fiction. This space is not meant for political views. There are many other forums for those. Our society has become increasingly violent, with deeply set root causes. We need to seek a way out, to reach out, to educate and work together. You have any ideas? Lets talk.

Just completed first draft of my second book with a working title: BITTER VENGEANCE.

What a massive learning curve its been writing the second book in the Nick Winter series. What started out as doing something you think, okay lets give it a shot, has become so much a part of me. This time I've paid more attention to the art of writing thrillers, focussing strongly on characterisation and keeping my readers hooked. The one thing one has to do as a writer is to keep reading, keep learning and adapt the way you do things as you go along. Now for the editing and rewrites. I know some authors dont enjoy the rewrites part, but I do. I get a real kick out of the effect of inserting a few sentences which could add a real twist where there was none before. Using a healthy dose of creativity you could change something good to something great. Just love it. BITTER VENGEANCE, the name says it all, is based in South Africa for the best part against a backdrop of a changing political situation where political freedom has been outlived by the desire for economic freedom. This creates an explosive environment that could only end in increasing clashes with the government. Nick Winter is engaged to find a missing person only to learn he bought himself a whole lot more than an apparent stray husband. So there's vengeance, missing persons, murder and political intrigue all thrown in there. I had lots of fun writing it and hope readers will equally enjoy the final product. Now looking for some beta readers to assess the book.

I started reading Len Deighton's triple trilogy again (Game Set Match, Hook Line Sinker + Faith Hope Charity). I'm now reading the sixth in the series, Spy Sinker. What an extraordinary feat by Deighton. Enjoyed the first couple but getting a bit jaded now. Punch drunk on the escapades of Bernie Samson, Dicky Cruyer and Werner Volkmann. Great characterization though and a nice,sometimes lighthearted look at the dark days of the Cold War. Little predictable at times, Deighton still manages to turn up the suspense with all the spies coming out from East Berlin and the machinations inside MI6. Enjoyed the look inside the old German life with all its insecurities and how it compares with that inside Great Britain.

In between work, writing and painting (doing seascapes now), my reading time has suffered. In one of my first posts I sang the praises of e-books, and I still do (my books only published as ebooks). Problem is my Kindle has been acting up lately. Keeps needing rebooting before I can actually read something. Then when you're just settling in for a good read the thing goes and seizes up again. After trying to find someone to fix the damn thing, I found Amazon not keen on fixing these things. At the tip of Africa, its a bit far to find someone to shout at. I did the next best thing. I went to my bookshelf and started re-reading some of my old books. I've been through Deighton's 9-book triple trilogy. Finally read his first book called THE IPCRESS FILE, maybe twenty years too late for me. Found it a drag for most part. Also one of Daniel Silva's latest I had put down earlier, and now reading The Tailor of Panama by Le Carre. The great thing about books is that they keep giving. Turning pages the old fashioned way still best. Love it!