Book recommendations - help needed

Walkers Crisp

Nobody's Nothing
I'm desperately in need of good reading material, but at the moment I have no clue as to what to buy. So I'm hoping to get inspired by your input: What are your must-read choices? Favourite books? Worst reads? Suggestions for both fiction/non-fiction are welcome.

Ta! :)

(Please don't merge this with the "What Are You Reading......." thread).
 
Some recommendations in here

I also recommend 'A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane' by Barry Yourgrau.
 
Carlos ruis Zafon has a new novel out The Angels Game, it will be my next read. His previous venture The Shadow in the Wind was ace. 50 Billion Spaniards can't be wrong it out sold everything ever in spain, Dark brooding tales set in old Barcelona wonderfully written.
 
I strongly recommend the works of Guy de Maupassant, I find many of his stories very thought-provoking.

Also in an entirely different vein, anything by Isaac Asimov, he had a very cool way of explaining the mechanics of the universe, from the smallest sub-atomic particles to substring theory and everything in between, without confusing readers who may not be trained physicists, astrophysicists, cosmologists, chemists, biologists, etc.
 
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Last year I read a book by Stephen Fry, titled Making History. It's a brilliant sci-fi or something of a kind, and it has everything: history, science, humour, love. It's very thought-provoking as well.
 
Carlos ruis Zafon has a new novel out The Angels Game, it will be my next read. His previous venture The Shadow in the Wind was ace. 50 Billion Spaniards can't be wrong it out sold everything ever in spain, Dark brooding tales set in old Barcelona wonderfully written.
Cant wait to read that, Shadow in the Wind was amazing. Time Travellers Wife is also a bit special.
 
Hello! Anything by these authors:

1. Haruki Murakami (brilliant Japanese author. My favorite book of his- "Norwegian Wood" & "Underground".
2. Martin Amis- the funniest book ever, "Money" and "London Fields"
3. Anything by Iris Murdoch.
4. "Morvern Callar" by Alan Warner
5. "The House Of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski (Very very scary book.)
6. "Forensics- A Guide For Writers" by D.P. Lyle, M.D. (I usually read a lot of nonfiction and found this to be really fascinating.
7. "The New Diary" by Tristine Rainer- also nonfiction.

Anything by Paul Bowles, Cormac McCarthy, Henry Miller, Anais Nin, etc.

P.S. Also, if you want a good laugh, get "Me Talk Pretty Someday" (anything by David Sedaris.)
 
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The 4 Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.
 
IMHO, Murakami's 'Underground' is too heavy for holiday read.
I couldn't help crying when I was reading it in coach on the way back from Manchester to London after visiting my friends.

Very talented Vetnamise director Tran Anh Hung (A Scent of Green Papaya, Cyclo, At the Height of Summer) is shooting adoptation of Nowegian Wood in Japan at the moment.
 
Last year I read a book by Stephen Fry, titled Making History. It's a brilliant sci-fi or something of a kind, and it has everything: history, science, humour, love. It's very thought-provoking as well.

Absolutely seconded. Stephen Fry is a wonderful writer.

Oh, and The World According to Garp is one of the best books I've ever read.
 
John Robb's new book on Manchester music 1976 - 96 called ''The North Will Rise Again'' (includes contributions from Morrissey & Marr)
Or the updated ''Morrissey's Manchester'':thumb:

Jukebox Jury
 
This is the best book I've read in the past three years. It was her debut novel, and she doesn't seem to have written anything since. Debut novels are often the most brilliant; it's everything bursting to get out.
It's really dark, but really damn good.
It's about a couple who have a baby but don't love it, so they just torture it instead. The weird part is, you kind of get inside their heads.
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I just thought of 2 books in particular -

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

It's about a guy named Richard Proenneke, who retired from his job and moved to Alaska, built himself a cabin with his own hands, and proceeded to live there for about 30 years till he was in his 70s. The book is basically his journal of how he went about learning to survive in Alaska, learned to build his cabin, it makes for a really good, interesting read.

amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Annivers/dp/0882405136

or read about him on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke


Another good book is The SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea. It was written by a former SAS soldier, and makes for great reading for a few minutes at the time or however long you'd like. It's packed full of cool useful stuff regarding the different aspects of survival.

amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/SAS-Survival-Handbook-John-Wiseman/dp/0002171856

I own both these books and they make great additions to one's library :thumb:
 
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Cant wait to read that, Shadow in the Wind was amazing. Time Travellers Wife is also a bit special.

Agreed time travellers wife, great story. Wonder whatever happened to the film they were making, i heard a studio paid a fortune for the rights to make the movie ages ago but not heard anything since.
 
Agreed time travellers wife, great story. Wonder whatever happened to the film they were making, i heard a studio paid a fortune for the rights to make the movie ages ago but not heard anything since.

comes out later this year

 
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Jake Arnott is a good British writer.

And apparently friends with Morrissey as well....?

Arnott did an interview & photoshoot for London TimeOut in 2004 with Morrissey. Morrissey was photographed outside "The English Martyr's Club" in East London which was Arnott's idea (I believe). Arnott is now married to a British novelist Stephanie Theobold.

His books are:

- True Crime.
- Long firm.
- He Kills Coppers (The Best!)
- Johnny Come Home (2nd Best)
- Devil's Paintbrush (The latest - 2009)

It's quite difficult to to describe his books but they are very very interesting.
Think Dusty Springfield, 60's London, drugs, mods, world cup, corrupted ("bent") London police, The Krays, gays, glam rock, 70's, travellers, Soho, crime, etc.

David Bowie has been an avid reader. 2 of Arnott's books were made into TV series in the UK.

You can easily get the paperbacks on eBay for about £2.00. each.:thumb::thumb:
 
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