The Gentleman's Library

18AD

I love books (and you should too).

So I'm curious as to what you guys are reading.
Any favourites? Recommendations?

The last things I read were mostly sci-fi books and luckily they were all excellent.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

MitchKoobski

World War Z. Still one of my favourite books and well worth a read even if you don't like the zombie craze.

eh i dunno

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/721399/Dead-Simple/Product.html?searchtype=allproducts&searchsource=0&searchstring=peter+james&urlrefer=search

Try this if into crime/thrillers. Great read and then read the other 6/7 in the series

Sauve

Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts) is still my favourite book of all time, and I read it about three years ago...

Otis Driftwood

Shantaram is excellent.

Books everyone should read imo are

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis - A wonderfully dark and funny piece of modern literature.

Lullaby by Chuck Pahlaniuk - Author of Fight Club wrote this,beautifully twisted.

The Dark Tower Cycle by Stephen King - 7 book series that are in my estimation right up there with Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones with creating an immersive alternative world.

Snowie

Kitchen Confidential Bye Antony Baurdain

Itle shock you, scare you make you cry make you lol... Most of all idle be an education into the mind of what its like o be a chef, working threw burns cuts and heroin addictions its startle you and shock you I can recommend the book enough



another book I loved was Tony Tompson Reefer men its about a drug ring that import marajuna from tho land notorious thi stick which is a strain of marajuna thats known for its effects. but it fascinating to read the logistics involved and also the level of skill they used to trick the US costoms



If your into photography theres one called 52 photography projects which is fantastic and also fun to do and not so generic like a lot of photography books.

A grumpy old rock star bye rick wake men
funniest biography I've ever read..

parker kent

I could probably spend all weekend listing books! A brief(ish) list would be:

Currently reading: The Damned United

Favourite Books: A Confederacy of Dunces, On Beauty, Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Age of Innocence, The Book of Evidence, Neuromancer, Nineteen Eighty-Four, On Chesil Beach, The Sound and the Fury, The Great Gatsby, Lolita, Pride and Prejudice, 2666, Dubliners, Beloved, The Handmaid's Tale, The Talented Mr Ripley

Not the biggest reader of Non-Fiction, but a few that I have liked are: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Bobby Charlton The Manchester United Years (the first chapter about Munich is painful & compelling), The Beauty Myth, The Ball is Round,

Plus last but not least...graphic novels: The Killing Joke, Maus, Watchmen, Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns

If I did the list tomorrow, there probably would be plenty of different books in there!

D'Agger

I'm terrible for reading as I tend to read tech books when I get a chance thesedays because I need to study up!

That said I have The Fry Chronicles which I'm very slowly reading and Mr.Nice to read after that, hopefully might get through some of that during Christmas.

With regard to favourites - Animal Farm is by and far the most amazing book I have ever read and would recommend it to everyone here.

MudSkipper

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

The Dark Tower Cycle by Stephen King - 7 book series that are in my estimation right up there with Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones with creating an immersive alternative world.

Gahhh, loved the first three, but was bitterly disappointed with the rest... especially

writing himself as a character into the story

One book that everyone should read is Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

Sky King

I liked lots of those too Parker - I absolutely devoured The Talented Mr. Ripley... fantastic book. And the writing in Lolita is sublime. Perfume by Patrick Suskind is a particular favorite of mine (read it twice actually) and judging by your favourites, you would really like it.

I always have a book on the go. Currently just getting settled into A Confedaracy of Dunces after it being on the reading list for a long time. Next up is Heart of Darkness and I can't wait to read that. Then I've got The Man in the High Castle and The Count of Monte Cristo which I foolishly lent to someone and it's taking them ages to read....

Some good readin to be done!

18AD you should read Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke (if you haven't already done so of course). It is an outstanding work of science fiction.

johnners2981

MudSkipper wrote: »

Gahhh, loved the first three, but was bitterly disappointed with the rest... especially

writing himself as a character into the story

One book that everyone should read is Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

I don't much about Stephen King but

I even thought that he was writing about himself in the books

, glad to hear I wasn't being silly.
Never finished the series, don't know if I ever will cause it kind of goes downhill but isn't the last one supposed to be very good?

I'm not just jumping on the band wagon but the A Song of Ice and Fire series is the best fantasy series I've read, a lot better than The Wheel of Time.

Anyone got any good fantasy series that won't disappoint me after reading ASoIaF?

18AD

@parker kent. Is Maus good? I only recently heard of it and I'm pretty intrigued.

I have to read watchmen at some stage. It's pretty much a classic. Although I really want to get Alan Moore's Promethea series. That requires much monetary dedication though.

@Sky King. I'll certainly check out some Arthur C.

The Man in the High Castle (and any Philip K. Dick) & Slaughterhouse five are on the reading list.

Lots of good stuff

Sky King

I've recommended it to several sci fi fans and have yet to hear back that someone didn't love it. It's fantastic.

desertcircus

Iain M Banks, with or without the M. The Player Of Games is the single best science fiction book of the past three decades. I tried the Game of Thrones series, but found it unbelievably long-winded and wasn't interested in committing to seven thousand pages of a single story - I could read twenty other books instead.

If you're looking for a series and you're willing to give sci-fi a go, take a look at the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, which is simply stunning.

Benicetomonty

Just read a couple of post-apocalyptics, both the first in trilogies, both been signed up for movies and both well worth a read! The Passage by Justin Cronin and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

parker kent

18AD wrote: »

@parker kent. Is Maus good? I only recently heard of it and I'm pretty intrigued.

I have to read watchmen at some stage. It's pretty much a classic. Although I really want to get Alan Moore's Promethea series. That requires much monetary dedication though.

Maus is one of the best experiences I have had in general, not just in reading. I'd rate it up there with any book, movie, play etc. Easily one of the best examinations of World War 2. It describes the tragedy of the war and the humanity that helped people survive. A great example of the love between a father and a son too.

Watchmen is brilliant too, I first read it in a single sitting. The true sign of greatness!

minidazzler

Currently reading: Charles Bukowski - Women, Joseph Heller - Catch 22 (I keep restarting but cant get past the first few chapters though I'm told it's excellent.), J.D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye.

Favourite books; Charles Bukowski - Post Office, Chuck Palanuik - Fight Club, Choke and Haunted, Anything by Trudi Canavan, Harry Potter. Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,

I've been getting into poetry and such recently enough which is why I started on Bukowski, who is one of the better writers I have ever read.

I read The Great Gatsby, and while it is great writing and I can appreciate it as a great work of art, I didn't really enjoy the book as much as I would have liked.

A great poem that I was directed to, Howl by Allen Ginsberg, the founder of the beat movement, it's absolutely immense, it's a very very long poem but thoroughly great.

Pawwed Rig

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

The Dark Tower Cycle by Stephen King - 7 book series that are in my estimation right up there with Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones with creating an immersive alternative world.

I read these years ago as I was a huge King fan as a teenager. Found these books very strange yet compelling. They were completely different in style and substance than any of his other work. The chapters about the riddles on the train have really stuck with me for years. Was Blane the name of the train?

Reading Once by James Herbert at the moment. Second time of reading. Great story teller.

3qsmavrod5twfe

Just finished the "A Song of ice and Fire" series of books (well the ones that are written, obviously ). Rereading some older books right now, basically anything by Patrick Robinson or <CRINGE> Chris Ryan </CRINGE>.

Don't judge me.

Colonel Panic

18AD wrote: »

The Man in the High Castle (and any Philip K. Dick) & Slaughterhouse five are on the reading list.

Two of my favourite books. I hope you love them!

18AD

Lapping this up at the moment. Surreal tales of individual estrangement and lonliness.

bad2dabone

I read this recently and really enjoyed it, an easy read that was very entertaining.

Ardennes1944

Just finished "beyond band of brothers, war memoirs of major dick winters". A great book

Daftendirekt

I'm fond of Nabokov, in particular "Pale Fire". One of the most original and engaging books I've ever read. I'd recommend it to anyone. Just finished another of his too, "Laughter In the Dark". Less ambitious, but a great light read all the same.

I've also just finished off Bram Stoker's "Dracula" for the first time. Not sure what I'm gonna move on to now though, even though I've got a bit of a backlog built up!

Dravokivich

Daftendirekt wrote: »

I've also just finished off Bram Stoker's "Dracula" for the first time. Not sure what I'm gonna move on to now though, even though I've got a bit of a backlog built up!

Read that when I was 13, thought it was mad that the book was basically written as a series of journals.

ToxicPaddy

I rekindled my love of reading about 3 years ago now I cant get enough of it. My preferred areas of reading are true life and biographies.

Currently reading "Gideons Spies - A history of Mossad". Interesting read and really gives you an insight to how ruthless these guys are.

I loved Shantaram, very entertaining read if a little far fetched at times.
The Fry Chronicles is well worth the read.

Other biographies worth a read are:

Paul McGrath
Lance Armstrong
Richard Branson