Has anyone ever read Wilbur Smith?

Cliffy

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Has anyone ever read the Wilbur Smith books on Africa? I was told to try them so the other half just got me 4 for my BD.
 
Think I have read every singel one of them. Great reading. Especially those about the Courtney family saga. But also the Egypt books.
 
I ve read every one of his novels cliffy
it was the way he explained the sable antelope that first got me dreaming of hunting in Africa , when l was only sixteen years old
the ballentynes series are every bit as good as the courteneys aswell mate
your in for some good reading bloke
 
I was given one to read in a leopard blind about 4 years ago by my PH. Lion Feeds at Night, I think. Been hooked ever since (books as well as the leopards!).
 
atleast you started at the start of the courteney series hank the first one of that series l read was a, time to die .
what tittles did the little lady get you cliffy ?
if you were in a leopard blind , you should've started with ,the leopard hunts in darkness
 
Lucky to have started with the Courtney series. Got me hooked. Having read nearly all of them, I'd have to say I prefer Courtney to Ballantyne, but not by much. Can't go wrong either way. But unlike what Smith himself suggests on his website. - "read them in the order they were written" I'd say read them in chronological order.

Oh, and before someone corrects me, it's "When the Lion Feeds". The PH was handing me pieces as he read them, and I don't think I ever got the title page!
 
Got them thrown onto the reading pile some time back.
Read them all, some I even read twice.

Have fun reading Cliffy.
 
Just started When the Lion Feeds and have Monsoon, Sound of Thunder and A Sparrow Falls. It goes with me to the Loo
when I have to sit down :) Also in the middle of The Covenant by Michner. Up to the late 1700s in that one.
 
Just started When the Lion Feeds and have Monsoon, Sound of Thunder and A Sparrow Falls. It goes with me to the Loo
when I have to sit down :)
that's bit more info than l expected oldmate:laughing:
 
I spent some time around a campfire with him and his late wife Danielle in Rhodesia in the early 80's. A brilliant, pleasant, but complicated, gentleman. I also have all his novels, although it won't be for long now..my wife reckons all my 'stuff ' is taking up too much space in the house..
 
that would ve been great doco
in conversation did he ever say in the hour when mans vitality is at its lowest ebb. like he did in half his books .ha ha ha
honestly l rekon he would be quite the character around the camp .
did you hunt with him ?
 
did he ever say in the hour when mans vitality is at its lowest ebb.

no, Bluey, but he also wouldn't talk about the book he was busy with at the time. If I remember correctly, he said that an un-finished book is only smoke in the wind and can be blown away with careless words...

Hunt with him..no, I was passing through. I was hunting more evil animals at the time.
 
that sounds like something he would say mate.
do tell did you thin out any evil little shits
 
He's a good read Cliffy....got a lot of his books. You might want to try Stuart Cloete too if you like early Africa hunting. The "Curve and the Tusk" if you can find a copy.
 
He's a good read Cliffy....got a lot of his books. You might want to try Stuart Cloete too if you like early Africa hunting. The "Curve and the Tusk" if you can find a copy.

+1..John Gordon Davis, Kevin Thomas and Peter Stiff are also fine African authors. Shadows in an African Twilight and Tracking the Memory by Kevin Thomas are excellent reads.
 
GEEZZZ, you guys will have me reading for 10 years at this rate! Got to file all these leads away.
 
I favor the old veterans, Bell, Foran, Hunter, Burger, Taylor, Sanchez-Ariño...

Some of these guys hunted a hundred years ago, in an Africa we ll never know.
 
Damn now I need to put a book in each Loo! :) Divide my time.
 
Read them all and loved 99 percent of them. Some had some stuff that was well a little bit silly and highly unlikely. The most recent Egypt book was pretty slow I thought, still, a fine writer. He must be getting a bit long in the tooth by now.
 

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