I just discovered my book is finally listed on Amazon. I must admit much of the delay has been because of my many revisions, but I'm nevertheless very chuffed.
Talking of good reads, I have lately been reading recently published novels on the Vietnam war. I think this is a difficult subject to write about. I don't think many books or movies have really captured what it was like, apart from some obvious exceptions like Apocalypse Now and Deer Hunter. I'm currently reading The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli. Not a bad read though some of her style leaves a little to be desired, and I think it suffers form her not actually having lived through the period of the War. I'm also not sure about the title. I had a woman bail me up when I was returning from the library with the book. She accused me of decadence in reading about drug taking and women being pregnant in their sixties. Maybe she was thinking of The Lotos-Eaters by Tennyson, but whatever it was she got very excited. I walked quickly to get away from her but I could still hear her harangues even after I was a good block ahead.
I think an even better book is the Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, which I read previously. Marlantes was actually in the War and it shows. Some of his depictions are pretty gruelling, but he keeps the tension going throughout the book, and it helps in understanding what the experieince would have been like.
I was a young man during the Vietnam War and very involved in the politics of the time. Graheme Greene's book helped change me from a supporter to an opponent. I read how the puppet governments imposed by America helped oppress the Vietnamese people. I was not conscripted (this was done by lottery in Australia), but I had prepared myself for being an objector no matter what the cost. Nowadays I'm sometimes in a dilemma in talking about this period of my life when I meet so many ex-soldiers still bearing very hurt feelings over how they were treated.
William has worked as a social worker in disability and mental health. He has always been interested in writing, mainly in professional journals, and the spiritual. This is about his journey in creative and historical writing, publications and observations on life generally.
Glad to see the opus is now available. I, too, have the problem of finishing something off and leaving it alone. Anyway, trust you to raise the ire of a random library attendee! It must be your aftershave...eu de misogynist or something. The best book I read on 'Nam was Dispatches by Michael Herr (or Kerr). He was a journo in the front lines. Not seen it around for a while so may be out of print. I read it in the '80's so it may have lost its ability to impress over the years.
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