Books

finchy

For such an intelligent group of people, I can't remember a single thread about books in all my time using BR. So what are your favourites and least favourites (fiction)?

My favourites would have to be Dracula (which I've read 7 times now), 1984 and Day of the Triffids. Moving into more modern times I like Peter Hoeg's books, especially the Woman and the Ape.

I started reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code to please my girlfriend, but after 30 pages I just could not read one more line of that bullshit pseudo-intellectual, "oh, let's mention some intelligent people from the past, then the readers will think they're clever" pile of w@nkcheese.

davis

johnfinch wrote:

I started reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code to please my girlfriend, but after 30 pages I just could not read one more line of that bullshit pseudo-intellectual, "oh, let's mention some intelligent people from the past, then the readers will think they're clever" pile of w@nkcheese.

His other books are worse.


I'm not even kidding.
No, I'm not sure why I read them, either.

guilliano

All of Dan Brown's books are just easy reading. They may pretend to be intelligently researched but they are there just to entertain commuters on the train.

I loved 1984, as I loved Animal Farm. I love almost anything by Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Mario Puzo and a lot of Stephen King. Most of the Vampire Chronicles novels by Anne Rice are fantastic reads, as is A Handmaid's Tale (can't remember the author). I like a lot of Robert Ludlum books as easy reading, same with Andy McNab and Bernard Cornwell. The recent phenomenon of the Twilight books was a good read if you just want entertainment too.

BeaconRuth

johnfinch wrote:

For such an intelligent group of people, I can't remember a single thread about books in all my time using BR.

There was a thread a few months back which went on for several pages, and as usual I promised myself I'd go looking for some of the books other people recommended and as usual I didn't.....

I didn't have a strong negative reaction to the Da Vince Code like you, but I did wonder what all the fuss was about.

Anyone read the Steig Larsson trilogy "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" etc? I'm just finishing the 2nd one and they're a very good read. Not unlike a Frederick Forsyth novel but the main protagonist is more interesting and memorable.

Ruth

Pross

guilliano wrote:

All of Dan Brown's books are just easy reading. They may pretend to be intelligently researched but they are there just to entertain commuters on the train.

I loved 1984, as I loved Animal Farm. I love almost anything by Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Mario Puzo and a lot of Stephen King. Most of the Vampire Chronicles novels by Anne Rice are fantastic reads, as is A Handmaid's Tale (can't remember the author). I like a lot of Robert Ludlum books as easy reading, same with Andy McNab and Bernard Cornwell. The recent phenomenon of the Twilight books was a good read if you just want entertainment too.

Think I must have the same bookcase as you - McNab and Cornwell (mainly Sharpe, can't get into The Winter King) feature highly along with Chris Ryan (won't buy anymore out of protest to the way he wrote about his colleague in The One That Got Away which was later shown to be false). I also have quite a few of the Bond novels and the entire works of Dickens which I keep meaning to get through but only managed Great Expectations so far. Just started reading the Flashman novels which are a bit of very un PC fun. Also enjoy Dick Francis stuff. Recently read the Red Riding series which triggered my book thread a few months back- cleverly written, very bleak but left me a bit disappointed after all the comments I'd heard about them.

ratsbeyfus

johnfinch wrote:

For such an intelligent group of people... blah blah blah.

:shock: Have you read half the cr@p people like me write on these forums? If I could read a book without moving lips d'ya think I would be wasting my evenings on here!

jc4lab

..[

jc4lab

[quote
Anyone read the Steig Larsson trilogy "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" etc?Ruth[/quote]
Ever girl backpacker I meet on holiday seems to be reading this..?.Wonder why?Now a film but not released yet
Also went to Paris last year and went of a few guided bike rides(with Fatire which I recommend!)..You can now do a guided Da Vinci code walk/minibus tour of Paris..Ugh!

garrynolan

Just William books in school, then Robert Ludlum (far-fetched but fun) and recently The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime - aimed at teens but a really cracking read. Roddy Doyle is good and Ross O'Kelly-Carroll (if you're up with how Dublin is divided, very, very funny and not PC).

dennisn

Favorites???
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
Point-Counterpoint - Huxley
Tobacco Road - Caldwell
I Claudius - Can't come up with his name right now
A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
Nostromo - Conrad
QBVII - Leon Uris

To name but a few

rml380z

jc4lab wrote:

Anyone read the Steig Larsson trilogy "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" etc?
Ever girl backpacker I meet on holiday seems to be reading this..?.Wonder why?Now a film but not released yet

There's a Swedish version of this film out already, and it is excellent, although the subtitles may put off some people.
I found the book dull and uninspiring and gave up after a few chapters.

Sirius631

I've read all Issac Asimov's robot books and collections. 'The Robots of Dawn' goes down as my favourite.

rick_chasey

Just finished Naked by David Sedaris.

Was excellent. Mostly.

rick_chasey

johnfinch wrote:

For such an intelligent group of people, I can't remember a single thread about books in all my time using BR.

Reading books and being intelligent aren't necessarily related... :P

However:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ight=books

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ight=books

Cleat Eastwood

I have been mostly rreading

Rousseaus Confessions...profoundly moving
The History of the world in 10.5 chapters...powerfully complex meditations on the effects of the ol dtestament
The invincible Jeeves...hilarity incarnate

And things I always have on the go

****Poooo Ems
Better than God- Peter Porter (who sadly died this year, so it'll be his last work)
Duino Elegies- Rilke...as dictated by angels...genius of the highest order.
Collected Poems Tony Harrison...doing what demosthenes could not
Two Cures for Love- Wendy Cope...wendys take on the lighter side of mating

*****Plays
Making Noise Quietly ..robert HOLMAN...he should be more widly read/performed
Strawberry Fields...poliakoff...stil struggling with polly olly lolly tics eh ste
Kafka's Dick...alan bennet...super but let down by last scene
Saved...the mighty edward bond
Line 'Em...nigel williams...stop the novels nige, tv scriptwriters need you
Stars...stephen lowe...where are you ste?
Prickly Heat..simon donald...how it all seemed so easy back then
The Physicists durenmat...clever euro liberalism...I am einstein...
Hysteria...Terry Johnson...what did you do in the womb daddy


Wendy Copes two cures for love by the way are....
1. Don't see him. Don't phone or write a letter.
2. The easy way: get to know him better

Wendy Cope should live inside of everyones head.

skyd0g

Coming up for Air and Keep the Aspidistra Flying both by George Orwell are good reads.
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehardt.
2001 series by Arthur C Clarke.
Bill Bryson books (yet to read one I didn't like).
Asimov books are also good if you like a bit of sci-fi.

brin

Busy reading Conn Iggluden's trilogy The Conqueror Series:
Read the 1st 2 of quartet - Emperor Series: still waiting to buy the other 2, very good.
Working my way through John Grishams books, good author but a bit to descriptive at times, Read most of Frederick Forsyths, enjoy his factual based novels.
Don't bother much with horror stuff now, herbet/king were good at 1st but found i was putting their books down unfinished.
Have a read of Harper Lee's - To Kill A Mocking Bird
As for Dan Browns Divinci Code, don't know what all the fuss was about? even my dog gave up chewing it (and it was borrowed from a mate)

Bunneh

The charity shop I worked for had more copies of the DiVinci code than Waterstones. Found myself taking books from there and reading them, then giving them back - it was like a library with no time limit.

Tried a few Dean Koontz books bvut got bored. Read part of World War Z, got bored. Night Plague, got bored. So I started buying World War 2 history books and can read them until I nod off.

Sirius631

A fair time back, in a fit of intellectualism, I did battle my way through Dante's Inferno. No long, but just heavy going.

bartimaeus

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Underground Man - Mick Jackson
The Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
All the Aubrey/Maturin books - Patrick O'Brien

and many more

northernneil

I am seriously into Ian Fleming having only just discovered him. I grew up watching the Bond films and kind of never wanted to read the books but I canfully understand why they were made into films. His writing style and attention to detail is simply amazing.

If you have never read a bond book do so, they have a great 'hook-ability' so by half way through chapter one you really want to carry on to the end.

guilliano

I forgot about Bill Bryson..... good shout!

If you want a heavy read try Trainspotting...... reading in a thick Edinboro accent is hard work!

dennisn

northernneil wrote:

I am seriously into Ian Fleming having only just discovered him. I grew up watching the Bond films and kind of never wanted to read the books but I canfully understand why they were made into films. His writing style and attention to detail is simply amazing.

If you have never read a bond book do so, they have a great 'hook-ability' so by half way through chapter one you really want to carry on to the end.

I remember reading all the Bond novels when I was in the Navy(67-71). Most entertaining.

antfly

"The Cat In The Hat Comes Back" is a jolly good read but it`s best to read "The Cat In The Hat" first so you know what it`s all about.

1footedninja

Lightningbolt By Hyemeyohsts Storm
Stone Junction by Jim Dodge
The Rama Series of books by Arthur C Clarke
Anything Beat poet - On the road, Dharma bums, Naked Lunch etc
Neal Stephenson - Snowcrash and The Diamond age being particular faves.
Paul Auster - The music of chance, NY Trilogy, Moon Palace, Leviathan all being good to read
anything cyberpunk / sci-fi I usually like, William Gibson , Phillip K Dick, Douglas Coupland, Robert M Pirsig, Robert Anton WIlson, Timothy Leary, Bob Monkhouse

Yorkshirecoal

The red riding quartet by David Peace is a very good read. For anyone who likes Dan Brown style writing and story lines try Chris Kuzneski. Same type of religious mystery and action.

HonestAl

If you're into Sci Fi try Enders Game by Orson Scott Card then, if you've got the stamina follow it up with the second book in the series, Speaker for the Dead, to find out what happens next.

There are a couple more books in the series BUT rather than read them try Enders Shadow - where the first story is retold from one of the minor characters - and becomes a totally different tale, complete with it's own thread of follow ups. Enders Game and Enders Shadow are the "stand out" books in the pair of series though.

scwxx77

1footedninja wrote:

Neal Stephenson - Snowcrash and The Diamond age being particular faves.

Awesome! Him and Gibson my favourite authors and Cryptonomicon my favourite book.

Can't wait for the next Gibson book later in the year.

I haven't had free time to read much lately but I've been working my way through Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and some Haruki Murakami books.

ScaldedCat

Harry Potter

...anything Tolkien


Josie Dew's cycling books


Five Violins One Cello & a Genius by Toby Faber

Currently reading French Revolutions by Tim Moore, very good.

Anonymous

Stone City by Mitchell Smith.
Black Sunday and Red Dragon, Thomas Harris.
Spike milligans war books.
Red Dwarf and better than Life, Doug Naylor.
The Wrench, Primo Levi.

bilko

Fav book, read many times, Catch 22 - Joseph Haller, closely followed by 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Hitchhikers Guide set of books and of course anything Discworld. Lifes too short for King/Herbert/Dan Brown......