Recommended Reading

[SkStu]

hey all, apologies if such a thread already exists (i searched but found nothing).

just posting to recommend Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer - im about half way through it now and its just a deadly read. Pretty bleak but deadly all the same. Its the true story of Chris McCandless a Harvard graduate who gave away all his money to charity and disappeared from his family to live the life of a drifter, living off the land... his body was found in an abandoned bus over two years later in the wilds of Alaska. Im simplifying it a lot but its a really interesting story. And its now a movie apparently.

read more about the background here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McCandless

[OwlsFan]

Nemesis by Max Hastings. Great book on the closing months of the Pacific War in WW2. Losts of personal accounts plus a clear and concise overview, dealing with such topics as the atomic bombs. One of the best WW2 books I've read and I've read 1000+.

[osarusan]

Nemesis by Max Hastings. Great book on the closing months of the Pacific War in WW2. Losts of personal accounts plus a clear and concise overview, dealing with such topics as the atomic bombs. One of the best WW2 books I've read and I've read 1000+.

Have you read A Doctor's War (http://www.scholarsbookshelf.com/item.asp?userid=&pageid=2&catid=1&subjectid=7&method=sub&itemid=43917) by Aidan MacCarthy? It's an engrossing book.

If anybody has more classical tastes, I'd recommend "The Pickwick Papers" by Charles Dickens. It is, in my humble opinion, the zenith of all literature, at least all literature Ive ever read.

[OwlsFan]

Have you read A Doctor's War (http://www.scholarsbookshelf.com/item.asp?userid=&pageid=2&catid=1&subjectid=7&method=sub&itemid=43917) by Aidan MacCarthy? It's an engrossing book..

No, but I will order it. Thanks.

[Lionel Ritchie]

I'm currently re-reading Fighters & Bombers of World War 2 (http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/65/60872465_full.jpg) by Kenneth Munson.

I got it as a Xmas pressie from the sisters boyfriend (now and long since the brother-in-law) back in 1982. I was 9 at the time and, while I was absolutely delighted to get it and did read it cover to cover, a lot of the stuff in it went over my head.

I picked up all the headline stuff like "First Luftwaffe aircraft (a Heinkel one-eleven) shot down by an RAF aircraft "(an Avro Anson ...rather improbably) but what stands out on re-read is just how profoundly wartime drives innovation and technology. At the outbreak of the war aircraft engines averaged around 750-800 horse-power. Six years later that was well over 2000hp.

Also some of the emerging technologies like electrically powered turrets and the rush to utilise them ...sometimes to the detriment of their overall purpose -shooting down the other sides planes. A case in point being the British built Boulton Paul Defiant -a two seater with NO forward firing guns in the wings. It's armament was just the four gun electric turret behind the pilot. The turret and it's gunner made what would've been a perfectly good conventional fighter plane unwieldy and, once the Germans figured out it had no forward firing guns it was a deathtrap. Useless as a daytime combat aircraft ...and all to accomodate the turret!

The Soviets on the other hand, with typical understated ingeniuty, just mounted two machine guns on a device no more sophisticated than the handlebars of a push-bike in their Il-2 -a plane of similar spec to the Defiant - and were able to use the weight spared to mount guns in the wings, armour plate the cabin crew, fuel tanks etc... AND their plane could actually agressively engage German fighters and win.

[pete]

It has now been made into film but when I read Bringing Down the House (http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Down-House-Students-Millions/dp/0743225708) a few years thought was excellent.

Currently reading Game of Shadows (http://www.amazon.com/Game-Shadows-Steroids-Scandal-Professional/dp/B000YT5IDQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204459654&sr=1-1) about drugs in professional sports & very good.

[superfrank]

I'm currently working through Ten Days That Shook The World by John Reed.

[ramsfan]

bravo two zero is a great read as are alot of the books by andy mcnab

stakeknife by martin ingram is a hard read but very interesting story of ops in northern ireland and special forsce work

also the books long way round and long way down are an excellent read good stories and keeps you interested if you like travel books

[gee wizz]

if you can find a copy of what a cop knows its an excellant read,its fairly old but a great insight into the life of the police in america

[Bluebeard]

If anybody has more classical tastes, I'd recommend "The Pickwick Papers" by Charles Dickens. It is, in my humble opinion, the zenith of all literature, at least all literature Ive ever read.
Pickwick is great fun and a good read, though not as good, in my self-inflated opinion, on the book it is based on, Don Quixote. It requires time though - at over the thousand pages, I found it a little intimidating, but it is well worth it as a funny read.

Staying classic, and Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities is an absolute belter from golden opening line to tear evoking ending and memorable last line. Funny throughout as a sidebar to the mighty and portentious events therein. Well worth a gander.

[osarusan]

Pickwick is great fun and a good read, though not as good, in my self-inflated opinion, on the book it is based on, Don Quixote. It requires time though - at over the thousand pages, I found it a little intimidating, but it is well worth it as a funny read.

Staying classic, and Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities is an absolute belter from golden opening line to tear evoking ending and memorable last line. Funny throughout as a sidebar to the mighty and portentious events therein. Well worth a gander.

I have to disagree with the first half of your post. Don Quixote, while undoubtedly a classic, was a little disjointed, particularly the first half. It had loftier ideals than The Pickwick Papers, but I felt (in my equally self-inflated opinion!) that The Pickwick Papers achieved what it meant to achieve more concisely (if Dickens could ever be accused of being concise). That said, Don Quixote is regularly voted the greatest novel of all time, by people who know far more than me (or do they?) about literature.

Regarding A Tale of Two Cities, I couldn't agree more. Although for me, the chapter entitled The Wine Cask is the best passage, not only of that novel, but of any novel.

[passinginterest]

After studying English in college I really got out of the reading habit, but since moving recently and having to get the bus to work I've rediscovered my love of a good book.

Some that I'd recommend from my recent reads would be Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry, I've always like the post-colonial style of writing and Mistry weaves a great story, giving an insight into Indian family life, politics and religion. He writes with an easy style that really draws you into the characters. I'd highly recommend it.
I also managed to read The Sea by John Banville at my third attempt. It took me a while to get into it but Banville has a beautiful turn of phrase and the last third of the novel is some of the best I've ever read. I can certainly see why it was awarded the booker prize. Also found it fascinating that the fictional seaside village was basically Rosslare Strand, which is near to my home in Wexford.

On a lighter note I also read Lifeguard by James Patterson and Andrew Gross, pure pulp fiction, great fun and made a nice change straight after the heavy going of The Sea.

[DIFChick]

Bought Twenty Major's The Order of The Phoenix Park on Friday and I'm 2/3rds' through it already. Funny, laugh out loud sort of book. Language is crude (his favourite word being c*nt) but I don't mind. It's probably funnier so for people who are Irish and know Dublin inside out.

Another one of Jon Krakauers books that I can recommend is Into Thin Air. It's about the climbing expedition(s) of Everest on May 11th 1996. It's referred to as the deadliest climbing disaster in the history of Mount Everest.

Marching Powder by Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden is also worth reading. It's a true story about Thomas McFadden who is a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia's notorious San Pedro prison. Rusty Young was a backpacker in South America who went in to San Pedro prison and co-wrote the book with McFadden.

Gazza's biography is a good read.
For easy reading, and I do mean easy, see Wayne Rooneys autobiography. :D

[Wangball]

In Cold Blood By Truman Capote is probably the best book I've evver read, it kicked me off reading a lot of 50's/60's American stuff, like On the Road by Kerouac, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Kesey & all of Hunter S Thompson's stuff...the Rum Diary is a brilliant, soon to be made into a film starring Johnny Depp apparently

[osarusan]

In Cold Blood By Truman Capote is probably the best book I've ever read..... One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Kesey

Both magnificent works.

[kingdom hoop]

Staying classic, and Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities is an absolute belter from golden opening line to tear evoking ending and memorable last line. Funny throughout as a sidebar to the mighty and portentious events therein. Well worth a gander.

What are ganders worth nowadays anyway? I've been wanting to have a goose/gander (whichever's tastier) for about six months now. I've never sampled their succulent tender breast before. Salivation feast at the moment! Anyone know where I could buy a goose and for how much - for dinner, not as a pet? Thanks.


(very near to end of A Tale Of Two Cities today as it happens but won't talk/cry about it for fear of my request being lost.)

I'm serious about the goose.

[osarusan]

Anyone know where I could buy a goose and for how much - for dinner, not as a pet?

I'm serious about the goose.

http://www.coedwynog-geese.co.uk/Coedwynog-Geese_Online-Shop.htm

[Block G Raptor]

Reading James Herberts' "Others" at the moment. Just finished it. I'm not a horror fan ordinarily but IMO Herbert could write about an over 75's lawn bowls match and make it a riveting read. The climax(big action scene towards the end) to the Book is over 70 pages long and not one word is wasted nor is it dragged out in anyway, far from it infact. Herbert keeps you gripped and leaves you feeling an distinct unease
review here is from Publishers Weekly
Herbert's reputation as the king of British horror is founded on his early gore-oriented "nasties" (The Rats; The Fog; etc.). His newest novel (after '48) packs powerful shocks, but continues the recent trend in his writing toward narratives steered by the complex motivations of his characters. Narrator and private investigator Nicholas DismasA"Dis" to his friendsAis a self-described "monster," afflicted with grotesque birth defects that give him uncommon insight into human behavior. But the search for a child declared dead at birth 18 years before triggers a befuddling cascade of events that defy even his understanding: birth-record traces lead to dead ends, knowledgeable authorities can't be located and Dis finds himself haunted by visions of malformed souls that periodically materialize in his mirror. Collaborating reluctantly with Louise Broomfield, his client's psychic adviser, Dis tracks a suspicious former midwife to the Perfect Rest nursing home. There, he encounters both the repellent Leonard Wisbeech, one of the most diabolically perverse doctors in all medical horror fiction, and secret experiments that shed light on the case and on Dis's own obscure origins. Readers who stick with this tale past its lethargic startAin which Herbert labors to contrast Dis's normalcy and the "ugliness" of more physically appealing peopleAwill find a payoff in the over-the-top climax, in which the freak show Wisbeech secretly presides over runs amok. Though punctuated with long expository passages that explain the novel's central mystery, the finale crackles, finding an admirable balance between terrors of the supernatural and the darkness of the human heart.
Linked Here (http://www.amazon.com/Others-James-Herbert/dp/0812579046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204562507&sr=8-1)

[placid casual]

i have a habit of reading a few books at once and my current reads are
Sinclair Lewis : Babbitt
Don Dellilo : White Noise
flann o'Brien : dalkey archive(for the umpteenth time)

[Bluebeard]

flann o'Brien : dalkey archive(for the umpteenth time)

The Dalkey Archive is a real classic, and shockingly underconsidered. It also ends with the ultimate horror moment for any Irish man of that era:D

[jebus]

just posting to recommend Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer - im about half way through it now and its just a deadly read. Pretty bleak but deadly all the same. Its the true story of Chris McCandless a Harvard graduate who gave away all his money to charity and disappeared from his family to live the life of a drifter, living off the land... his body was found in an abandoned bus over two years later in the wilds of Alaska. Im simplifying it a lot but its a really interesting story. And its now a movie apparently.


I actually prefer the movie to the book. I really didn't like the way Krakauer worked his way into the story, all the talk of how himself and McCandless were kindred spirits and the like, and telling his own story at intervals in the story really seemed to me to be a desperate attempt to tag himself onto a character that people grew strong ties with through his natural goodness and sense of adventure. All of that is cut out of the movie, but McCandless' story itself is printed pretty much the way Krakauer laid it out in the book, I'd recommend watching it if you enjoyed the book.

My own recent reads that I enjoyed,
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Barack Obama - Dreams From My Father
Dean Bakopoulo - Don't Come Home From The Moon

Very recommended reads,
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
The Rum Diary
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - All Hunter Thompson
Rich Man, Poor Man - Irwin R Shaw
Post Office
Factotum
Women - All Charles Bukowski
1984
Homage to Catalonia
Down and Out in Paris and London
Animal Farm - All George Orwell
Everything is Illuminated
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - All Jonathon Safron Feur

[SkStu]

I actually prefer the movie to the book. I really didn't like the way Krakauer worked his way into the story, all the talk of how himself and McCandless were kindred spirits and the like, and telling his own story at intervals in the story really seemed to me to be a desperate attempt to tag himself onto a character that people grew strong ties with through his natural goodness and sense of adventure. All of that is cut out of the movie, but McCandless' story itself is printed pretty much the way Krakauer laid it out in the book, I'd recommend watching it if you enjoyed the book.


although it was only a chapter or so of the book i found Krakauer's story to be largely annoying too, the only part of the book i found annoying though. Finished it yesterday and loved it. McCandless' actions find you questioning him and questioning yourself equally... he certainly was a fascinating and strange individual... and pretty unlucky in the end.

By the way, 1984 is one of my favourite books also.

[Wangball]

Just read the First Blood by David Morrell, its the basis for the Rambo Films, I saw it in HMV for €6 & couldn't resist...its actually not all that bad but Rambo dies at the end....what a jip, what were all those subsequent films about??? I feel like I've been lied to all these years


Very recommended reads,
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
The Rum Diary
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - All Hunter Thompson
Rich Man, Poor Man - Irwin R Shaw
Post Office
Factotum
Women - All Charles Bukowski
1984
Homage to Catalonia
Down and Out in Paris and London
Animal Farm - All George Orwell
Everything is Illuminated
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - All Jonathon Safron Feur

You ever read "Hells Angels" ?? Its probably his best book

For anyone looking for an overview of Thompsosn stuff beffore delving into any of his books I'd recommed "The Great Shark Hunt", its a lot of his essays & articles all piled together...great stuff

[jebus]

You ever read "Hells Angels" ?? Its probably his best book

For anyone looking for an overview of Thompsosn stuff beffore delving into any of his books I'd recommed "The Great Shark Hunt", its a lot of his essays & articles all piled together...great stuff

I have, I've read all his stuff, himself, Bukowski and Orwell would be by fadr and away my favourite authors. Honestly with the Hells Angels novel I found muself getting bored at times, it probably has a lot to do with me not having any interest whatsoever in biker gangs, but at a bit of it has to do with me thinking that Thompson hero worshipped them a bit too much in places, For my money Campaign Trail is his best book, but then I've quite a fondness for American politics so that could be the reason for that, although the incident following Hunter giving a homeless drunk his press pass and getting him on the Nixon Train is probably the funniest thing I've ever read in my life :D

[bennocelt]

Another one of Jon Krakauers books that I can recommend is Into Thin Air. It's about the climbing expedition(s) of Everest on May 11th 1996. It's referred to as the deadliest climbing disaster in the history of Mount Everest.


have ordered this book, so looking forward to reading it. But i this the same story that Tom Humpries wrote an article about yonks ago? (thats if you know that article?)

[passinginterest]

Just to bump this again.

Currently nearly finished 'The Bounty: The True Story of The Mutiny on the Bounty' by Caroline Alexander (ISBN 0-670-03133-X). . It's a fascinating read and brilliantly put together, drawing from personal correspondence of those involved and their families, logs, diaries, letters, court transcripts, pretty much every imaginable source. I wouldn't be inclined to read too many factual history books, but this one is a very enjoyable example. A nice review here (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/16/1065917540162.html).

[MojoPin]

Forever - Pete Hamill

book about the growth of manhattan from the start of the slavery right through to 911 from an irish view point. excellent read! about a guy who goes to america after his family is slain by an english landlord. turns out the guy is an original "irish" as in like cucullan and the likes.

2nd review here -> http://www.mostlyfiction.com/history/hamill.htm

[eamo1]

The Life of Pi is one of my favourites,a thumping good read i think.Ive also just finished The Kite Runner and thought it was excellent too.

[Block G Raptor]

By the way, 1984 is one of my favourite books also.

Just finished reading 1984 yesterday, enjoyed it but wouldn't count it in my top 10. I thought the ending was pretty lazy too.
was going through my book collection last night to see what books I bought years ago and never got around to reading. Started Frank Herberts "Dune" today but don't know if I'm gonna stick with it cant really get into it. also have the Wheel of Time book 1 in my bag so might start that on the way home

One of the best books I've read recently is "Bobby Sands -nothing but an unfinished song" by Denis O'Hearn really moving account of the Blanket protest and 1981 Hungerstrike if your interested in that aspect of Irish history it's certainly the best book on the subject (and I've read pretty much them all)

[Stevo Da Gull]

The End Of Nature by Bill McKibben.
Perfectly compiled facts and thoughts on a serious issue.

[Block G Raptor]

Nemesis by Max Hastings. Great book on the closing months of the Pacific War in WW2. Losts of personal accounts plus a clear and concise overview, dealing with such topics as the atomic bombs. One of the best WW2 books I've read and I've read 1000+.

Would love to read some autobiographical accounts of the Vietman war but cant seem to find any, maybe someone could recommend some

[eamo1]

Ive read all of the wheel of time books and highly recommend you start the book in your bag,you'll not regret it.I was gutted to hear of Roberts death late last year but apparently his son is gonna finish the 12th and final book so we all wont be left hanging.I for one think its better then LOTR's.The first 3 books pull you in and dont let go,the 7th,8th and 9th are a bit boring but stick with them because it picks up again.The whole plot has more twists then a bad Connemara road:).

[shakermaker1982]

Resistance - Owen Sheers. Wales during the 2nd world war but with a twist. The Germans have actually invaded Britain with a special patrol unit paying a visit to the Welsh valleys.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Resistance-Owen-Sheers/dp/0571239064

I'm halfway through and am enjoying it so far.

[Block G Raptor]

Ive read all of the wheel of time books and highly recommend you start the book in your bag,you'll not regret it.I was gutted to hear of Roberts death late last year but apparently his son is gonna finish the 12th and final book so we all wont be left hanging.I for one think its better then LOTR's.The first 3 books pull you in and dont let go,the 7th,8th and 9th are a bit boring but stick with them because it picks up again.The whole plot has more twists then a bad Connemara road:).

I've read a couple of chapters when I first bought the book, and enjoyed it well enough. It's a huge commitment though to start a series that is 12 books long as i'll probs be reading nothing else for a couple of years as I'm like that once I get into a series I tend to read one after another....which reminds me "The Traveller" and "The Dark River" the first 2 parts of a trilogy by John Twelve Hawks are superb. a 1984 for the 21st century

[jebus]

last two books I've read have been disappointing, Paul Auster's New York Triology was all over the place, and not in a good way, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a good story, but the style of writing (possibly due to the translation) wasn't as gripping as it needed to be.

Gonna knock into Jeffrey Eugendes Middlesex next to try and perk up my literary experience

[superfrank]

At the moment, I'm reading "Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life" by Alex Bellos and it's very enjoyable.

[stann]

Just to add my tuppence, am almost finished Bill Bryson's new-ish one, 'The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid', a memoir of his childhood in the 50s and 60s. It's just brilliant, I cannot recommend this highly enough. So well written, and so funny that one time a little bit of sick did come up. ;) :D



Would love to read some autobiographical accounts of the Vietman war but cant seem to find any, maybe someone could recommend some

The best one of the type I've read is 'Chickenhawk' by Robert Mason, an autobiographical account of a Huey pilot with the Air Cavalry. It's excellent.

[shakermaker1982]

last two books I've read have been disappointing, Paul Auster's New York Triology was all over the place, and not in a good way, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a good story, but the style of writing (possibly due to the translation) wasn't as gripping as it needed to be.

Gonna knock into Jeffrey Eugendes Middlesex next to try and perk up my literary experience

The New York Trilogy confused the life out of me in parts. Very very weird book.

[BohsPartisan]

Best football book I've read is A Season With Verona by Tim Parks followed by Calcio by John Foot.

[Dodge]

Best football book I've read is A Season With Verona by Tim Parks followed by Calcio by John Foot.

There's a seperate football booklist here.... (http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=49195)

[BohsPartisan]

Fiction:
100 years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Stone Gods - Jeanette Winterson

V - Thomas Pynchon

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

The Age of Reason - Jean Paul Sartre

Non Fiction:
The Blind Watchmaker - Dawkins

Liverpool a City that Dared to Fight - Tony Mulhearn and Peter Taaffe

The Atlantean Irish - Bob Quinn

A Season With Verona - Tim Parks (here because its not just about football)

Guns Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond

[Dodge]

A Season With Verona - Tim Parks (here because its not just about football)

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you couldn't post football books in this thread. I was just posting the link for reference

[Wangball]

Would love to read some autobiographical accounts of the Vietman war but cant seem to find any, maybe someone could recommend some

Have a lash at Chickenhawk by Robert Mason, there are quite a lot of Vietnam books out there but this is the best I've read

Less related, I recently re-read Papillon & the follow up book Banco, they are now my 2 favourite books, really great reads, am half way through Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandresekaran, its about the American attempts to rule Iraq and impose American style ways of life, very interesting and quite funny!

[ken foree]

Fiction:

V - Thomas Pynchon


yipe! i've always meant to tackle it or "gravity's rainbow" after reading "crying of lot 49" - someday!

i love that earlier on the thread someone mentioned delillo's "white noise", an author i'd consider an heir to thomas pynchon's style, if not his post-modern(?) throne. i loved mccarthy's "the road" and liked "no country for old men." his earlier stuff can be HEAVY and faulkneresque though.

if you like vietnam books, try "dispatches" by michael herr. after writing htat he collaborated on the screenplay for Apocalypse Now. also, related but in fiction, last year's U.S. nat'l book award winner "tree of smoke" by dennis johnson encompasses ten years in vietnam and the philippines. i enjoyed it a lot.

the ultimate rec from me would be either "riddley walker" by russell hoban or "cloud atlas" by david mitchell. the latter is tons of fun.

[Magicme]

Sorry to lower the Intelligence Quotiant but just finished reading Belfast Confidential by Colin Bateman and I dont laugh out loud at books or movies often but was crying with laughter reading it.

God I love Bateman (as he is now referred to). Funniest guy ever.

[osarusan]

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go. It's the kind of book that really makes you think about your values in life.

[GavinZac]

Guns Germs and Steel - Jared DiamondEchoed

[theworm2345]

It has now been made into film but when I read Bringing Down the House (http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Down-House-Students-Millions/dp/0743225708) a few years thought was excellent.

You must be ****ing kidding me
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/153/501690~Bringing-Down-the-House-Posters.jpg





;)

[Block G Raptor]

reading "Stolen Years- Before and after Guildford" by Paul Hill with Ronan Bennett
the Story of Paul Hill one of the Guildford 4 who spent 14 years in prison when wrongly convicted of the Guildford and Woolich pub bombings. I read Proved Innocent (filmed as In the Name of the Father)by Gerry Conlon years ago and that book has stayed with me since. if anything Hills book is even more harrowing and gut wrenching.

[jebus]

which reminds me "The Traveller" and "The Dark River" the first 2 parts of a trilogy by John Twelve Hawks are superb. a 1984 for the 21st century

Just finishing up The Traveller based on that recommendation, have to say I'm enjoying it a lot and would second the recommendation