The Book Thread...

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KooPeeArr

KooPeeArr

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2011
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Ipswich
Queenslander hinted at a book thread so here we go... Top 5 contenders please.

I must confess that I'm not a very booky person and spent the first half of my life avoiding the things. I'm also a very slow reader (disappointingly for me). Here we go anyway...

1. The Count of Monte Christo - Dumas. Timelessly brilliant.
2. 1984 - Orwell. It doesn't carry the commie relevance that it did in my student days but I find the periphery like the dumbing down of the language very applicable to today's society.
3. Foundation Trilogy -Asimov. Sorry, I am a bit of a geek.
4. Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky. If you only read a few books then you might as well read classics.
5. Catch 22 - Heller. Made me laugh despite the bleak theme about the futility of war.

Honourable mentions to the Lord of the Rings and Godfather books.

Non-fiction choices welcome too (I study and need escapism from my serious side as a rule).
 
Was gonna put Catch 22 in my list too,but i'll leave it out now and go for:
1.Catcher in the Rye
2.The one that got away
3.Syd Barrett(Crazy Diamond)
4.The Time Machine
5.Oliver Twist
 
1. If This Is A Man - Primo Levi
2. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson
3. Lark Rise To Candleford - Flora Thompson
4. Cider With Rosie - Laurie Lee
5. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
 
1. The Power Of One,
2. Mike Tyson Biography
3. Cane & Abel
4. The Dark Half - king
5. Daley Thompson biography

Could not get my head around catcher in the Rye even after reading twice..

I'll expect Flyer to start with Janet and john Blue book 1!
 
In no particular order:

Animal Farm - George Orwell
Dracula - Bram Stoker
War of the Worlds - HG Wells
Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
Big Fry - Barry Fry Autobiography

Many of the classics are worth reading because they encapsulate the language of the period, HG Wells' books perhaps more than most and give an insight into a totally different set of values. I prefer reading autobiographies these days, but of people that have actually lived a life...
 
In Cold Blood ... Truman Capote
True Blue...the story of the Oxford Cambridge boat race rebellion
Lord of the Flies
Catcher in the Rye

and "We are Premier League" cause my name is in it


Cannot wait for Oddballs selection......4 French classics and a Nietzche??????????????/
 
1) The Bible - even Richard Dawkins endorses it as an essential read.
2) Lord of the Rings
3) The Poet. Michael Connelly.
4) Rainbow Six. Tom Clancy. Brilliant adrenaline rush.
5) A Short History of Everything
 
1. Through the Garden Gate - a Janet and John book.
2. Hurrah for Little Noddy - by Enid Blyton.
3. Bunnykins Picnic Party - a Ladybird book.
4. Thomas the Tank Engine - by The Rev. W. Awdry.
5. The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck - by Beatrix Potter
 
Catch 22 tried it 3 times as everyone goes on about it, unreadable crap.

If you want a classic try Steinbeck.
 
I know it's trashy, but I'm about to finish the Hunger Games trilogy. And it's taken me 2 bloody weeks, and when I close that final page, I know a little part of me will cry. It's a hell of a page turner.

Those books aside, and in no particular order:

To kill a Mockingbird
The 3 Musketeers
On the Beach - superb end of the world book
Anything by David Gemmell - a superb character writer
The pillars of the Earth - again, exquisite characters, and a setting so rich that you think you're living in the 1500's

Honorable mentions to Bernard Cornwall, Tom Clancy and Richaard North Patterson (not to be confused with James Patterson.... RNP's a much better author)
 
Rangers Til I Die said:
1) The Bible - even Richard Dawkins endorses it as an essential read.
Click to expand...

Same 1), although not through recommendation by Mr Dawkins.

2) Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy's best.
3) Vintage Stuff - Tom Sharpe's finest and funniest
4) Anything by P G Wodehouse, particularly Blandings stories
5) Moonraker, by Ian Fleming. Actually all the Fleming novels show you Bond in a way that the movies post-Thunderball just don't.

Oh, and you have no idea how delighted I am to see a lot of posts and (until now) not a mention of that bloody Harry Potter kid....
 
West London Willy said:
Same 1), although not through recommendation by Mr Dawkins.

2) Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy's best.
3) Vintage Stuff - Tom Sharpe's finest and funniest
4) Anything by P G Wodehouse, particularly Blandings stories
5) Moonraker, by Ian Fleming. Actually all the Fleming novels show you Bond in a way that the movies post-Thunderball just don't.

Oh, and you have no idea how delighted I am to see a lot of posts and (until now) not a mention of that bloody Harry Potter kid....
Click to expand...

Agree with you on 1) but Red Storm Rising was just a bit too ponderous IMO with slightly too much build up and not enough action to break it up. Still a thumping good read and would not be much between that and Rainbow Six. Any other Clancy fans?
 
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

This Earth of Mankind - Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Child of all Nations - Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Footsteps - Pramoedya Ananta Toer

House of Glass - Pramoedya Ananta Toer
 
I would have mentioned Clancy of someone else hadn't beaten me to it - and Red Storm Rising is my favourite.

If you want something in a similar ilk, try Dale Brown :)
 
Now this is right up my street. Books. One of the best things on Earth. I s favourite the same as best? Not to me, so I'll go for favourites

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

A Fraction Of The Whole - Steve Tolz

Anna Karenina - Tolstoy

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Giggler Treatment - Roddy Doyle
 
1) spot the dog
2) smurfs
3) mr men books
4) little quacks
5) thomas to tank engine
granchildren loves them especially spot the dog youngest does.
 
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

The Go Between - LP Hartley

Morpho Eugenia (Angels and Insects) - A.S Byatt
 
jeffranger said:
1) spot the dog
2) smurfs
3) mr men books
4) little quacks
5) thomas to tank engine
granchildren loves them especially spot the dog youngest does.
Click to expand...

<laugh>

Mine would be:
1. Harry Potter
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Of Mice and Men
4. A game of Thrones (series)
5. Roald Dahl books :D
 
1) All the original Sherlock Holmes novels

2) Lord of The Rings (all 3)

3) The Hobbit

4) Stan the Man (Stan Bowles)

5) Any Dirk Pitt story by Clive Cussler (good trashy adventure)
 
QPRtheyoungone said:
<laugh>

Mine would be:
1. Harry Potter
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Of Mice and Men
4. A game of Thrones (series)
5. Roald Dahl books :D
Click to expand...
Well, you're young so you have to read this crap before you get onto the good stuff. Stewart Lee far more eloquent than me on Harry Potter

[video=youtube;ARa2eQ4Rqk0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARa2eQ4Rqk0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

And to save yourself half a lifetime, this is an excellent summary of Lord of the Rings, and better written. I am deeply suspicious of any book of that length, which I imagine is set over quite a lengthy time period, and no one seems to even think of sex, let alone have any. JRR Tolkien, funny name, funny dude.

[video=youtube;c0lHNCiiXGo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0lHNCiiXGo&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

Good luck with the GCSE results, and ignore old gits like me, read whatever you want but keep doing it - it's good for the soul.
 
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