Reading another thread has got me thinking....

What are your favourite books? I have been a spy/thriller reader all my life but have recently tried to expand my reading.

I have recently discovered Paul Coelho and have read both The Alchemist and The Devil and Miss Prym, both excellent stories.

So come on then, what are your favourite books and what would you recommend I try that is not just another Grisham / Ludlum etc....



Edited to keep the pedants happy

[Edited by hail-hail - 11/26/2003 12:50:18 PM]

[Edited by hail-hail - 11/26/2003 12:50:36 PM]

 

The books written in English are my favourites.

 

Back to the Hutch please

 

Spend more time reading those books and less time using Internet Explorer.

Nice edit!

I think I can hear the Hutch 'phone ringing. Gotta go.

 

Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving
Still Life with Woodpecker- Tom Robbins
Great Gatsby- Fitszgerald
On the Road- Jack Karawack
Damien- H.Hesse
and many many more............

 

I used to read on night shifts a few years back, but slipped out of it when I went 9-5. I always favoured techno-thrillers like Tom Clancy, Payne Harrison and Dale Brown. Hadn't read a full book in quite a few years 'til I read Lord of the Rings on holiday a couple of weeks back. Now I know I must read more.

 

Personally I like classic American crime fiction, including:
Dashiell Hammett
Raymond Chandler
Ross MacDonald
Chester Hines

currently trying some James Ellroy (do not try to read White Jazz) which is mostly OK.

I also used to do the Clancy thing, but his latest stuff is crap compared to the earlier ones. I got about halfway through the last-but-one one (the one about the Chinese) and gave up

 

George Orwell - 1984

Super book. I re-read it every few years.

 

Most clancy esp red storm rising
Patrick Robinson - Nimitz class, Kilo class, HMS Unseen etc...
Michael DiMercurio
Stephen Coonts

 

Carl - I liked White Jazz, but then I love James Ellroy and haven't rated any of his books below "very good".

My favorite Ellroy books are Cold Six Thousand and American Tabloid

Raymond Chandler is superb, but Ellroy brings the genre a bit more up to date.

I like a lot of other stuff, but for escapism nothing beats the great american crime writers.

 

How about Alasdair MacLean. I liked most of those ones, & the films as well

 

Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky. He's the daddy

 

I just couldn't get into White Jazz because of the writing style. Personally I'm more of a fan of Hammett's plots and Chandler's style (but I've read them all now )
I've just read Ellroy's Lloyd Hopkins trilogy.

Tried James M. Cain (Double Indemnity, The Getaway) but wasn't that keen.

 

where to start......any book by any of the following but a few in particular i've mentioned.....

Thrillers :

Colin Forbes - any
Tom Clancy - The Hunt for Red October, Without Remorse & The Sum of All Fears (the film is sooooo cr4p!)
Patrick Robinson - Nimitz Class & HMS Unseen
Dale Brown - Flight of the Old Dog & Night of the Hawk
and u just gotta read Matthew Reilly - Temple & Ice Station esp
Michael Critchton - Timeline
David Morrell - The Covenant of the Flame & The Fifth Profession
James Cobb - Choosers of the Slain & Storm Dragon
Stephen Hunter - Point of Impact & Black Light

Or how about Sci-Fantasy :

Daivd Eddings - start with The Belgariad...
Katherine Kerr - Deverrey Series
Raymond Feist - Empire Trilogy / Riftwar Saga
Julian May - Saga of the Exiles
Janny Wurts - Cycle of Fire Trilogy / Empire Trilogy (with Feist)


should keep you going for Xmas and beyond !

 

here are 10 crackers i adore ...

1984 - george orwell
birdsong - sebastian foulkes
the stand - stephen king (unabridged version)
shawshank redemption - stephen king
ghost story - peter straub
green river rising - tim willocks
piece of cake - derek robinson
the black dahlia - james ellroy
jaws - peter benchley
red dragon - thomas harris

 

Lee Child - all his Jack Reacher series. British writer who moved to US to help his US crime thriller writing. His books get further up the top ten list each time a new one is released.

Think it's www.leechild.com for details.

Kevin.

 

Hitchikers guide to the universe, The restaraunt at the end of the universe.
dave

 

I Like the MR Men Books, easy to follow and pictures too

 

I like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books.

And Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus books too (only read 3 so far, got a whole stack left to go at.

Andy McNab's and Chris Ryan's fiction is OK too if you like that sort of stuff.

John.

 

I enjoy thrillers and horror books so it's usually King, Herbert, Grisham etc. Also read a lot of the Clancy books.

I'll also hold my hand up to enjoying the Harry Potter series.

Lee

 

Joseph Heller - Catch 22 (hard reading @ times!)
Iian Banks - The Wasp Factory, The Business
William Sutcliffe - Are You Experienced?
Irvine Welsh - Filth

 

I'm afraid I gave up with Catch-22. Another one I just couldn't get into. I think it was because the plot was so preposterous I couldn't suspend my disbelief.

 

have gun will travel the spectacular rise and violent fall of death row records by roni ro. think that the title

mike

 

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Espedair Street - Iain Banks
Lord of the Rings

 

Another vote for Lord of the Rings, and another for David Eddings.

I also loved "The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and It, and The Stand by S K alone.

For a VERY disturbing read, try "A Place of Execution", by Val McDermid............quite topical after the Soham trial business.

It made me go and get out "Stranger than Fiction", (I think that's what it was called, it's the story of the Moors Murders.)

Alcazar

 

agree with brickboy about elmore leonard. read his latest one a few months ago tishomingo (?) blues. a really nice read - the style is quite laid back compared to ellroy.

 

You're not supposed to include stuff you read at school

PS: personally I can't stand LOTR

 

My top 3...

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
Spike Milligan's war memoirs - I guess they all count as 1

 

Mario Puzo - The Godfather
Nicholas Pileggi - Wiseguy (fimed as Goodfellas)
Any of the Ian Fleming Bond books
(even if you've seen the Films all the above are great)

Rat Pack Confidential - can't remember the author
PG Wodehouse - All the Jeeves books
Stephen King - The Stand

 

Iain Banks - both the "normal" wierd stuff and the sci fi weird stuff he writes as Iain M Banks

The Rebus series of novels by Ian Rankin are good

William Gibson - Neuromancer - fantastic book - what the scriptwriter of the Matrix must have turned to for inspiration