Recommend me a book(s) to read!!

Angels and Demons, and Da Vinci code are both good reads.
my favourite at the moment is Miyamoto Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.
reading a few other short Japanese stories but not as good.
 
Life Of Pi is excellent. Can't remember who it's by though.

For the record, I thought The Da Vinci Code was terribly written, overly long, and the deus ex machina ending was unforgivable.

<film quote>And for God's sake, don't use a deus ex machina!</film quote>
 
Sic said:
erm, i wouldnt say it's like fight club. it's as good as it, but the subjects are completely different. without wanting to go too much into it, it's about a supermodel who's in a freak accident and is severely disfigured, and the tales that unfold thereon. if you liked fight club, there's a good chance that you'll like it.

choke is unbelievably amazing. get it.


it's not the whole geisha thing that i liked...the story was wonderful. i loved every second of the book, and i dont think i'd read another geisha book just because of MOAG
Click to expand...

My Uncle (by marriage) is Japanese, so I've always been quite interested. The Liz Dalby book is good because she is the only non-Japanese woman ever to have trained as a geisha in the 1970's. She's actually credited in Arthur Golden's Memoirs as being a helpful source to him, I think her book was out first but I don't know. I have a really old version, just never got around to reading it before, but Memoirs just captured my imagination.

There do seem to be rather more about than there were before though, that's certainly true :)
 
tbs said:
is there any books out there thats interesting not nesseceraly like 1984, but something with twists in them or a "should" read book.
Click to expand...

Ghostwritten - David Mitchell
Very strange but hugely satisfying when the penny drops at the end.

Darwinia - Charles Wilson
Another peculiar story that takes some strange directions when you least expect it.


The Currents of Space - Isaac Asimov
Not a robot novel, and quite short. A sort of sci-fi whodunnit.
 
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

It's a pretty damn sweet book, also it's fairly short so if you've got a short attention span or not much spare time it's a good book to read.

If anyone hasn't seen the film, then read the book first. The ending in the book, which is arguably the most important part of the whole story is omitted from the film, but the film is still very, very good.
 
I tend to pick up penguin or wordsworth classics at random and give them a go, they tend to be fairly cheap and odds are you're going to get a good read.
I'm currently reading Les Miserables which requires some comittment but is fabulously written. Something a bit more accessible but still a class act would be something like; To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch 22, of mice and men.

I enjoyed Vernon God Little, and Life of Pi though i wasn't so keen on the curious incident of the dog in the night time but most people seem to quite enjoy it. Ian Mcewan is alright as well.
 
Umm if it's reading for entertainment then - Eddings, Belgariad and Elenium (sp?) series probably my favourites.
Tom Clancy - All of the Jack Ryan books, some of the Net Force ones seemed a little more out of his field to me.
Terry Pratchett - ALL OF THEM!!!!

For a books that I enjoyed and either challenged my thinking or I felt I had learnt something...
Tom Clancy - Red Storm Rising (basically a 3rd world war scenario between the west and the soviets, now very dated but at the time I read it fantastic.)
Orson Scott Card - Tales of Alvin Maker (alternate history of the US in frontier times. Found some of it challenged a few viewpoints.)
Definite thumbs up for Animal Farm if you are already reading 1982.

Uhh what are the last few books you read? And enjoyed/gave up on?
 
Beren said:
Orson Scott Card - Tales of Alvin Maker (alternate history of the US in frontier times. Found some of it challenged a few viewpoints.)
Click to expand...

have you read any of his sci-fi stuff? if so, how does it compare to his non-sci-fi? i've always meant to read some
 
I'd also suggest reading Mitch Albom - Five People You Meet In Heaven. It's a 'heartwarming' read.

The two funniest books i've ever read are:

Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho
Joseph Heller - Catch 22

I'd also recommend Glamorama by Easton Ellis. It's a strange and sometimes confusing read, yet very good.
 
I am Legend - Richard Matheson (the book the omega man was based on, except the book is about 1000 times better).

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (amazing, if heavy-going at times)

Anything by Dan Simmons, he's just a brilliant writer.
 
There are loads of book I've enjoyed reading (just finished JarHead which is very good, Catch 22, and any book by P.K Dick to name but a few), but King Rat by James Clavell is probably the book I've enjoyed reading the most. Awesome from start to finish :). Shogun: A Novel of Japan (also by James Clavell) is also supposed to be extremely good.


Personally, whilst I enjoyed Angels & Demons, I did think that the ending was dragged out a bit and not particularly great. I enjoyed Digital Fortress more but perhaps that was because I read it first and wasn't aware of his writing style at the time.
 
Robert Jorden, good if you have a month free to read the 12 books he's got out, in order, before the last one comes out in 2008

Terry Brooks books are good too.
 
Filth - Irvine Welsh
Pretty unsettling book but one of my favourites. It's quite accessable too considering it's written in Scottish.

I've just finished Trainspotting which was good too but not up to Filth's standards. If you were a fan of the film then it fleshes it out a little more but it's not the best book he's written.
 
One that has always appealed to me, but I haven't yet read it (or even got it)
is Catch 22 - Joseph Hellier

(just this second noticed someone else has mentioned it, but my mention still stands :p )

oh, and HG wells - time machine

and may I be the first person to say James Joyce - Finnegans wake ;) :p
(No I haven't read it, and I have no desire to try to...)
 
Sic said:
have you read any of his sci-fi stuff? if so, how does it compare to his non-sci-fi? i've always meant to read some
Click to expand...

Tales of Alvin Maker is strictly speaking sci-fi. Just checked through a listing of some of his books and dont think I have read any of his non sci-fi. So can't really compare. He is one of the authors that hooks me into devouring his books in as few sittings as possible.

Robert Jordan - The wheel of time saga? Thought the first 7 or so books were good, the latest one though I kind of read and never got interested in.

Molinari: ok so not a lot of sci-fi in there then... Have you read any Clive Cussler? If you think Dan Brown is ok I think you might find Cussler a very good read. He is probably a cross between Tom Clancy and Dan Brown, though thats not a great description!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom