Reply With QuoteI'm 200 pages into the first book of the Stig Larsson trilogy and enjoying it very much.
Eddie
Another Robert Rankin fan here!Originally Posted by mrteatime
However, i've just started 'Operation Mincemeat' by Ben Macintyre. What a glorious book! I could give you random quotes like the fact one of the hero's decided to invent a spy called James Bond after the war, another was bored one weekend so he invented Table Tennis! If the rest of the book is as good as the first four chapters, i'm going to be hunting more of Mr Macintyre's titles down!
I'm 200 pages into the first book of the Stig Larsson trilogy and enjoying it very much.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I've got that lined up to read next - I don't read much fiction but I've heard a lot of good things about that trilogy and thought it would be worth checking out.
I've just read this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Empire-Clouds-B ... 220&sr=1-1
Excellent read, very much popular history and borders on the polemical at times, but it deals well with a fascinating (and actually rather depressing) part of our recent history. It did prompt me to look out for a 50s RAF watch though, which as if by magic appeared on SC almost immediately.
can someone recommend me a good book or two? i like travel and adventure books, like 'travelling light' the travel book by robyn davidson, who set off across australia with some camels, 'travels on my elephant' by mark shand , 'places in between' by rory stewart who walked across afghanistan, 'seven years in tibet' by harrer, 'into thin air' by krakauer as well as the other books written about the same expeditions on everest at the time, to gain a bit of perspective. i once read a stunning book by some guys trying to sail into the arctic circle, i think it was some russian guys but i cant remember who it was by, sometimes autobiographies, i like memoirs like 'one fourteenth of an elephant' . ive got a copy of dalrymples 'holy mountain' on the way, and think ill give 'diver' by tony groom a pop, any other suggestions?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
How about Paddy Leigh Fermor?
ive had him reccomended to me before, which one woould you reccomend?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Have you been on the bottle :wink:ive had him reccomended to me before, which one woould you reccomend?
dunk
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
no dunk im at work, we're not allowed to drink hereHave you been on the bottle :wink:ive had him reccomended to me before, which one woould you reccomend?
dunk
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
the polar explorer book i thought was by a german bloke was actually ' farthest north' by nansen, bloody briiliant. i also really liked anything by alexandra david - neel that i could get my hands on. quite a remarkable woman.
ive just ordered full tilt by dervla murphy, we die alone by howarth, from the holy mountain by dalrymple, and the road to oxiana by byron.
on the hit list is - sting of the scorpion by morgan, the long walk by rawicz, annapurna by herzog, silent world by cousteau ( read this before when i was a kid and loved it ) and letters and notes by catlin.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
An excellent choice Dave, mine is on loan at the moment but, if you drop me a PM to remind me of your address, you can borrow mine if you like bud. :wink: Have you tried 'Call of the Wild' by Guy Grieve? Thats a bit of an eye opener.
cheerrs beefy, much apprecited :thumbleft:
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Anything is worth reading, although a good place to start could be A Time of Gifts. Mani is very good as well, possibly a little more niche than the former, but his elegant and erudite writing makes pretty much anything fascinating.ive had him reccomended to me before, which one woould you reccomend?
3 men in a boat
jerome k jerome
there's a drama/documentary on bbc2 next week with ben macintyre about the book and it looks as good as the book sounds (if that makes sense - it's peroni night :drunken: ).i have the book but haven't got round to reading it yetAnother Robert Rankin fan here!
However, i've just started 'Operation Mincemeat' by Ben Macintyre. What a glorious book! I could give you random quotes like the fact one of the hero's decided to invent a spy called James Bond after the war, another was bored one weekend so he invented Table Tennis! If the rest of the book is as good as the first four chapters, i'm going to be hunting more of Mr Macintyre's titles down!
cheers,mick
I just finished the John Buchan omnibus of the Richard Hannay novels: The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915); Greenmantle (1916); Mr Standfast (1919); The Three Hostages (1924)
The Courts of the Morning (1929); and The Island of Sheep (1936). Good stuff.
Best wishes,
Bob
PS The third, Mr Standfast, has motivated me to download Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, which I've never read (or can't remember reading).
RLF
Just finished "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and I'm keen to continue reading the next book.
I also finished reading the dictionary again and for those of you who haven't alread read it, this post contains a spoiler.
It was an enthralling read and you don't discover that the Zulu did it until the last page.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Totally hooked on Lee Child's Jack Reacher books, very good read with lots of twists and turns along with some humour and fantastic detail 8)
Cheers
Simon
Ralph Waldo Emerson: We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.
the jack reacher books are excellent,one of the most consistently great series of books out there.i've enjoyed every one of them and the logic that he uses to solve the problems is fantastic,great stuff :D
cheers,mick
:D sounds cool....im in town on weds so will pick tha up :DAnother Robert Rankin fan here!
However, i've just started 'Operation Mincemeat' by Ben Macintyre. What a glorious book! I could give you random quotes like the fact one of the hero's decided to invent a spy called James Bond after the war, another was bored one weekend so he invented Table Tennis! If the rest of the book is as good as the first four chapters, i'm going to be hunting more of Mr Macintyre's titles down!
got this in one of those 3 for £10 deals......and was quite surprised :D
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ratcatcher-J.../dp/0007212666
Papillon again.
i'm about halfway through this now and it's fantastic and some of the random facts that keep getting thrown in are laugh out loud funny.
anyone interested,there is a drama on at 9.30 sunday http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wllmb
btw the guy who invented table tennis also founded the cheese eater's league :D ,the london film society with sidney bernstein,went to hollywood with his friend charlie chaplin and produced films for alfred hitchcock and then spied for the russians in world war 2 :lol:
cheers,mick
"Getting Things Done" by David Allen
If the definition of a good book is one that changes your life then this one did it for me.
Not bedtime reading though!
Half way through the 3rd of the Millennium trilogy .... "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" "The Girl who played with fire" ...... and ... "The Girl who kicked the hornet's nest" by Stieg Larsson ...
Buy all 3 at the same time unless you will be left in a void until you can continue the series ...... superb !
I've about halfway through The Pilgrim's Progress and am enjoying it more than I expected.
Even in "old fashioned" literature/art there is linking; it isn't a new invention from the web at all. A Hitchcock movie, The Thirty-Nine Steps, got me to the original Buchan book, The Thirty-Nine Steps, this got me to another of his Hanny spy/adventure novels, Greenmantle, which led to Mr Standfast, which led to The Pilgrim's Progress. (Another sort of pilgrimage?)
Best wishes,
Bob
Halfway through "Any Old Iron" by Anthony Burgess.
Once you get used to the punctuation (or lack thereof), it's a cracking tale, funny in places and dark in others.
For those who like the Jack Reacher novels look out for "The Bricklayer" by Noah Boyd (I think) and a title called "the Cleaner" by Brett Battles
I have just finished Moss Keane's autobography Rucks, Mauls & Gaelic Football. Quite a few funny anecdotes and a very readable account of his life on the pitch - warmly recommended.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
I finished the Stieg Larsson trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed them. I also watched the Swedish version of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (dubbed, not subtitled) and found it quite true to the book as far as it went but missed a few interesting but relatively unimportant parts of the story out. It will be interesting to see what Hollywood and Daniel Craig does with this, I can't imagine it being quite as "dark".
I'm now waiting for the two latest books from Stuart McBride, he never disappoints.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Yes Man - Danny Wallace - Brilliant
Women - Charles Bukowski - Good
The Man in the Whote Suit - Alright
My last few books (all Kindle editions) were:
Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds. Excellent scifi.
The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson. Found it intensely irritating and quit halfway through. First book I have abandoned for over a decade.
The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry. Thought it was OK but unlike the majority of readers I liked him less by the end of it (too much name dropping and overdone self loathing)
Room - Emma Donoghue. Very good.
Spellwright - Blake Charlton. Unusual and quite entertaining.
Currently reading the original Bram Stoker Dracula. Halfway through and enjoying it very much.
I have that one on my Kindle as well, I think it was a freebie iirc. I'll have to give it a go.
Just finished the Commonwealth series of ebooks by Peter F. Hamilton, excellent reading.
I didnt include this as I got half way through and could not take it anymore. The name dropping didn’t bother me, to be honest I didn’t notice. But the self loathing, apologising for it, noting that he realises his life is a lot better than most, followed by more self loathing and all of the going on and on about not liking him self proved too much.
Well, that and I got pished and left a bag of ice next to it on the kitchen counter when I went to bed.
:lol: Quality. Sounds like you.
...best not buy a Kindle then.
Pappillon. If it wasn't a true story you wouldn't believe it...
Have just finished “No Way Down” by Graham Bowley.
It’s the story of the climbing disaster on K2 in 2008 when a number of climbers were killed coming down the mountain after successfully reaching the summit.
Very moving.
Sean
almost anything by iain banks or his sci fi alter ego iain m banks
highly recommended:
iain banks
a song of stone
the bridge
the crow road
espedair street
iain m banks
against a dark background
excession
the player of games
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
Ha! I'm also a big fan of Iain Banks after reading the superbly odd and dark "The Wasp Factory" many years ago. I've read all his books (except his travel books) and enjoyed them all, loved some of the sci fi. Player of Games is superb.
Just finished reading 'Friends Like These' by Danny Wallace. Was a great book about a guy tracking down old school friends, really funny and quite apt for me anyway (similar age/lifestyle).
2/3rds the way through it at the moment, again brilliant especially if you are in your early 30s.
Say yes (read) Yes Man!
i've just finished the 'jitterbug perfume' by Tom Robbins and its definately on my list of favourite books. I wont attempt to explain the plot, i will leave that to wikipedia :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitterbug_Perfume
Well worth a read. An intelligent plot, a good dusting of light erotica (to keep us blokes happy) and a load of very interesting characters.
Wow! A master of disguise!
Another Ian M Banks fan here - The Culture series is the best Sci-Fi I've read.
Currently reading 'Why does E=mc2 ?' by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw - entertaing and really gets your brain working
Just finished reading The Wasp Factory - excellent book...I should have read this years ago!Ha! I'm also a big fan of Iain Banks after reading the superbly odd and dark "The Wasp Factory" many years ago. I've read all his books (except his travel books) and enjoyed them all, loved some of the sci fi. Player of Games is superb.
Superfreakonomics.......superb. :)
I've just finished Use of Weapons - wow what a book, probably tops player of games. The culture novels are great and am loving working through them!!!Just finished reading The Wasp Factory - excellent book...I should have read this years ago!Ha! I'm also a big fan of Iain Banks after reading the superbly odd and dark "The Wasp Factory" many years ago. I've read all his books (except his travel books) and enjoyed them all, loved some of the sci fi. Player of Games is superb.
I can highly recommend Apache and Hellfire by Ed Macy.
If you like real word afganistan fighting books, and/ or flying - these are really brilliant.
sorry if it's been mentioned before - if you've read them, have you read anything else in the same vein? would love to find more!
Yeah, had seen the film and hadn't realised 'til halfway through the book that it was the same writer - quite similar themes if you think about it.
On that note I knew a 'Big D' at Uni in Glasgow, would be funny if you were the same one :D
Lee Child's Trip Wire featuring my latest hero Jack Reacher................ Brilliant !
Cheers
Simon
Ralph Waldo Emerson: We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical.
Well this is a popular post. Perhaps another forum member has already posted this comment, I have not read all 50 odd pages.
However, Radio 5live 'Up All Night' presented by Dotun Adebayo has weekly feature where listeners phone in describing their favourite book, at the end of the feature one book is elected to join or replace another on the virtual bookshelf. Heres the link to the program and list of books currently on the shelf. It's great listening too so worth catching up on or downloading.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0070h86
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