I quite often listen to R5 Live through the night and the guy who presents it gets people talking about all sorts of topics such as their favourite music etc so I thought that I would get those of you who are avid readers to talk about the best books they have read. To start the thing off I thought I should list my five and they are: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (a book about market economics and not war at all) Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (a book about how once some things are in motion some they are unstoppable) House of Spirits by Isobela Allende (about thuggery, corruption and politics) Tess of the Dubervilles by Thomas Hardy (a book about the abuse of women) Germinal by Emile Zola (a book about poverty and the exploitation of labour) I would be very interested to find out what other people read and hopefully I might be excited enought to read some of the books people mentiuon.
My favourite books are generally the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's been a while since I've read some of them but I particularly liked: Monstrous Regiment Sourcery Pyramids Reaper Man Going Postal Making Money etc To be fair most of them are good
Heart Of Darkness - Joseph Conrad The Magus - John Fowles The Kon Tiki Expedition - Thor Heyerdahl Disgrace - J M Coetzee Perfume - Patrick Suskind
I genuinely want to read it to see what the fuss is about, but I feel I'll lose all of the little masculinity I have. I don't actually love Twilight and I have no intention to read it, I saw half an hour of the movie and wanted to put my foot through the screen so I think reading it would push me over the edge. 50 Shades, though, I'm intrigued.
You'll be wasting your time. It's just an excuse for women to enjoy porn while pretending they're just enjoying some literature.
You see women on trains with it though. I wonder if it'll ever be acceptable for a guy in a suit to sit down on a train and just pull out a copy of Loaded or something.
I'm kinda intrigued about 50 shades as well, but apparently it's about S&M and I am totally not into that kinda ****.
I really enjoyed "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It had a very unusual writing style and was written in the first person (if I remember correctly) about a father and his 5 year old son trying to survive after an apocalyptic disaster. I read it at the time of it's release and as my son was 5, so I may have been drawn in to the story a little more because of that. I think it was a pulitzer prize winner.
I once nearly read War and Peace. If you've read it you will know that, as well as being very long, all characters have at least three names so you have to concentrate. I got within 2 chapters of the end and went on holiday. I never finished it and could never bear to start it again. I generally like thrillers, but just pick them up based on their blurb so don't follow any particular author, though I do like Grisham. Like the stories set abroad so enjoy translated books about foreign police forces, hence why I like Scandicrime on TV.
Narziss and Goldmund.. Hermann Hesse. Most of Hesse is excellent, very influential on my youthful development The Magus.. John Fowles. A novel that stands out, breaking new ground. Should be read on a Mediterranean holiday. Vanity Fair.. William Thackeray. I've always liked 19th century novels where satire eats at the edges. Vanity Fair does it in spades. The Secret Art of Stealing.. Christopher Brookmyre. The funniest book I've read in the last 20 years. Free at Last!.. Tony Benn.. The most insightful and touching political diary I've read, covering 1991-2001.
I used to love Enid Blyton. Not sure she knew too much about the diamond formation though. I can't wait for the season to start. "The 5 best books wot I have read".......... And this from someone who loves reading. I see we're all going for the intellectual ones when everyone knows its really John Grisham. Well done Fran. Of course, our younger contributors, if they are anything like my kids, won't know what a book is!
My mother used to say that reading was the important thing not what you read. You can learn something even from trash and she was right. People often ask me how I know so many facts and I always say a lifetime of reading. A lot of youngsters have the reading speed of small children and therefore they complain that books are slow. I sometimes see a film and think I bet this is a good book...I never think the reverse. Rant over
In terms of easy every day reading, I love thrillers and my favourite author is Michael Connolly. His Harry Bosch series are great. When I was a young lad (song ??) I read the Willard Price Adventure books and they were fantastic. I am delighted that now my 11 year old son has started reading them and he is equally enthralled by the series.
Forgot Connolly..The Lincoln Lawyer...enjoyed a few of his books. May get one from Gatwick for my hols.
