P.G.Wodehouse was my only favourite author for a long long time. I picked up my vocabulary and expressions from him - and he cheered me up with his humour whenever I felt low.
Dick Francis walked into my life much later while I was lying on a hospital bed. Someone gave me a couple of his books, and from that moment onwards I was hooked on to Dick Francis. I must have now read as many Dick Francis books (about 60) as I have of PG Wodehouse - though of course not as frequently.Sometimes I wonder why I like these 2 authors - when they have such a contrasting approach to writing. While PG Wodehouse novels can be described as sunny bachelor romances, Dick Francis novels are cold crime thrillers woven around horse racing.
The characters in PG novels are boisterous, over-expressive and slightly hare-brained eternal optimists. The characters in Dick Francis stories are under-stated, brooding, low profile (to the point of being self-effacing), and always start off as under-dogs.
Sometimes I think that Dick Francis was a market researcher in his previous life. The characters he portrays in his novels are very similar to my perception of the average market researcher viz low-profile, under-stated and introspective. I identified with the PG characters in my youth, but nowadays while I still enjoy reading PG, my identification is greater with the characters in a Dick Francis novel.
Curiously despite their dramatically contrasting styles, both authors leave you with a good feeling when the last page is turned. There is justice at the end of the day - is what the authors seem to be saying - but they say it in their own unique styles.
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