SIR - Commenting on Salman Rushdie's knighthood, Mike Priestley asks: "hands up those who have read one of his books" (North of Watford , June 23).
Sorry, but I am reaching skywards! I am a fan.
Frankly, I am astonished that Mike and some of your correspondents should portray him as an obscure, unheeded scribbler. In reality he is a commanding literary figure, with plaudits echoing world wide.
Winner of the Whitbread Prize (twice), his Booker Prize novel Midnight's Children is, I believe, one of the outstanding books of the last 25 years and, but for the Satanic Verses furore, the Nobel Prize must surely have been his for the taking.
He is not an "easy read", but neither are Beethoven's last quartets easy listening. Yet both, given a little thought and concentration, ultimately yield immensely rewarding and enjoyable experiences. Much needed amid the dumbed down dross which characterises so much of our modern "culture".
So come on, folks, give Sir Salman a whirl. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley
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