Recommended Reading

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Originally Posted by SkStu

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.

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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

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Originally Posted by jebus

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.

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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.

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 SPOILER: 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

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Originally Posted by jebus

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

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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

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Originally Posted by Wangball

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

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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

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Originally Posted by DIFChick

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.

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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?)

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.

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

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.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

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

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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)

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

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Originally Posted by 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+.

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

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:).

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-O.../dp/0571239064

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

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Originally Posted by 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:).

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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

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

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

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

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Originally Posted by Block G Raptor

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

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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.

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Originally Posted by 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

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

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

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Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

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

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There's a seperate football booklist here....