MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Afternoon all
Myself and Mrs Binners are off up to the Lakes for a week on Friday. YAY!!! The days are going to be taken up with walking and riding, as is required by law when in Cumbria. We've got a lovely place in Bowness, so in the evenings we're planning on doing nothing more strenuous than sitting around eating, drinking too much wine and reading. We're simple creatures.
So I need to load my Kindle up. And you lot being so discerning, educated and literary, this is obviously the place to ask for recommendations. Anything goes. Apart from Biographies. With the odd notable exception, I'm not a fan.
So what have enjoyed recently? Your recommendations purleez....
Thanks in advance
Have you read Drac's autobiography?
It's both amusing and absorbing.
#recycledjoke
Wodehouse. Lots of it.
Bravo Two Zero.
Enjoyed this^
Books I have recently read and enjoyed:
The Bricks that Built the Houses / Kate Tempest
The Long Mars / Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (though this is part 3 of 5, you want to start with The Long Earth)
The Handmaid's Tale / Margaret Atwood (yeah I know, I'm well behind the curve)
Born to Run / Bruce Springsteen (I don't usually like autobiographies either)
The End of Mr Y / Scarlett Thomas
Neil Gaiman - American Gods
Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove
Ernest Shackleton - South
Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London (that one first, then the rest of the series)
The Dictators handbook.
Britain BC
C# in depth.
Another recommendation for the "Rivers of London" series.
In no particular order:
"Ready Player One" - Ernest Cline
"Perdido St. Station" - China Mieville
"King Rat" - China Mieville
"Neverwhere" - Neil Gaiman
The End of Mr Y / Scarlett Thomas
Oh, I read that a few years ago. I thought it was great.
Anything by Cormac McCarthy (though I haven't read them all)
Anything by Elmore Leonard (I have read them all (except the cowboy ones))
Jo Nesbo stuff is good for a non-taxing, trashy read
Mark E Smith's autobiography is leagues above Johnny Marr's btw. 🙂
The Scar - China Mieville. Part of the Perdido Street Station series, but disconnected, so you don't need to read them in any order. Steampunk/ fantasy, but so amazingly written, it's gripping and has stayed with me for years. Can't wait to read it again.
City of Stairs - another sci-fi/ fantasy type book, but again really well written, reasonably grounded and not too "wizards and knights".
The Flashman series (there are 12). It's a bit of an investment (£60 on Kindle?) but it'll last you a looong time.
John Connolly - anything in the Charlie Parker series
Re-reading a Song of Fire and Ice at the moment. It is superb.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Shadow of the Wind
Glenn Meade - Brandenburg
On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan if you want to cry like a little girl.
If nothing else, you'll fully appreciate one of the best ever "10%er" jokes from Peep Show.
Movie adaptation on the way, I understand.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Shadow of the Wind
We'll agree to disagree.
The Flashman series (there are 12). It’s a bit of an investment (£60 on Kindle?) but it’ll last you a looong time.
If this tickles your wick then the Roger Brook series by Dennis Wheatley – set around the French revolution – is superb.
We’ll agree to disagree.
Go on – I'm intrigued. His follow-ups aren't a patch on SotW, but myself and the better half (who loves American Gods and keeps trying to get me to read it) thoroughly enjoyed it.
<div class="bbp-reply-author">Cougar
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<div class="bbp-reply-content">The End of Mr Y / Scarlett Thomas
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Oh, I read that a few years ago. I thought it was great.
I really enjoyed it. Though some of the blurb quotes described it as 'sexy', and whilst there was sex in it, it wasn't very nice.
<div class="bbp-reply-author">DezB
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Anything by Cormac McCarthy (though I haven’t read them all)
Seconded. I always read at least on McCarthy book on holiday, it's about the only time I spent enough time reading in one go to properly get into them. Blood Meridian or All the Pretty Horses for me, but all the ones I've read have been great.
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I am reading Absolute Beginners by Colin Macinnes and enjoying it.
[size=4]Sshhh... don't mention the formatting![/size]
Oh ffs. Too late to edit now as well. Sorry! I clearly don't quote enough on the new forum.
The Three-Body Problem - first contact with aliens with a background of The Cultural Revolution
Blindsight - another first contact novel, seems to be a good hard SF novel but with a interesting philosophical twist
Talking to Terrorists - what it says, across multiple conflicts. Perhaps David Davis and Donald Trump should read it as it provides lots of insight into successful negotiation?
We’ll agree to disagree.
2-1 against you.
Your move!
(Great novel IMO).
How about 'Kitchen Confidential', in the light of this week's sad events? Really entertaining.
And +1 Wodehouse, obviously. Although Binners is probably too Northern and uncouth to appreciate it 🙂
Go on – I’m intrigued.
I just thought it was really wishy-washy. It was alright, don't get me wrong, it's just one of those books that I'm surprised that people rave about. See, also, Wuthering Heights.
And +1 Wodehouse, obviously. Although Binners is probably too Northern and uncouth to appreciate it
I must be too then.
Angelmaker - Nick Harkaway
I must be too then.
You seem like a cove sort of fellow.
Second the Three-Body Problem, and its two sequels, The Dark Forest and Death's End. Also...
Seveneves 
The World Walker Series 
Children of Time 
Excellent! Some good stuff to go at here.
And I'm too northern and uncouth for most things, to be honest, so whilst reading I like to pretend I'm from Surrey 😀
Owt by George Pelecanos.
And +1 Wodehouse, obviously. Although Binners is probably too Northern and uncouth to appreciate it
I'm too southern and uncouth.
I’m too southern and uncouth.
Nah bruv!
You is well couth innit!
I just thought it was really wishy-washy. It was alright, don’t get me wrong, it’s just one of those books that I’m surprised that people rave about. See, also, Wuthering Heights.
Ha! Not read that. I think the TV adaptations killed it for me...
Fair enough. I could easily apply 'wishy-washy' to his other books as they all seemed to be in a similar vein but never quite hitting the mark; thought SofW was great though.
I may re-read it now just to make sure. 🙂
2-1 against you.
Your move!
😆
And I’m too northern and uncouth for most things, to be honest, so whilst reading I like to pretend I’m from Surrey
Yeah, booooy!
Plus one for angelmaker, or anything by nick harkaway
Borrowed this recently and although I haven't read a novel for aeons and was quite sure I'd gone off reading - this had me turning pages and laughing out loud in public.
Massively recommended. A few first pages to read here see if you like the gist
The Young Stalin by Simon Schama is gripping.
Bill Bryson , A Walk in the Woods is a proper laugh out loud holiday read .
Another vote for John Connoly , but I'd definitely read Every daed thing first .
Due to the loss of a major client I've got a lot of spare time at the moment and I can't fill it all with client chasing, lawn mowing and riding so I decided to get some rereading done and decided to have a shot at Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.
Snow Crash was as good as ever but just before I dived into Cryptonomicon for the first time in five years I stumbled across a Kindle plug for The Rise and Fall of DODO.
I read it in three sittings. It was like a return to his humorous earlier stuff. Really can recommend it.
I recently bought The Martian by Andy Weir as a £0.99 kindle deal. Having watched the film version starring Matt Damon I knew the plot but really enjoyed the writing and scientific aspects of the tale. If you enjoy (fictional) tales of survival against the odds it is a cracking read.
Sapiens
Jordan Peterson 12 rules of life
Grapes of wrath
All recent books I've enjoyed
Sapiens...can't believe nobody else has recommended it
I love The Martian even allowing for the huge inaccuracy at the start.
I'll always recommend Louis de Bernières. His South American Trilogy (The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord, The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman) are utterly sublime, and his semi-non-fiction Birds Without Wings is the best book I've ever read.
More recently, Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian is certainly worth a read and I've been pleasantly surprised by Craig Thomas and his Kenneth Aubrey series of 1980s cold war British Intelligence novels.
Snow Crash was as good as ever but just before I dived into Cryptonomicon for the first time in five years I stumbled across a Kindle plug for The Rise and Fall of DODO.
I’ve read Snow Crash umpteen times, but I’ve always struggled with Cryptonomicon; I saw ‘...DODO’ in Waterstones last weekend, and it looks interesting, so I’ll be checking it out.
I’ve recently read Claire North’s new book, 84k, and it’s very good indeed, and a rather scary forseeing of how society is progressing. Her previous books are very readable as well: The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August, Touch, The Sudden Appearance Of Hope, and The End Of The Day, she takes ideas that have been used before, but manages to put her own spin on them.
The Son, Philip Meyer
The Crow Road, Iain Banks
Sweet tooth, Ian McEwan
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Gail Honeyman.
Humans. Matt Haig.
American Gods. Neil Gaiman.
Just finished this, would make a great holiday whodunit.
The Son, Philip Meyer
Excellent, as is American Rust by the same author
Grapes of wrath
Excellent, as is everything else by the same author (bar "Log from the Sea of Cortez", which is really dull). 'East of Eden' is epic in every sense, but I particularly liked' Once There was a War', a collection of his reporting from WW2. really evocative.