Fave books/book reviews and recommendations

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

I shall kick off by suggesting Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck - it''s a delightful non fiction account of the great man''s travels around the USA in 1960, with his best friend a French Poodle called Charley. I''m too fecking idle to write a review here, but I would appreciate other posters suggestions for an absorbing read or two. Feel free to write reviews if you wish, or just leave a book list.

Currently I''m reading The Last Juror by John Grisham - it''s good in parts and bad in parts. I am going to read books by a wide variety of authors in future. From classics by writers such as Orwell or Dickens, to Stephen King or Daphne Du Maurier. When a book is good there are few more pleasurable experiences. I regret the fact that I went so many years reading nothing but newspapers and magazines. I only just started to read books again about 4 or 5 years ago. I have missed out on a lot of good (and bad!) books, and now I making up for lost time. C''est la vie!

 

[Willmeister 35]

The Emperor series by Conn Iggulden is a great read. 4 books which is a historical novel on the lives of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus. The rights have just been sold to a production company for them to be made in to a film. Currently reading his next series which is about the Mongol Khans starting obviosuly with Genghis Khan.

[Herman 9,869]

Can''t find my way past crime and thriller books yet.RJ Ellory and George Pelecanos particular faves at the moment.

Has anybody found their way to Kindle or,like me,still prefer the feel of paper?

[Aggy 766]

Willmeister, have you read any Robert Harris novels?Imperium and Lustrum (and an as of yet unpublished third which continues to be delayed) focuses on the life of Cicero but deals with a lot of the politics around Julius Caesar''s rise and fall. His other stuff Pompeii and Fatherland (the best of the bunch in my opinion) are also pretty good, and the likes of Enigma and Ghost are worth a read if you''re into that sort of genre. All go down the thriller route (Fatherland being an alternative fiction in which the Nazis won the war, but it is still cleverly and historically researched to make an interesting and informative plot).

Down similar histo-thriller routes, Kate Mosse''s ''Labyrinth'' is superb and set in the beautiful Carcassonne, both in modern times and the Cathar-dominated twelfth century citadel. Sepulchre and Winter Ghosts are not as good, but again decent if you enjoy that sort of thing.

I''ve currently just finished Agent Zigzag, very good true-story read about a double agent in WW2, and now starting le Carre''s newest novel, Our Kind of Traitor.

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

[quote user="Herman "]

Can''t find my way past crime and thriller books yet.RJ Ellory and George Pelecanos particular faves at the moment.

Has anybody found their way to Kindle or,like me,still prefer the feel of paper?

[/quote]

It will always be paper for me. What is the point of Kindle?

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

I''ve just started Death on the Nile (Christie). So far it''s rather tedious, puerile writing, so I don''t know whether I shall persevere with it or not. Having read two of her books before, I rather wonder if she is somewhat overrated as a writer. She doesn''t do it for me anyway.

[nevermind, neoliberalism has had it 159]

[quote user="Julius Sieze-Her"]I''ve just started Death on the Nile (Christie). So far it''s rather tedious, puerile writing, so I don''t know whether I shall persevere with it or not. Having read two of her books before, I rather wonder if she is somewhat overrated as a writer. She doesn''t do it for me anyway.[/quote]Try easing into it by reading anything by Roald Dahl, you get pictures in some of his books, so there''s less chance of falling asleep.Just finished ''A thousand splendid suns'' by Khaled Hosseini who wrote the kite runner, its poignant and hard hitting, but also very emotional and soft with some of his characters, a good read. who knows whats next might re read '' murder in Samarkand'', a real life account of Craig Murray, ex ambassador to Uzbekistan, it will be fast,. you can''t put his book down its rivetting.

[PurpleCanary 5,611]

The spy thrillers by Alan Furst around the time of world war two. Some of the more recent one not so good, but The Polish Officer, Dark Star, Kingdom of Shadows and Dark Voyage highly recommended.

[Herman 9,869]

[quote user="Julius Sieze-Her"][quote user="Herman "]

Can''t find my way past crime and thriller books yet.RJ Ellory and George Pelecanos particular faves at the moment.

Has anybody found their way to Kindle or,like me,still prefer the feel of paper?

[/quote]

It will always be paper for me. What is the point of Kindle?

[/quote]

Not really sure.Looking at the costs of book downloads it''s not any cheaper to get one.

[Shack Attack 0]

Americn Gods by Neil GaimanA convict called Shadow gets released from prison and meets a mysterious man called Mr Wednesday who gets him involved in a war between the old gods worshipped for centuries in America after being brought over by various immigrant cultures and the new gods (TV, drugs, technology etc.). I won''t go into too much more detail for fear of spoiling the story but it really is an epic story and one of most well written books I have ever read. Plus it''s about to be made into a TV series by HBO so if you read it now you can lord it over those who have not read the book when it starts.If you like it and if we''re allowed any written works here I would also recommend the Sandman comics (or graphic novels if we must) by Gaiman as well. He''s one of our greatest living writers as far as I''m concerned.

[Gingerpele 0]

Fairly sure I mentioned it in one of these threads before, but The Lovely Bones. Best book i''ve ever read. Got so many books to read, but i''m thinking of starting that one again next. Its quite depressing in many ways, about a girl who is murdered and how her family deal with that and live on. Focus'' somewhat on her in Heaven, its just an inspired piece of writing, just thinking about it is giving me goosebumps. I actually think it works reading it after seeing the film as well, some books it doesn''t work that well, but I think the actors and the setting from the film really help you picture the story in your head.

Although i''ll probably read A star called Henry. Has anyone read that? I believe written by the writer of The Commitments (I should really remember his name, but can''t at the moment), personally from the sound of it (my Mum''s read it and told me about it) I think it''d make a great film (series, there are 3 books I think now), so i''m going to read it and then make the film :)

[SHRIMPER 328]

Roddy Doyle

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,699]

One of my favourite books has to be Ghost Map by Steve Johnson - a non-fiction about Victorian London, public health, cholera and sanitation. It sounds awful but is an excellently written piece on English history and how much life has changed in a relatively short amount of time.

 

If you are going to read Orwell I would start with Shooting and Elephant and Other Essays - allows you to dip in and out of Orwell''s work (which is sometimes a little too sanctimonious). Scoop by Evelyn Waugh is also fantastic and has a lot of relevance still these days.

 

I couldn''t talk about books without bringing up the person I consider to be the greatest living writter at the moment Murakami Haruki - not the most accessable writer but Norwegian Wood is one of the greatest ''coming of age'' books ever written and I would recommend it to anyone. 

[SHRIMPER 328]

A non fiction book that I have read many time is about the "death Railway" as it is sometimes referred to. It is called "The RailwayMan" by Eric Lomax. Having been to many of the sites in Thailand and Burma that are referred to in this book it gives you are tiny bit of understanding what these young men went through. I say a tiny bit because we will never know the real terror and pain. The book is now being made into a film.

[hexem 0]

A relative-in-law came back. He never left his house or spoke much again.He just looked out of the window for the next 40 years.Before the war he was a bit of a rake with sportscars. Stuff happens.I know Shrimper that I bang on about old times.I have a copy of a film of the Kokoda Trail battles.The trail started just beyond my stilted bungalow on a hillside outside Port Moresby.I was astonished on visiting the new ANZAC memorial a few years ago. @ Hyde Park.Standing next to a more grizzled person we were both shocked by the 2 backpackerswho were pointing to a map of PNG. "Why have they put that here?"We both spoke.  They had no idea what we were talking about.!0,000 Japanese forces had landed and were heading for Darwin. And south.(In usual form the great Australian & New Zealand forces & pilots were involved over Dover,Tobruk etc.),The forces to stop them were just guys allocated to unload shipsand they were suddenly given guns and told to head over a mountain. They battled mud, illness, scorpions,spiders,otherwise the plan to split the Pacific would have got through.They won.I think it might have been bad news as the victors would have got the steel and other bits that keptplanes in the air from Australia.hex.(I will check out the book),ce

[SHRIMPER 328]

[quote user="hexem"]

I know Shrimper that I bang on about old times.

[/quote]

I look forward to the future ce but I live in the past, it is all we have really.