[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (Pearlie @ Feb 7 2011, 08:58)

Add to the list: -Scarecrow Matthew Riley And all of his books with Scarecrow

What about the description? Why do you think people should read this book. Sell it to us!

[drscot]

i cba atm, but im gonna write a review for all the richard castle books from the tv series castle, im glad they axtually started making them

[Mokrie Dela]

Cool. Well i assume you've read the first post and can see how it works - the description/why people should read it is vital - not everyone gets that. The isbn/url will help me but i can get those

I look forward to checking them out!
The ones i've checked out so far i was impressed by!

BTW if you, or anyone else, has read anything on this list, please feel free to discuss it

[SIKKS66]

This looks like a fun thread, good job. I've read a fair bit recently; having done an English degree I've had to plough through a fair bit of tedious sh*te but I've occasionally come across books that have surprised me. If anything comes to mind I'll share here and look forward to reading some of your suggestions

One that comes to mind is Ian McEwan's Saturday. It's not the kind of thing I'd read for pleasure normally- I tend to read historical books, biographies, crime novels and true crime narratives- but it came up on my course as a pivotal book in modern British fiction. Against the backdrop of the 2003 London anti-war protests, we follow a day in the life of a successful neurosurgeon called Henry. On his way to play a game of squash he gets into a disagreement with an angry young man named Baxter. Little does Henry realise that this confrontation will not change his life but that of his whole family as his children, wife and in-laws await him for a family gathering. I think I read this book faster than any other on the course because McEwan's writing was engaging, funny and thrilling. I think it's ironic that Henry is a neurosurgeon because- as cheesy as this sounds- you really find yourself inside his mind, he's a very interesting creation. There are a number of scenes in Saturday that really take your breath away but I don't want to discuss them as it may spoil the story. If you feel like coming out of your comfort zone, give Saturday a read.

ISBN: 0224072994

[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (SIKKS66 @ Friday, Jul 1 2011, 01:36)

This looks like a fun thread, good job. I've read a fair bit recently; having done an English degree I've had to plough through a fair bit of tedious sh*te but I've occasionally come across books that have surprised me. If anything comes to mind I'll share here and look forward to reading some of your suggestions One that comes to mind is Ian McEwan's Saturday. It's not the kind of thing I'd read for pleasure normally- I tend to read historical books, biographies, crime novels and true crime narratives- but it came up on my course as a pivotal book in modern British fiction. Against the backdrop of the 2003 London anti-war protests, we follow a day in the life of a successful neurosurgeon called Henry. On his way to play a game of squash he gets into a disagreement with an angry young man named Baxter. Little does Henry realise that this confrontation will not change his life but that of his whole family as his children, wife and in-laws await him for a family gathering. I think I read this book faster than any other on the course because McEwan's writing was engaging, funny and thrilling. I think it's ironic that Henry is a neurosurgeon because- as cheesy as this sounds- you really find yourself inside his mind, he's a very interesting creation. There are a number of scenes in Saturday that really take your breath away but I don't want to discuss them as it may spoil the story. If you feel like coming out of your comfort zone, give Saturday a read. ISBN: 0224072994

That's a huge description

Could you make it a little smaller? (if you can't d/w). I've added that to the list

Thanks for participating!

[RadioIsotope]

Hmmm, I can't believe this one isn't on here yet!



Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, such an excellent book that really does depict what modern day life is becoming.

I'll just start listing some awesome titles now

The Iliad - Homer
The Odyssey - Homer
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (A truly, awesome read!)
The Things They Carried - Tim O' Brien

[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (RadioIsotope @ Friday, Jul 1 2011, 18:03)

Hmmm, I can't believe this one isn't on here yet! Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, such an excellent book that really does depict what modern day life is becoming. I'll just start listing some awesome titles now The Iliad - Homer The Odyssey - Homer Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (A truly, awesome read!) The Things They Carried - Tim O' Brien

@ the list - You're not saying why people should read these books! sell them to us

I'll add brave new world up, though if you could elaborate on why the book's so good, that'd be cool

[Sanjeem]

If anybody likes crime books, non-fiction then take a look at these three books here...



This book "Gomorrah" written by Roberto Saviano who now has to be protected 24/7 by armed carabinieri body guards due to his book unleashing some of the Camorra's or known as the Neapolitan Mafia's deep secrets and how they carry out their criminal activity globally. One of the most interesting things I found out in this book is that Scampia has Europe's largest open air drug market in the whole of Europe.



Joaquin Garcia or known more by the name Jack Falcone is the second FBI agent in the History of the Mafia in America to be offered the place of a Made man since Donnie Brasco. However his goal of infiltrating the Mafia to the full is impossible and very dangerous if found out that not onlt is he a Cuban instead of an Italian, but that he works for the government.

[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (Mokrie Dela @ Thursday, May 6 2010, 17:15)

Also this is for FICTION. If you want to recommend poetry books or factual books, feel free to set up a new topic. (Any posts that break these rules will not be added to the list).

Sorry man. Fiction only!

Has anyone read the listed books? Whats your thoughts on them?

As mentioned before I loved A Scanner darkly, and am grateful for unoriginal for recommending it. The films not bad either (i actually plan to buy the book and the film )

[Panz]

Well, I just read The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night.

It's a post-apocalyptic story following a sick man and his son as they travel through a dead world covered in ash. The world is riddled with cannibals and thieves and, unfortunately, no food because it's all either been destroyed in fires or taken by someone else. The man and son's goal is to move south toward the coast because they can no longer live where they've been staying through another winter, and they encounter some very traumatic and emotional events along the way. This is definitely one of the saddest and most depressing books I've read. Beware, McCarthy hates using punctuation in his writing, so I hope you can bear with it. Otherwise, the man writes like a genius; I read it straight through in just a few hours.

(If you like post-apocalyptic tales like this, I'd also recommend On the Beach by Nevil Shute. It's definitely worth reading despite the slow start to it all. It just focuses on radiation basically wiping out humanity. That's really all there is to say about it.)

Thanks for this topic, by the way. I've been trying to find some good books to read so that I can get into the habit of reading for when college comes. Great idea.

Edit: As for your question, I've read To Kill a Mockingbird..I'm sure most people have. That's an awesome book. I mean, I read it a few years ago, and then they required me to read it in school, so I read it again and enjoyed it just as much.
I've heard good things about The Boy in the Stripd Pyjamas as well..That's probably going to be next on my list.

This post has been edited by Panz on Saturday, Jul 2 2011, 00:32

[methods]

McCarthy is definitely my favourite author! The Road is so brutal, that scene when they stumble upon the cannibal house left me scared for weaks. If you haven't already definitely, read more of his books, Blood Meridian is my number one by him.

This post has been edited by methods. on Saturday, Jul 2 2011, 10:15

[Panz]

Yeah! I read around that Blood Meridian is McCarthy's best work. I'm hoping to pick it up today, actually. He writes so simply sometimes, but it works very well.

And yeah, that scene was horrifying as well as the scene where they were cooking the infant on the stick. I don't know if you saw the movie adaptation, but they left that scene out. I'm glad about that.

[Mokrie Dela]

Glad to see this topic alive again!
I'll add the books to the list

QUOTE

Thanks for this topic, by the way. I've been trying to find some good books to read so that I can get into the habit of reading for when college comes. Great idea

No problem man, that's the idea of it
When i get time to read more i plan to go through the rest of this list. I (obviously) highly recommend Rainbow Six, Alamut, and A Scanner Darkly. OF the ones that i remember well, these are good reads!

Edit : thanks for linking to the amazon site!

This post has been edited by Mokrie Dela on Saturday, Jul 2 2011, 23:37

[Afro Zombie]

One book I'd recommend is 'Johnny got his gun' by Dalton Trumbo. It follows the story of a young soldier who is lying in a hospital bed after losing both arms and legs as well as most of his face on the last days of the first world war.

Having lost all senses and the ability to communicate with the outside world while still having a fully functioning mind, he becomes a prisoner, trapped inside his own mind. The story is told from the perspective of the soldier and the majority of the book is spent with him drifting in and out of conciousness, unable to tell if he is awake, asleep or even alive all the while trying to piece back together what happened to him as well as trying to find a method of communication so he can let the outside world know that a part of him is still active. Parts of the story are given in the form of his memories as he remembers a time when he wasn't the way he is in the novel. These sections allow the reader to get a bit of back story on the character and allow for Trumbo to show what kind of man the soldier once was.

At it's heart it is a anti-war novel with a brilliant story and fantastic end that I would recommend to anyone who has the time to read it.

[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (Afro Zombie @ Wednesday, Jul 13 2011, 21:02)

One book I'd recommend is 'Johnny got his gun' by Dalton Trumbo. It follows the story of a young soldier who is lying in a hospital bed after losing both arms and legs as well as most of his face on the last days of the first world war. Having lost all senses and the ability to communicate with the outside world while still having a fully functioning mind, he becomes a prisoner, trapped inside his own mind. The story is told from the perspective of the soldier and the majority of the book is spent with him drifting in and out of conciousness, unable to tell if he is awake, asleep or even alive all the while trying to piece back together what happened to him as well as trying to find a method of communication so he can let the outside world know that a part of him is still active. Parts of the story are given in the form of his memories as he remembers a time when he wasn't the way he is in the novel. These sections allow the reader to get a bit of back story on the character and allow for Trumbo to show what kind of man the soldier once was. At it's heart it is a anti-war novel with a brilliant story and fantastic end that I would recommend to anyone who has the time to read it.

added

[StoneHead37]

Add this to the list.

TITLE: Flowers for Algernon
AUTHOR: Daniel Keyes
ISNB: 0-15-131510-8
RECOMMENDED BY: StoneHead37
DESCRIPTION: Charlie Gordon, age 32, has an IQ of 68 and works as a janitor and delivery boy at a bakery, which his uncle Herman had to secured for him so Charlie would not be sent to the Warren State Home, an institution for the mentally retarded. Charlie dreams about becoming a genius and attends adult school at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults. His teaching instructor's name is Alice Kinnian who is young, attractive and vibrant. Two researchers at Beekman, Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss are looking to perform their new surgical technique, designed to boost the overall intelligence of any living being. They have only tested on animals, including a white lab mouse named Algernon. Algernon's intelligence has reached great heights because of the surgery he received. Strauss and Nemur decide to use Charlie for the experiment due to his will to learn and recommendations from Alice. The surgery dramatically changes Charlie in more ways then one.

I recommend it because this book is truly inspiring. It proves that even people with mental disorders are willing and able to reach great heights to become smart.

This post has been edited by StoneHead37 on Thursday, Jul 14 2011, 15:37

[mark-2007]

I just finished reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, the edition included The Devil too. Both were excellent. The former took up the majority of the book, but was still a short story at around 60 pages. As the name may suggest, it deals with Ivan Ilyich's death, beginning with a look at how those closest to him dealt with such news (a "rather him than me" attitude, despite being close friends) and then went on to tell of Ivan Ilyich's life before setting up his illness. The story focuses on Ilyich's fear of death and the meaning of life and death as a whole - whether he had lived a "good life" or not.

The Devil weighs in at little over 40 pages and deals with Evgeny Irtenev who, upon the death of his father, inherits the family estate (along with his late father's crippling debts). Moving to the estate and determined to turn his family's fortunes around, he begins to sell off parts of the land and create a profitable farm. However, he soon begins to miss the city life of St. Petersburg (read: a f*ck buddy) and begins a relationship with a peasant woman, Stepanida. Several months later, he meets another woman (Liza) and, breaking off relations with Stepanida, marries her. What entails is a happy, married life until almost a year later when he sees Stepanida again. The story from there revolves round Evgeny's mental torture between his wife and his former mistress, eventually leading to disaster.

I'm unsure about the rest of Tolstoy's work, but these two short stories are very critical of the Russian upper classes, the correct (or "comme il faut" as I think Tolstoy puts it) way of life they lead, and the hollowness of it.

I'd highly recommend them, and plan on delving into Tolstoy's longer work. Big novels always sort of put me off as I'm quite a slow reader, but I might pick up Anna Karenina soon.

I'm gonna start on The Popular Girl, which is bunched together with four other short stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I loved The Great Gatsby and have been meaning to read more by him.

I also bought James Joyce's Ulysses. Couldn't find it in the library and always wanted to give it a go. It looks dauntingly long, probably will take a while for my eyes to get through.

This post has been edited by mark-2007 on Tuesday, Aug 2 2011, 21:55

[Mokrie Dela]

QUOTE (StoneHead37 @ Wednesday, Jul 13 2011, 23:21)

Add this to the list. TITLE: Flowers for Algernon AUTHOR: Daniel Keyes ISNB: 0-15-131510-8 RECOMMENDED BY: StoneHead37 DESCRIPTION: Charlie Gordon, age 32, has an IQ of 68 and works as a janitor and delivery boy at a bakery, which his uncle Herman had to secured for him so Charlie would not be sent to the Warren State Home, an institution for the mentally retarded. Charlie dreams about becoming a genius and attends adult school at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults. His teaching instructor's name is Alice Kinnian who is young, attractive and vibrant. Two researchers at Beekman, Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss are looking to perform their new surgical technique, designed to boost the overall intelligence of any living being. They have only tested on animals, including a white lab mouse named Algernon. Algernon's intelligence has reached great heights because of the surgery he received. Strauss and Nemur decide to use Charlie for the experiment due to his will to learn and recommendations from Alice. The surgery dramatically changes Charlie in more ways then one. I recommend it because this book is truly inspiring. It proves that even people with mental disorders are willing and able to reach great heights to become smart.

Kudos on making things easy for me

StoneHead's and Mark's suggestions are up

Anyone read any of the books on there?

[Craig]

I've read a few, but I'm sorry to say most were mandatory reads through school and college. I did read The Call Of Cthulhu recently though and decided to download the audiobook version to stick on my iPod. I've been on a bit of non-fiction binge lately having just wrapped up Ben Collins' book (Man In The White Suit, which tells the story of how he came to be The Stig) and Stephen Fry's new autobiography. I intend to take advantage of my local Waterstones' 3 for 2 deal so I'll keep you posted.

I like Stone Head's layout. Maybe that should be the recommended guideline for suggesting a book?

Just to note, Flowers For Algernon is listed twice with a different description. Is it split for a reason or is it just a mild cock-up?

[elanman]

QUOTE (RadioIsotope @ Friday, Jul 1 2011, 18:03)

Hmmm, I can't believe this one isn't on here yet! Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, such an excellent book that really does depict what modern day life is becoming. I'll just start listing some awesome titles now The Iliad - Homer The Odyssey - Homer Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (A truly, awesome read!) The Things They Carried - Tim O' Brien

Brave New World is excellent, but you can't mention it without mentioning George Orwell's 1984.