Books

[Benny]

As a drive to educate the younger members here who may feel that TV and games is all the education they need, I'm gonna tell it otherwise.

Milk, it's great, drink it.


Also read 'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown
http://www.danbrown.com/novels/angels_demons/reviews.html

It's an excellent read, a reet good page turner. If you like action type books wth a bit of historical fact and well researched references.

I'm open to any recommendations, but please don't bore me with classics that I shoulda read by now, Tom Wolfe, Portnoys Complaint, Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, etc, I've read them all, thankyou....new stuff please.

[smite]

The chronicles of Thomas Covenant. (Currently re-reading)

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series -

[DuVeL]

To be honoust, I'm reading a book from Tom Clancey, lolz.
Usually on holidays I read around 3 books variating fromSciFi untill WW2.
Nothing better then the m8s still laying around drunk in the bed and I'm allready awake, reading abook near the pool with a beer next to me and me reading/looking whats swimming in the pool  

[smilodon]

I remember reading the Covenant Books millions of years ago. Didn't he have leprosy or something ?

I'd recommend -

120 days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade. Here

Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book by  by Brian Froud and Terry Jones Here

[smite]

Originally posted by smilodon@Jun 2 2004, 07:17 PM
I remember reading the Covenant Books millions of years ago. Didn't he have leprosy or something ?

Yup.....
The third set will start coming out in october after 10 years since his last in this story line.

[Zok]

"Lord Foul" has to be the best baddy name ever

This has been mentioned before in another thread but "The Nights Dawn Trilogy" by Peter F Hamilton ranks right amongst the top as some of the best SF I have ever read.

[TeaLeaf]

Originally posted by Zok@Jun 2 2004, 08:30 PM
This has been mentioned before in another thread but "The Nights Dawn Trilogy" by Peter F Hamilton ranks right amongst the top as some of the best SF I have ever read.

I bought the trilogy after that mention here on the forums and I can confirm it was a cracking good read.  Lent them to a friend and will have them on sale here soon for a song so that other good members can enjoy.  4,000 pages of awesome sci-fi goodness

TL.

[Benny]

Now I've got your interest........explain more detail, what they're about. I'm not asking for Smilodon rants, just overviews.

I've read a fair few of the discworld books and enjoyed them, but as with anything, change is good, what's this covenant stuff?

Anyone read the last legionairre? Kyle someone...

[Rabbi Bob]

Currently reading Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (author of Neuromancer).  I have just started it, more to come shortly.  I like WG by default.

[GRIM_REAPER]

few autobiographys:

Ellen mcarthur (cant remmeber the title) - not bad
Doctor on everest - bloody good book
flying with condors (judy ledden) - good book

and im currently reading revision books
but id recomend most of the bill bryson series.

[smilodon]

Hey I never do rants. I do in depth, thoughtful and inciteful reviews.

However, for the hard of thinking    I'll keep my suggestions brief.

120 days of Sodom by The Marquis de Sade. The Marquis de Sade, vilified by respectable society from his own time through ours,  wrote The 120 Days of Sodom while imprisoned in the Bastille. An exhaustive catalogue of sexual aberrations and the first systematic exploration of the psychopathology of sex, it is considered Sade's crowning achievement and the cornerstone of his thought.
Details


Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book by by Brian Froud and Terry Jones. Link already supplied.

A rediculious pastiche of the Fairy photographs that duped Lewis Carol. In this book the ficticious author actually catches the fairies and squashes them between the pages of a book much like a pressed flower book. Wickedly funny being written by ex Python Terry Jones and brilliantly illustrated by Brian Froud

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Benny@Jun 2 2004, 09:10 PM
I've read a fair few of the discworld books and enjoyed them, but as with anything, change is good, what's this covenant stuff?

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

There are two series (the First Chronicles and the Second Chronicles) with 3 books in each series.

In short, a cracking good read about a man who is a leper in our world but keeps getting puled back to another world where he is a hero of sorts.

That doesn't do it justice by any means but well worth a read.

[smilodon]

Tolkien for grown-ups, although oddly I read them as a kid    I'm definatley going to have another look at them as I only remember reading the first three?

And I did like old Lord Foulsbain  :devil:

Another compelling read and a factual book this time is

The Complete History of Jack The Ripper by Philip Sugden. Considered by many to be the definative Ripper book it doesn't support and quirky or weird idea about who Jack was but looks at the facts without any bias. If you have even the slightest interest in the Whitechapel murders this is a must read.

[ChimpBoy]

Okey dokey - I'll try and steer away from time-honoured classics, but here's some good fiction:

History
The Master and Commander series - Patrick O'Brian (make sure you start from the first book though, otherwise it's difficult to pick up).

The Gates of Rome - Conn Iggulden (think Gladiator but in a book)

Sci-Fi
Nights Dawn Trilogy - Peter F Hamilton (I think me n Zokey extolled the virtues of this in another thread in this section).

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (weird sci-fi).

Read anything by Iain M Banks (especially Excession or The Player of Games).

Crime
"The Dudley Smith Trio" and it's prequel "The Black Dahlia" - James Ellroy (the greatest crime novels you will ever read, bar none).

Mystic River - Dennis Lehane.  The film is great, the book is staggering.

Anything by Elmore Leonard - writer of Out Of Sight and Get Shorty.

Easy-reading-beach-material: read David Baldacci (esp Absolute Power, The Winner) or Michael Connelly (esp the Harry Bosch novels)

Non-Fiction
If you like your non-fiction war books, then a couple of recommendations would be (all about Vietnam) "Dispatches" (Michael Herr), "Chickenhawk" (Robert Mason) or "We were soldiers once and young" (Moore and Galloway).

Biography
I'll steer clear of all the obvious stuff like Mandela and Branson, but one I really enjoyed was "Hammer of the Gods" (Stephen Davis).  Great bio about the debauched 70's rock days of Led Zepp.

[A Twig]

Well each to their own, but the Master and Commander series I thought were rubbish

Patrick O'Brien is generally regarded as the 3rd naval writer, with Alexander Kent's Bolitho series and C.S. Forrester's (i think) Hornblower series being better, although the last book in the Bolitho series is not too hot. He wrote it too quickly to end the series and make a quick buck and it shows.

In a similar vein Phillip Pulman's Dark Materials Trilogy - Northern Lights and Subtle Knife are excellent. Pity the Amber Spyglass could not remotely approach the levels of the other two.

You can always re-read Lord of the Rings - I must confess I've read that about 7 times now!

I'll post some more when I think of them