I don't know what to read next.

whiterob81 · 10-03-2009 4:09pm #1

Anyone got any recommendations? I'll read anything that isn't chick lit or comes in a pastel jacket

Locamon · 10-03-2009 4:47pm

whiterob81 wrote: »

Anyone got any recommendations? I'll read anything that isn't chick lit or comes in a pastel jacket

Not giving us a lot to go on -what kind of stuff have you read and enjoyed in the past?

GO_Bear · 10-03-2009 6:05pm

Why not try dabble into the warhammer 40k books ,

I went into them expecting the worst but was surprised at how i enjoyed them ( Bear in mind i do like the 40k universe , Have not played the tabletop game instead the computer games ) , I like a good series that is built up and all the books are related , something with no defined beginning or end ( this can also be linked to my liking of MMORPG's ) i also have a resentment for standalone books , Not saying there bad , just that the better one is the more i dislike it for giving us so much and not giving more ,

Anyways i am rambling on just try and visage the first books of the Wheel of time and take out the Egewene and Nynaene ( Forgive my spelling ) chapters , Thats how the books are shaping up for me at the moment :pac::pac:;)

Well for as much i have read ( which is not much xD )

No great place to start em but i would recommend the Horus Heresy series it basically shows where Chaos arose from which i a major force in all the other books

Fin
Ok you can flame me now

whiterob81 · 10-03-2009 6:09pm

Some of my favourite books are one flew over the cuckoo's nest, day of the triffids, confedracy of dunces, lord of the rings, the time traveller's wife, the motley crue autobiography, in cold blood

Like I've said, I'll read anything. any suggestion is welcome, if anyone's read anything decent lately that they think i or anyone else should check out, just post it here

Locamon · 10-03-2009 6:17pm

okay given the range...have you read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and with the sequel coming soon good to read this one now. Fiction but based on the authors actual experiences of escaping from prison in New Zealand and his subsequent adventures in India and Afghanistan. Brilliantly written saga for the modern age.

whiterob81 · 10-03-2009 6:22pm

Locamon wrote: »

okay given the range...have you read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and with the sequel coming soon good to read this one now. Fiction but based on the authors actual experiences of escaping from prison in New Zealand and his subsequent adventures in India and Afghanistan. Brilliantly written saga for the modern age.

thanks for that, i've heard shantaram's meant to be worth checkin out

not too sure about the warhammer books, don't really fancy gettin into a big series right now. but the suggestions very much appreciated

corkgal1981 · 10-03-2009 8:32pm

I recently read The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale - would recommend!

Blush_01 · 10-03-2009 9:39pm

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is pretty good, and the sequel is available now too. The third installment in the trilogy hasn't been published yet though, as far as I'm aware.

buck65 · 11-03-2009 9:49am

PS I Love yo.....

no really
Mister Pip - A L Jones
Christine Falls - Benjamin Black
Confederacy of dunces - J K Toole (only if like me you have a weird sense of humour)

c - 13 · 11-03-2009 9:52am

If you havent already read them and like fantasy - JRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I read them knowing nothing about them and absolutely loved them.

They're not "traditional" fantasy, books dont have a lot to do with magic and theres not the traditional good vs evil thing going on.

whiterob81 · 11-03-2009 11:41am

buck65 wrote: »

PS I Love yo.....

no really
Mister Pip - A L Jones
Christine Falls - Benjamin Black
Confederacy of dunces - J K Toole (only if like me you have a weird sense of humour)

PS I Love You? Well, if it's every bit as good as Samantha Who I'm on to a winner;)

Read Confederacy of Dunces a few years ago. It's a deadly book. Really enjoyed it. Loved the humour in it. Saw many little quirks in it that were just hilarious.

I think my brother (who funnily enough we call Pip) has a copy of Mr Pip in his flat. Must get a lend of it off him

Lizzykins · 11-03-2009 4:09pm

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. All about Dracula. Really good.

Mink · 11-03-2009 4:44pm

whiterob81 wrote: »

the motley crue autobiography

Anthony Keidis' (Red Hot Chilli Peppers front man for those who haven't been listening to music for 20+ yrs) bio is very very good. It's called Scar Tissue.
The guy has actually lived quite a life so the biography is completely warranted. Parts are harrowing, parts are hilarious.

cooperla · 11-03-2009 4:50pm

The best book I've read in the last year has probably been The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine

Not sure if that sort of book interests you, but if you find the topic interesting then you won't be disappointed IMO.

Mink · 11-03-2009 4:50pm

Also... A Quiet Vendetta by RJ Ellory - very violent and lots of cursing

but great all round book and great twists

Carawaystick · 11-03-2009 10:38pm

Me and Mrs Carawaystick started reading the series in mid Jan. Mrs C is on the last one, I'm taking a break after the 4th.

Mrs C likes Chick lit and Pastel shaded covers and crime fiction,

I'm reading montaineering/exploration books by Eric Shipton now, pre Harry I read the White Tiger and before that Mutiny on the Bounty by Jon Hoyne(sp?) who wrote the Boy in the Striped Pj's and before that I read a book the Vires hunter, an autobiography by C.J Hunter MD.

The 1st Harry potter is aimed at a younger reader,(more Hobbit than LotR say) but the books reader age age a year each book. We like the series.

livvy · 11-03-2009 10:42pm

i read ken follett's pillars of the earth recently and thought it was brilliant. Im halfway through the sequel "world without end" at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it.

Lizzykins · 12-03-2009 3:43pm

I forgot In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant. A great story. And Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne is another good read.

whiterob81 · 12-03-2009 4:18pm

Carawaystick wrote: »

Me and Mrs Carawaystick started reading the series in mid Jan. Mrs C is on the last one, I'm taking a break after the 4th.

Mrs C likes Chick lit and Pastel shaded covers and crime fiction,

I'm reading montaineering/exploration books by Eric Shipton now, pre Harry I read the White Tiger and before that Mutiny on the Bounty by Jon Hoyne(sp?) who wrote the Boy in the Striped Pj's and before that I read a book the Vires hunter, an autobiography by C.J Hunter MD.

The 1st Harry potter is aimed at a younger reader,(more Hobbit than LotR say) but the books reader age age a year each book. We like the series.

I've actually read the first 6 harry potter books. they're great. really liked the 6th one. number 7 is sitting on my shelf right now waiting to be read. but i'm just after reading the diary of anne frank and watchmen. i kind of wanted to read something a bit more adult first before i go for that.

actually just reading through a collection of short stories by charles bukowski at the moment called tales of ordainary madness. i'm really enjoying them. it's like dubliners as written by an amoral scumbag

Mink · 12-03-2009 4:41pm

Lizzykins wrote: »

In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant. A great story.

+1 - also The Birth of Venus by same author, equally as good if not better

Lizzykins · 12-03-2009 5:07pm

Oh I must look out for that. Thanks for the tip! Just finished Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. It was named on the New York Times Best Books of the Year list. I liked it in a funny way. There isn't a big story there but it's very atmospheric.

Hermy · 13-03-2009 1:26am

If your into it I'd recommend When Giants Walked The Earth, a biography of Led Zeppelin. I've just finished it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

cashback · 13-03-2009 2:55am

Some good ones i've read lately.

The Secret History - Donna Tart
1984 - George Orwell
The Beach - Alex Garland
A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
The Grapes Of Wrath - John Steinbeck

Kieo · 13-03-2009 4:45am

anything by Ann Rule, all true crime, all very well written. v. hard to put down

Blush_01 · 13-03-2009 7:45pm

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
City of Joy - Dominique Lapierre
Cats Eye / Oryx and Crake / The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho
Chocolat - Joanne Harris
Million Little Pieces - James Frey
The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Postcards - Annie Proulx
The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
Kings Solomon's Mines - H Rider Haggard

All of the above were pretty enjoyable.

Quality · 15-03-2009 6:46pm

I have just finished "A thousand splendid suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I couldnt put it down.

whiterob81 · 16-03-2009 11:11am

Blush_01 wrote: »

The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
City of Joy - Dominique Lapierre
Cats Eye / Oryx and Crake / The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho
Chocolat - Joanne Harris
Million Little Pieces - James Frey
The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Postcards - Annie Proulx
The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
Kings Solomon's Mines - H Rider Haggard

All of the above were pretty enjoyable.

Read Fast Food Nation and Lovely Bones. I thought they were deadly. I bought Chocolat for my wife's birthday a few years ago. I think it's still on the shelf. Must get it down when I'm finished with Bukowski

16-03-2009 4:07pm

Survivors by Terry Nation
1974 by David Peace

raah! · 16-03-2009 4:18pm

http://www.literature-map.com/

Slap the name of an author you like here, and loads of other similar authors will come up (or authors which are not similar but have a similar fanbase)

Edit: actually I don't know how reliable that thing, alot of silly associations there.

mark renton · 16-03-2009 4:47pm

Read any of this dudes books - pretty amazing stuff

http://www.optimnem.co.uk/blog/index.php

whiterob81 · 16-03-2009 5:11pm

raah! wrote: »

http://www.literature-map.com/

Slap the name of an author you like here, and loads of other similar authors will come up (or authors which are not similar but have a similar fanbase)

Edit: actually I don't know how reliable that thing, alot of silly associations there.

Pretty nice little site. Every author I've typed in has Sylvia Plath associated with it. Maybe it's time I gave that copy of the Bell Jar a go

I don't know what to read next.

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