The Book Thread

Biker Jeff

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I do a fair bit of reading when i'm away in the van... so.

Got a book to recommend, talk about your favourite author, favourite genre of books, novels that you struggled through and it ended up being rubbish.
In fact anything book related.
 
Afew years back someone introduced me to a book by Dean Koontz.

I cant even remember which book it was but it got me picking up a lot of that authors paperbacks.

His books are sometimes supernatural, sometimes thriller, often both.
They've ranged from strange to brilliant.

A few were a bit odd but the good ones were good enough for me to risk buying any that I havent read.

The best book I've ever read?
Possibly Brian Keenan's recount of his years as a hostage in the 80s in Beirut.

The worst book I've ever read?
Possibly John Mcarthy's recount of his years as a hostage in the 80s in Beirut.

Why?
I'm not sure.
Keenan pulls you in so your living the story alongside him.
While Mcarthy telling the same story reads more like a narration and doesn't really manage to get the emotion onto the page.

The beauty of though is, that another person, having read both books could come to the opposite conclusion.

Would it have made a difference if I had read Mcarthy's book first instead of Keenan's?
 
Kell...
I've read most of Dean Koontz stuff as i'm into horror novels, Stephen King being one of my favourite authors of horror, of which i've read everything he's ever wrote.


I've not read Brian Keenan or John McCarthy accounts of their captivity, but i have read Terry Waite's book 'Taken On Trust' which i found deeply moving. I will get around to reading Brian Keenan and John McCarthy sometime.
 
Just an interesting aside: Keenan and Mcarthy never appear on the same platform as Waite do they? The rumour is that their captors were delighted to see the back of Mr W. because his endless hymn singing :D
 
baloothebear said:
Just an interesting aside: Keenan and Mcarthy never appear on the same platform as Waite do they? The rumour is that their captors were delighted to see the back of Mr W. because his endless hymn singing :D
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That doesn't really add up Phil as they held on to Terry Waite for another year after they let Brian Keenan out. Unless of course Keenan had a far worse singing voice:D
 
Biker Jeff said:
Kell...

I've not read Brian Keenan or John McCarthy accounts of their captivity, but i have read Terry Waite's book 'Taken On Trust' which i found deeply moving. I will get around to reading Brian Keenan and John McCarthy sometime.
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I'm hoping I'll be seeing you when I get back from Portugal, if so I will let you have my copy of "Some other Rainbow", John McCarthy's book which he co-wrote with his then girlfriend Jill morrell.
 
Thanks a lot Kell, I'll look forward to reading it.
I would have returned the compliment with Terry Waites book, but i'm afraid its gone to Oxfam with the last clearout of books i did. But i do have many Dean Koontz still here that you are welcome to.
 
i'm a great lover of books, used to collect them from charity shops in their droves, especially the buy 5 for a quid clearouts they have :D:D always try to pick up somethng by an author i've never read before, the latest one i've got into is Terry Pratchet, he's given me a few good chuckles in the van, as have Robert Rankin and Douglass Adams.
Recently re-read The Wasp Factory by either Iain Banks or Iain M Banks (he uses one for his science fiction and one for his fiction, can't remember which way round it is!), compellingly frightfull and bizzaire!

I wouldn't recomend anything by Clive Cussler, got 3 for 50p and plodged painfully through each irksome one!
 
oh, forgot to recomend jeff noon, his cyber punk culture fiction made a modern cult classic, in my opinon;)
 
only ever read one book from cover to cover ,the borrowers dont know who wrote it and it explanes why everything you put down and need later goes missing pod hommily and henrietta have a lot of explaining to do :D:D:D:D:D
 
topsy75 said:
i'm a great lover of books, used to collect them from charity shops in their droves, especially the buy 5 for a quid clearouts they have :D:D always try to pick up somethng by an author i've never read before, the latest one i've got into is Terry Pratchet, he's given me a few good chuckles in the van, as have Robert Rankin and Douglass Adams.
Recently re-read The Wasp Factory by either Iain Banks or Iain M Banks (he uses one for his science fiction and one for his fiction, can't remember which way round it is!), compellingly frightfull and bizzaire!

I wouldn't recomend anything by Clive Cussler, got 3 for 50p and plodged painfully through each irksome one!
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I discovered Terry Pratchett's brilliant Discworld series only a few years ago and have read quite a few of his books since. Its a great shame that he's in the early stages of Alzheimer's and we may not see much more work from him.
I darent read his books in public because of the spontaneous outbursts of laughing out loud i do when reading his stuff.
 
Have to say I have personally never seen the fascination in Terry Pratchet - I can never get past the first few pages of his books!

Recently I have got into books by Jonathan Kellerman; they are crime books with the main character being a child psychologist. They are not the hardest of reads by any means but very enjoyable and great for a relaxing read.

Also have a large collection of Dick Francis books - another fairly easy but relaxing read!

Wee-z
Adele
 
Terry Pratchetts humour is very much like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, but millions of readers all over the world totally get his humour.
Other writers i find extremely funny are Ben Elton, Bill Bryson, Jeremy Clarkson (i've read ever single book of these three writers) and Pete McCarthy whos book 'McCarthys Bar' was extremely funny and a great travelogue of Ireland.
 
Today i finally finished a book, that was sometimes heavy going, but mostly riveting.
It was called 'Gulag A History' by Anne Applebaum. A horrific and upsetting account of the rarely highlighted holocaust of millions of prisoners of the infamous Russian network of concentration camps called The Gulag. Literally millions (estimates of tens of millions) were starved and worked to death in one of history's forgotten crime against humanity.
I thoroughly recommend this book, and like the holocaust of of the Jews by the Nazi's, its a story that should be known about.
 
Biker Jeff said:
and Pete McCarthy whos book 'McCarthys Bar' was extremely funny and a great travelogue of Ireland.
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If you enjoyed "McCarthy's Bar" Jeff, try to get hold of "The Road To McCarthy" It'll be well worth the effort.
 
Yes i did read The Road To McCarthy shortly after. I was really looking forward to reading more books of his, but i only recently found out he died of cancer in 2004.
 
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