There have been a lot of contenders for my favourite book such as the Tom Sharpe books, especially the South African based books like Riotous Assembly and all the Flashman novels by George McDonald Fraser (non pc so if you are easily upset on other peoples behalf then avoid them) but one book is head and shoulders above anything else for me and that is Catch 22. If you haven't read it yet then I envy you. Do any of you lot have recommendations for any books you have read? For the record, the worst book I would list is Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Stern. I was also disappointed with The catcher in the Rye by Salinger.
I have far too many books and not enough time too read - I don't have a favourite book but have lots of favourite authors , what I read depends on my mood or environment -atm reading the the dice man by George Cockcroft (tells the story of a psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice)it was recommended to me by a friend - but I'm struggling with it tbh -I generally tend to read fact more than fiction -I have certain books and authors that I regularly go back to when I'm tired or stressed- knowing I don't have to think about them too much because the dialogue is already in your psyche- it's pretty like much listening to an old mate.
Shoot To Kill - A Soldiers Journey Through Violence by Michael Asher. Pretty Boy by Roy Shaw. The Guv'nor by Lenny McClean. Not a big fan of fiction tbh.
Oscar Wilde's complete short fiction, A'Rebors by Joris Karl Huysman, Or possibly Confessions of an Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey.
I like Fantasy Science Fiction so my top pick would be..... The Bible. This one is definitely not for everyone as it is authored by numerous different authors. And has been transcribed from the original languages. Causing problems with consistency throughout the book. The basic storyline is actually very good. We have a bored omnipotent being, who decides to build a planet and huge Universe. (The main character called God) On this planet he places a man (Adam) in a garden that by the reading sounds better than Kew. Of course the man gets bored and asks God if he could have someone to play with. At this point the God character really shows his scientific knowledge by cloning a female from one of Adams ribs. Spoiler alert God doesn't put into his creations any concept of right and wrong and waits with glee until the female (Eve) gets the munchies and punishes them extremely harshly IMO when she eats an apple. You have to stretch your imagination a bit (as if God creating the immense Universe hasn't already,) as this couples descendants go on to populate the whole planet in a very short time scale.(Oh and try not to think about them having two sons first, I'm not sure whether the hinted at incest was intended.) No surprise one brother kills the other. (Rejection of homosexuality?) The story drags on a bit in parts, but livens up a bit when the villain appears, the cool named (Satan). Calling him the villain may seem odd as throughout the book he kills very few people. Whereas God commits genocide on a terrible scale killing and telling his worshippers to kill. (God even makes parents kill there own children! And in the battle scenes God tells his followers to kill everyone including babies) When this book was recommended to me, I was told it was about love and understanding, and caring for your fellows and loving the creator. What I found was a book about a sad bitter lonely old omnipotent being, that seemed to take great pleasure in making his creations lives as miserable as possible, who also got extremely angry if they didn't worship him. The authors introduce another character to add some love and caring amongst the horror of God's wrath namely God's Son. (Jesus) This character seems more caring and shows more love to the people than God did in the rest of the book. Strangely God lets ordinary people kill his Son, and does nothing about it. It's a big book with thousands of characters, some with the same name or very similar. Which makes for difficult reading at times, especially as large tracts of the book are repeated ad-infinitum with gaping plot holes and terrible grammar at times. (This may be down to the editor/proofreader a guy called King James, clearly he has been just an associate and not a professional editor/proofreader.) There are some funny passages to keep you entertained, such as a bloke (Noah) building a huge wooden boat with the help of his sons. Onto this boat they put numerous animals of EVERY species then God once again shows his true colours and wipes out every other living thing on the planet by covering the planet in water. Quite clearly the authors had no idea about scale, as the boat they describe wouldn't have even been big enough to load on the foodstuffs to keep everything fed. (This flood may explain why later in the book there are no more talking reptiles and multi headed animals.) I was expecting some great ending to The Bible with it being such a long book and to be honest it just fizzled out. And they never explained why the rest of the Universe was there. I hope for our sakes no one takes this book literally as all I could see it leading too is one hell of a lot of intolerance. Oh! after you finish the book the pages make great skins for joints.
On a more serious note my favourite book is the first grown-up book I ever read. "The loneliness of the long distance runner" Alan Sillitoe's collection of short stories. Lead to my love of reading. Worst? Dan Brown's rip offs.
Brilliant, summed up quite nicely, as you say a very good and thought provoking read but far too much begatting going on, if you take all that out its a great read
I'm wondering whether the God character allowed his Son to be killed as he didn't do any smiting and was to nice. Quite clearly the Satan character was more like God then Jesus.
The last book I read is usually my favourite. I'm currently reading Once Upon a Time, about Bob Dylan, by Ian Bell ........ hard work but fascinating. The previous was Mary Queen of Scots by Lady Antonia Fraser ..... biased as **** but I balanced it up by reading Elizabeth 1 by Anne Somerset.
Most of it is my own work but a few snippets could be off reviews on there I read ages ago. It was there I read the using the really fine paper for a joint to save money when you get bored with the book.
That'll be it, not nearly enough smiting, now if he'd smited somebody or something with an almighty smite like judas for example, things may have turned out better than the slowest most painfull death imaginable
In no particular order: Any of the Flashman books but particularly recommend Flashman and the Dragon Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (book that Apocalypse Now is based on) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 80-odd pages of '70s drug fuelled hedonism at its best, by Dr Gonzo himself - Hunter S Thompson Slightly O/T would be books you really want to read,have started but just can't finish........mine is Moby Dick by Melville. Really want to read it because love the film with Gregory Peck, but I've been trying now for around 11yrs, but for the life of me can't make it past half way..........BORING!
Brilliant comment MackemsRule. Two books which took me ages to read but were enjoyable: Margaret Mitchell's classic Gone with the wind (not the sequel, Back with the wind) Cervantes Don Quixote. Considering when it was written there is a fair bit of humour that still works.
I agree about Tom Sharpe, his RSA novels are satire at its finest. Otherwise if you just want a funny book, Tom does it every time I can also recommend any short stories by Roald Dahl for entertaining, light and often funny (quality!) reading I agree, the Bible is a great read, btw I'll throw in The Magus by John Fowles (the French Leitenant's Woman bloke), or The Collector if you like a really good read.
The Power and Glory - Graham Greene The Border Trilogy (it's actually three) - Cormac McCarthy Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey series. Seventeen I believe, widely considered the greatet historical novels of all time.
