Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Who Reads My Books: Spencer Van Schevensteen

My name's Spencer, I'm 24 and live in Harold Hill, Essex. Grew up around Upminster and Romford, left school at 16 to work for Ford Motor Company. Did an apprenticeship, stayed there for 6 years doing fibreglass modelmaking, toolmaking, some CAD and CNC but nothing too complicated or involved!! After leaving there and drifting from job to job, I finally settled in Harold Hill with my girlfriend, and became a househusband... ish. She earns ten times more than I ever will, and with our baby girl nearly here it seemed only sensible that I take care of the ankle bitter!

I've been reading for as long as I can remember. Started out on things like Goosebumps, Terry Pratchett, and the Hobbit. As I got older I discovered Science Fiction, among many other genres, and its basically taken off from there. I enjoy listening to music, anything from the thrashy, insane time signature metal, all the way down to jazz, country, some classical, all sorts. Just as long as its not a manufactured band or artist. Nothing is worse than emotionless, mass produced pop drivel! I watch a lot of films, television and stand-up comedy. Favourites include Deadwood, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, The Proposition, anything the Coen brothers have done, Bill Bailey and Doug Stanhope. I also waste a lot of time playing Xbox, far too much time if truth be told!

I enjoy walks, with and without the dogs, bike riding, a bit of skateboarding, and golf. I don't drink, but occasionally indulge in other intoxicants. Moderation in all things.

Hope that's not too long, I attached a few photos of myself and a part of our book collection. A lot of my comedy and WW II books are upstairs in boxes, as the 2nd floor is being re-done and there's not enough space to get them all down yet. Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is definitely one of the top ones not shown, as well as Stirling's Men, a book about the birth of the SAS.

Anyway, enough of my rubbish!

Hope anyone reading this had a good break over Christmas and the New Year,

All the best,

Spencer & Rebecca.



Here's Spencer's book collection:







11 comments:

vaudeviewgalor raandisisraisins said...

if you're a WWII buff and into film try the brutal movies:

COME AND SEE
STALINGRAD
RED CHERRY
KANAL

and for fun try the trailer
WORST CASE SCENARIO
and the film
DEAD SNOW

Jebel Krong said...

another essex man - nice! great book collection, too :)

Neal Asher said...

Toolmaking and CNC work ... ah the memories of my car always smelling of coolant oil, the burr cuts, the and swarf spattered overall and the winters working in an oily factory with daylight being something seen only between 12.00 and 12.30...

I've bought the first series of The Wire since I've been hearing a fair bit about it. Hope it's good!

Fader209 said...

Is Alan Wake any good? (Yes, I scanned through your game collection)
Seen it for £10 and am still sitting on the fence...I mean, a main character called Alan? =P

Spencer said...

Alan wake is brill, as is the wire :) Id also recommend the Fallout games and Dead Space. Very weird talking about Alan Wake on Neals blog. In the game, Alan is a writer, and his newest novel that ties in with the story is called The Departure! Cue eerie music.

Fader209 said...

Ah yes, Dead Space 2 is out soon too! Can't wait as I loved the first one.
I expect we are all into the same games really as we all like sci-fi so the gaming talk isn't totally off topic lol.

I got Vanquish as an Xmas present this year, you tried that?
It's stupidly fun skidding around on your arse whilst shooting Russian robots in slow motion!
Also seeing a space station like the one it's set on is pretty impressive, straight from sci-fi books kind of thing where it is a habitat hub curving right round over the top of you.

Jebel Krong said...

Dead Space 2 should be awesome, even if the demo was very similar to the first - that wasn't a bad thing.
currently playing assassin's creed 2 and enjoying the historical locales more than anything (only just started).

Spencer said...

Just beat red dead's undead nightmare, so much fun. The assassins creed games are unlike any other, every single one has had me hooked, really really enjoyable, and they keep getting better.
I think my memory of those days at fords will me the horrific smell of the electrolyte on my mate's spark eroder. He was in the machine shop, and always got put on this machine, he hated it! I do miss hearing the occasional bang and running to see who had wrecked a job or a tool. Highs and lows.

vaudeviewgalor raandisisraisins said...

season 3 of THE WIRE is where it picks up. they were just nibbling in the first 2. Baltimore is one step below Detroit (civilization endscape).

Graeme. said...

With you on Boardwalk Empire-real quality. Also Breaking Bad is cool.

Anonymous said...

Good luck on looking after the ankle bitter. That will make going to work a walk in the park by comparision.