Just finished some £2.00 paperback from the supermarket, The bombmaker, by Stephen Leather, absolutely brilliant book and well worth 2 pounds!(Asda)

Kind of stuck with what to follow it up with now and feeling sad I finished it, (as you do after been engrossed in a book start to finish)

Any suggestions. Thriller / war type thing or factual based perhaps as I really enjoyed Vulcan 607 a few months back too.

Maybe a good SAS story?

Anything by John Courtney Grimwood- for a bit of SciFi with a thriller type twist the Arabesk trilogy cant be beaten, and 9 tail fox is good too. For a bit more sci fi with some nice quantum physics ideas try stamping butterflies or end of the world blues.

sniper one

Mad, bad and dangerous to know.
Ranulph Fiennes autobigraphy.

I just finished The Kite Runner by Khaled hosseini and loved it. was made into a film a couple of years ago

Must be honest I dont read much but last year had to go to France with work and wanted a book to read whilst on the Eurostar and was recommended a book called ‘The curious incident of the dog in the night’ by Mark Haddon, its about an autistic boy (sort of gets inside his head). Like I said I dont read much but found I had to keep reading it with lots of funny bits and a bit emotional too. In fact I could read it again. Wished I read more really,

Duncan Kyle ‘White Out’ (also released as ‘In Deep’).

I’m reading a draft at the moment from an ex-Army chap who got up to all sorts after leaving the Forces. I hesitate to call it enjoyable because it’s actually quite alarming in places but it’s a very good read.

Although that doesn’t help you when it’s not out yet. Sorry.

One Day In the Life Of Ivan Desinovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, grab a copy while winter is still with us, which isn’t long as I heard a blast off a Thrush here in Todmorden.

Probably not really what you are after but I am enjoying Matter by Ian M Banks at the moment.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Stunning book

To Kill a Mockingbird

(quite possibly the best book that’ll be mentioned here)

Who Runs Britain by Robert peston

I read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson over Christmas – inspiring, adventurous and true.

As above The Kite Runner or to Kill a Mockingbird

just started reading lance armstrong “its not about the bike ” so far its seems most fine ok dark side but we all dabble i am sure

Try, The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat. A great book.

I found this in the laundry room last week, and am thoroughly enjoying it so far. Very well written, lots of interesting detail:
http://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Saints-Christopher-Hyde/dp/0671875809

Bible, it’s an engaging work of fiction.

cheers ex pat, read that one in school. A bit far fetched IMO

try marathon man by dean karnazes …. pretty mad chap !

or Long ride for a pie by tim mullinger

Other wise …picked up Red Dwarf omnibus in a second hand book shop today ….looking forward to that !

A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute. I read it when I was a kid, just re-read it – it’s still a corker. Casually non-PC in the manner of its day (late 1940s), but very good hearted.

Infantry Attacks, Rommel

Another vote for Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know, or if you enjoyed Vulcan 607 see the recent thread for alternative reads around the Falklands/Gulf conflict.

As above (and previously recommended), Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and more particularly, the sequel Girl Who Played With Fire.

But now I’m reading Wetlands, and I’d have thought it was pretty much essential reading for STW, dealing, as it does, with intimate and sordid details of bodily functions.

The time traveler’s wife by Audery Niffenegger

Good thrillers: Enigma, Archangel and Fatherland all by Robert Harris

Other books I’ve enjoyed recently(ish): A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Husseini), Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier), 1984 (if you have to ask, you really need to read more books), South (Ernest Shackleton)

Favourite book ever: Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry).

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. IMO the most wonderful novel ever written.

Holes by Louis Sachar – actually a children’s book but engrossing.

Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks. Good throw-away fiction but well written and created my continuing interest in the suffering of war.

Wich brings me to…

If This is a Man – Primo Levi. A harrowing real-life account of the Auswitz Death Camps. A must-read for everyone.

Yep, my 607 thread turned up some excellent recommendations.

Also, have a look at Simon Winchester if you like factual, his work on Krakatoa reads almost like a gripping thriller as well as a superb history – it’s called “Krakatoa, the day the world exploded”

Cradle to Cradle

I must try the Grapes of Wrath again. I read it when I was 19, didn’t really ‘get it’.

quite a few good suggestions there. just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy, enjoyed (if you can put it like that) it a lot. Also Half a Yellow Sun – can’t remember who it’s by but it’s about the Biafran War in Nigeria in the 60s, very interesting as I knew nothing about that period.

Currently reading The 19th Wife about polygamous marriage in Mormons and sects of the Mormon church. Enjoying that too. Next one lined up after that is The Kite Runner.

I must try the Grapes of Wrath again. I read it when I was 19, didn’t really ‘get it’.

I did – the last page is so perfectly written that when you DO get it, you feel completely satisfied. The girl breast-feeding the old man in the barn – it just sums up the human spirit, that no matter the set-backs, life endures. Wonderful.

Well, I haven’t read it, but I’m just about to order Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano (Amazon)

Was featured on the Culture Show as the author has had to live in hiding, with a 24hr guard, since it was published as the Mafia will kill him. Just has to be a good read!

Just finished reading this which was a very inspiring account from someone who survived being in the second World Trade tower when it collapsed.

The time traveler’s wife by Audery Niffenegger

Absolutely. reading this at the moment, very good indeed.

Also re-reading The rider by Tim Krabbe, quicksilver by Neal Stephenson and Snowcrash by the same. All superb books.

Anything by Charles Stross, a frighteningly clever, inventive and funny SF writer with an amazing work ethic. William Gibson, who actually managed to write a SF novel with a cycle courier as a heroine, (Virtual Light).

Not war related at all but bike related, just finished A Dog In A Hat – really enjoyed it

kite runner, truly moving and then read his next book a thousand splendid suns

Bram Stokers Dracula- I’m currently reading. V.good. Cant stop thinking of a wooden Keanu Reeves though dammit 😐