Favourite Books.

[aleandhearty]

Surprised no-one's done this before now. I'm primarily thinking of novels, but if you want to include non-fiction - feel free, I'm not going to be tight-arsed and prescriptive about it. Here are some of my favourites down the years. In no particular order:

The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson.
The Narrow Road To The Deep North - Richard Flanagan.
Bonfire Of The Vanities - Tom Wolfe.
The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan.
The White Hotel - D.M.Thomas.
The Deptford Trilogy - Robertson Davies.
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey.
A Kestrel For A Knave - Barry Hines.
Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson.
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett.
The Son - Philipp Meyer.
The Power & The Glory - Graham Greene.
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini.
The 2nd Rumpole Omnibus - John Mortimer.
Saki: The Complete Short Stories - H.H.Munro.


Over to you.

[Tris39]

Surprised no-one's done this before now. I'm primarily thinking of novels, but if you want to include non-fiction - feel free, I'm not going to be tight-arsed and prescriptive about it. Here are some of my favourites down the years. In no particular order:

A Kestrel For A Knave - Barry Hines.

You may want to watch this if you've not done so: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000bh0n/greg-davies-looking-for-kes

[oldboots]

I don't read a lot of novels these days but a quick look along the bookshelves and a trail through my addled brain threw up this list, nothing very new.

The Mayor of Casterbridge / Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (my favourite two, both depressing)
Ulysses - James Joyce
all 6 completed novels - Jane Austen
The Journey to the East - Herman Hesse
Wyrd Sisters / Reaper Man (although any Discworld novel would do even the very fat ones) - Terry Pratchett
Virgin Soldiers - Leslie Thomas
Vintage Stuff - Tom Sharpe
Puckoon (and his wartime auto-biographies) - Spike Milligan
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

When I was young I read a lot of science fiction, mostly Issac Asimov and Robert Heinlein plus the first few of Frank Herbert's Dune series. I also had a thing for the wartime potboilers of Sven Hassel.

I agree with A&H, I like John Mortimer (Rumpole and Paradise Postponed etc), Alan Bennett and Hunter S Thompson too. Charles Dickens is a good writer although best known for his costume dramas on TV :D

[Oggwyn Trench]

Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (a trilogy in four parts) - Douglass Adams
Corfu Trilogy - Gerald Durrell
Zorba the Greek - Nikos Kazantzakis
Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchet , like OB any Discworld
Dogs of War - Fredrick Forsyth , any Forsyth really but this is my favorite
The Seventh Sanctuary - Daniel Easterman
Das Boot - Lothar Gunter Buchheim
From Russia with Love - Ian Fleming , My favorite Bond although i like them all

Reading a lot of Scandi Noir recently so Jo Nesbo , Lars Kepler and Samuel Bjork

When i was younger i used to read a lot of Michael Moorcock so Elric , Corum , Hawkmoon and the like .

[Wittenden]

No, I don't read a great deal of fiction at the moment;mainly nature writing and poetry, but here are some novels that I return to.

Dickens- Our Mutual Friend
Sterne-The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
Joyce-Ulysses.Marmite, this.Loved it as a young man, unable to finish it when middle aged.Due a revisit.
Jane Austen-Mansfield Park
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa-The Leopard
Most Thomas Hardy
T F Powys-Mr Weston's Good Wine
Doris Lessing-The Canopus in Argos series, especially The Making of the representative of Planet 8
John Cowper Powys-Wolf Solent
Tolkien-The Lord of the Rings
Cormac McCarthy-The Border Trilogy

[Pubsignman]

Fiction:
1984 - George Orwell
This Thing of Darkness - Harry Thompson
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Don Quixote - Cervantes
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Garbriel Garcia Marquez
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving

Non Fiction:
Pillars of Hercules - Paul Theroux
The Bang Bang Club- Greg Marinovich
The Dig Tree - Sarah Murgatroyd
Stasiland - Anna Funder
Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys - Viv Albertine
Blood River - Tim Butcher
In Europe - Geert Mak

[Komakino]

Wondered if this might come up as one of the next subjects of topic; it'll be favourite comedians next no doubt :D Here are my favourite books:

Fiction
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Dubliners - James Joyce
On The Road - Jack Kerouac

Non-Fiction
Rip It Up And Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984 - Simon Reynolds
Tales of a New Jerusalem (series) - David Kynaston
The London Nobody Knows - Geoffrey Fletcher

[ETA]

Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (a trilogy in four parts) - Douglass Adams
.

Five parts surely? Hence the reference to "the increasingly inaccurately-named Hitchhikers Trilogy".

[oldboots]

Five parts surely? Hence the reference to "the increasingly inaccurately-named Hitchhikers Trilogy".

Or the same book five times?

[hondo]

https://www.waterstones.com/book/eclipse/nicholas-clee/9780552774420

https://www.waterstones.com/book/doped/jamie-reid/9781909471511

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sure-thing/nick-townsend/9780099576587

https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-search-of-running-rein-2016/9781782818748

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-druids-lodge-confederacy/paul-mathieu/9781910498118

[oldboots]

https://www.waterstones.com/book/eclipse/nicholas-clee/9780552774420

https://www.waterstones.com/book/doped/jamie-reid/9781909471511

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sure-thing/nick-townsend/9780099576587

https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-search-of-running-rein-2016/9781782818748

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-druids-lodge-confederacy/paul-mathieu/9781910498118

No Dick Francis?

[hondo]

don't need fiction all are true stories

[Pubsignman]

https://www.waterstones.com/book/doped/jamie-reid/9781909471511

Just finished reading this - thought it was excellent.

[ROBCamra]

Just finished Outsider by Stephen King. A 350 page novel crammed into 475.

Used to like his books, but not so sure about this one.

Now on Many Rivers To Cross by Peter Robinson. :cheers:

[hondo]

Just finished reading this - thought it was excellent.

As i said who needs Dick Francis with true stories like that. Horseracing, drugs, sex, class, gangsters, dodgy bookies and the monarchy all mixed up in it.

[Thuck Phat]

https://www.waterstones.com/book/eclipse/nicholas-clee/9780552774420

https://www.waterstones.com/book/doped/jamie-reid/9781909471511

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sure-thing/nick-townsend/9780099576587

https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-search-of-running-rein-2016/9781782818748

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-druids-lodge-confederacy/paul-mathieu/9781910498118

Mrs Phat loves racing and has read many fiction and the odd factual book on it, John Francome being a favourite until he stopped writing.

You've just sorted this year's birthday and Christmas presents. Thank you.

[aleandhearty]

You may want to watch this if you've not done so: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000bh0n/greg-davies-looking-for-kes

Somehow missed it, last year. Thanks for the heads up, Tris.


John Cowper Powys-Wolf Solent

I've had a copy of it on my bookshelf for nigh on 40 years! Still haven't read it. Will add it to the pile next to my bedside table.


...it'll be favourite comedians next no doubt :D

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis


Just a matter of time, methinks. :) Perhaps you could do the honours?

Admittedly, it's a while since I read AP, but at the time I thought it was the most disturbing and depressing book I'd ever come across.

[Quinno]

Fiction

I'll take any of the Stuart McBride books (https://www.stuartmacbride.com/books/). Murder, gangsters and laugh-out-loud black humour.

Henning Mankell's Wallander books are also a good read. I've only read one Rebus, which I enjoyed, and hopefully will read a few more soon.

Aside from crime novels, I really love the James Herriot books.

I was a massive fan of the Alienist by Caleb Carr when I was in my early teens, it was one of the first proper 'grown up' books I ever purchased. One where by judging the book by its cover was an unqualified success. The TV dramatisation on Netflix caught the essence of the writing rather well.

Non-fiction

May I recommend Do No Harm by Henry Marsh. It's a book about the rials and tribulations of being a brain surgeon.

Defending the Guilty: Truth and Lies in the Criminal Courtroom by Alex McBride is also an eye-opener.

[Tris39]

No Dick Francis?

...or Anna Sewell.;)

[Tris39]

Non-fiction:

The Ascent of Man - Jacob Browski
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell
The Kon-Tiki Expedition - Thor Heyerdahl
London: The Biography - Peter Ackroyd
Nairn's London - Ian Nairn
The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell

Fiction:

The Beach - Alex Garland
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Hitchhiker's Guide(s) to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Honorary Consul - Graham Greene
The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
Reunion - Fred Uhlman
The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan
Typhoon - Joseph Conrad

[oldboots]

...or Anna Sewell.;)

:cool:

[london calling]

I have read so many great books .Nearly all crime or thrillers.
best book fiction has got to be Harper Lee -To kill a Mockingbird
best non fiction Ernest Hemingway -Death in the Afternoon (about bullfighting in the 1930s )

[Oggwyn Trench]

Five parts surely? Hence the reference to "the increasingly inaccurately-named Hitchhikers Trilogy".

I have the omnibus edition of the first four , have to admit i have not read part 5 .

[ETA]

The Hitchhikers Trilogy - Douglas Adams
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolf
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
This Time Next Week - Leslie Thomas
Most of the Discworld books - Terry Pratchett
The Dark Tower - Stephen King
Early Tom Sharpe especially the Wilt series and the South African ones.
Escape from Colditz/The Colditz Story - Pat Reid

[Al Bundy]

Not really a big reader of novels and stuff but the last 10 books I've read are:

Creation Stories - Alan McGee
Common As Muck - Roy 'Chubby' Brown
My Liverpool Home - Kenny Dalglish
The Real Bob Paisley
Renegade - Mark E Smith
Substance, Inside New Order - Peter Hook
Goodbye 20th Century, Sonic Youth - David Browne
Girl In A Band - Kim Gordon
Anger Is An Energy - John Lydon
A Drink With Shane MacGowan - Victoria Clarke

[Aqualung]

I'm not a great reader of books but enjoyed Brave New World which was similar in some ways to 1984. I read another of Huxley's books, I think it was called Legless In The Kaze or something and was so long and boring that I couldn't stay awake for more than two pages at a time.
I was talking to a woman about Science Fiction and we couldn't agree whether Asimov's Foundation Trilogy was any good. She thought it was great so I went on to ask her if she liked Moorcock and she slapped me in the face!!

[Delboy20]

I can't remember the last book I read to be honest but I was a fairly big reader when I was younger.

I always loved The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings. On a side note my daughter went to school with a relation of Tolkien. in fact her middle name was Tolkien.

I was a bit of a collector or Biggles books by W.E Johns and Just William books by Richmal Crompton.

I also loved Jules Verne, H.G Wells and Edgar Rice burroughs.

Going back further you couldn't beat Enid Blyton!

[Tris39]

I read another of Huxley's books, I think it was called Legless In The Kaze or something...

I was talking to a woman about Science Fiction and we couldn't agree whether Asimov's Foundation Trilogy was any good. She thought it was great so I went on to ask her if she liked Moorcock and she slapped me in the face!!

Eyeless in Gaza.

I had a vaguely similar experience to yours about a year or two ago. An East European barmaid poured my pint and said 'Would you like some more head?'. 'No thanks', I replied. 'Just the pint's fine'. And no I'm not making that one up either - the perils of learning a new language.

[london calling]

I'm not a great reader of books but enjoyed Brave New World which was similar in some ways to 1984. I read another of Huxley's books, I think it was called Legless In The Kaze or something and was so long and boring that I couldn't stay awake for more than two pages at a time.
I was talking to a woman about Science Fiction and we couldn't agree whether Asimov's Foundation Trilogy was any good. She thought it was great so I went on to ask her if she liked Moorcock and she slapped me in the face!!
HA HA

[london calling]

eyeless in gaza.

I had a vaguely similar experience to yours about a year or two ago. An east european barmaid poured my pint and said 'would you like some more head?'. 'no thanks', i replied. 'just the pint's fine'. And no i'm not making that one up either - the perils of learning a new language.
ha ha ha

[london calling]

Not really a big reader of novels and stuff but the last 10 books I've read are:

Creation Stories - Alan McGee
Common As Muck - Roy 'Chubby' Brown
My Liverpool Home - Kenny Dalglish
The Real Bob Paisley
Renegade - Mark E Smith
Substance, Inside New Order - Peter Hook
Goodbye 20th Century, Sonic Youth - David Browne
Girl In A Band - Kim Gordon
Anger Is An Energy - John Lydon
A Drink With Shane MacGowan - Victoria Clarke

Talking to my son last night and am desperate for read.He only reads biographys so from his selection of 20 I have picked Ian WrightTony Adams,Morrisey Stone Roses and David Haye.Told him to leave them on the doorstep on Monday.

[oldboots]

Talking to my son last night and am desperate for read.He only reads biographys so from his selection of 20 I have picked Ian WrightTony Adams,Morrisey Stone Roses and David Haye.Told him to leave them on the doorstep on Monday.

See if you can get the two volumes of Brendan Behan's auto biography (Borstal Boy & Confessions of an Irish Rebel) or Oliver Reed's (Reed all about me), both good reads, more drinking in Oli's obviously.

[london calling]

See if you can get the two volumes of Brendan Behan's auto biography (Borstal Boy & Confessions of an Irish Rebel) or Oliver Reed's (Reed all about me), both good reads, more drinking in Oli's obviously.

A good mate of mine when I first came to London was friends with Brendan Behan.Told me he would introduce me but it never happened.Legendary drinker Behan and my mate Barry.

[london calling]

See if you can get the two volumes of Brendan Behan's auto biography (Borstal Boy & Confessions of an Irish Rebel) or Oliver Reed's (Reed all about me), both good reads, more drinking in Oli's obviously.

Not a fan of biographys but any port in a storm.

[trainman]

The Flashman Papers, George MacDonald Fraser. Written not with any nod to being PC, but in the vernacular of the Victorian times. A cracking series of books about the adventures of the anti-hero Harry Flashman (the bully from Rugby school, known from Tom Brown's Schooldays). Meticulous historical research and footnotes add to the experience.

Cormac McCarthy: enjoyed the writing in all of his books, albeit he doesn't shirk life's brutalities.

Some Leslie Thomas, especially The Adventures of Goodnight and Loving, and Running Away, sheer escapism.

Read a couple of Bernie Gunther novels, Philip Kerr, interesting with the main character, a Berlin detective, trying to keep himself and his principles alive amid the oppression of Nazi Germany.

[london calling]

The Flashman Papers, George MacDonald Fraser. Written not with any nod to being PC, but in the vernacular of the Victorian times. A cracking series of books about the adventures of the anti-hero Harry Flashman (the bully from Rugby school, known from Tom Brown's Schooldays). Meticulous historical research and footnotes add to the experience.

Cormac McCarthy: enjoyed the writing in all of his books, albeit he doesn't shirk life's brutalities.

Some Leslie Thomas, especially The Adventures of Goodnight and Loving, and Running Away, sheer escapism.

Read a couple of Bernie Gunther novels, Philip Kerr, interesting with the main character, a Berlin detective, trying to keep himself and his principles alive amid the oppression of Nazi Germany.

Just reread Cormac Mccarthy -No Country for Old Men. -brutal but brilliant