That other forum stalwart - Fave Books

[theclaud]

Dammit, how could I forget that?.

That's nothing - I forgot Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut...

Don't suppose anyone's read The Rings of Saturn, or anything else by WG Sebald?

 

[Greedo]

Off the top of my head here's 10 I could read again and again

Complicity - Iain Banks
Quite Ugly One Morning - Christopher Brookmyre
The Cather In The Rye - JD Salinger
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Stark - Ben Elton (then he wrote pish)
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Great Apes - Will Self
1984 - George Orwell
The Cutting Room - Louise Welsh
The Dice Man - Luke Rhienhart

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Anything by:
George MacDonald Fraser (especially the Flashman books)
Iain Banks, with or without the 'M'
Pat Barker
Margaret Forster
John Steinbeck

... there are far too many to mention.

 

[John the Monkey]

Anything by:
George MacDonald Fraser (especially the Flashman books)

ah, a big fan of old Flashy myself - I'm treating myself to a re-read of the whole series, bit by bit.

 

[gbb]

1984 and Animal farm...fabulous books prompted me to read other Orwell novels....they just didnt do it for me. I dont think i finished any of his other titles.

Faithful Ruslan by Georgi Vladimov. Life in the Russian prison camps through the eyes of a guard dog 'Ruslan'

James and the Giant Peach ..picked up this one when my kids were reading it at school. Couldnt put it down

Stig of the Dump....dont know who wrote it, but always remember being mesmerised as a kid.

Any of the Sven Hassel books.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. Somewhat like Hassel, but not brutal. A french citizen enlisted into the german army, it follows the battles and flight from the Russians toward the end of the war. I followed the story on a map, and geographically, its in order.
The killer bit for me was at the end of the story, when he eventually made his way, and arrived home.

 

[Chris James]

As with films, this can change from week to week - at the moment:

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

I agree about these things changing but am surprised to see you picking one of my all time favourites straight off.

Off the top of my head, other books I like lots:

Germinal - Emile Zola
The Redundancy of Courage - Timothy Mo
Hi-Rise - J G Ballard
Future Imperfect (collection) - Anthony Burgess
Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
Sword of Honour trilogy - Evelyn Waugh


But yes, that doesn't scratch the surface. I'll read the rest of the thread with interest to see what everyone else likes.

 

[Chris James]

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

Evidently I hadn't read very far. We might as well start a Bulgakov fan club.

To be original I'll nominate Heart of a Dog instead!

 

[beancounter]

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

by Milan Kundera

bc

 

[Rhythm Thief]

James and the Giant Peach ..picked up this one when my kids were reading it at school. Couldnt put it down

I'd forgotten about Roald Dahl. "Danny the Champion of the World" was my favourite book when I was little, and was probably responsible for a) my prodigious reading habit (probably two or three books every week) and my desire to live in a caravan and feed tranquilisers to pheasants.

 

[marinyork]

Some favourites in no particular order

The Count of Monte Cristo
Rebecca
Wuthering Heights
The World Jones Made and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by PKD.
QED: the strange theory of light and matter
Roger Penrose books. The Road to Reality is Particularly good.
Ian Stewart books.

 

[goo_mason]

Ah, we've got that. I'd forgotten about that one. Class book.

Wasted on kids, really

 

[Bromptonaut]

Requiem for A Wren, In the Wet and Pastorale - all Nevil Shute
The Plague Dogs - Richard Adams
Airframe - Michael Crichton
Churchill Series - Michael Dobbs

 

[ianrauk]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, are my fave read... read the complete works every few years.
Can never tire of the following....
Of Mice And Men
The Stand
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
Papillion & Banco
Red Dragon & Silence Of the Lambs

 

[ianrauk]

Stig of the Dump....dont know who wrote it, but always remember being mesmerised as a kid.

Any of the Sven Hassel books.

Another Stig Of The Dump devotee here...

Also Sven Hassel, I have all his books, or should I say I have all my old mans copies. They are a great read.. Tiny, Blom, Legionaire, Old Man, Julius, Gregor, Porta et al... a strange mix of comedy, adventure with the pure brutality of war..

 

[Night Train]

If I was stuck on a desert island I would want to have:

Arthur C Clarke:
The Rama collection
2001, 2010, 2061 and 3001 set
Richter 10
Fountains of Paradise
Imperial Earth
Childhood's End

Philip Pullman's:
Northern Lights Trilogy
Sally Lockhart Series

SF Said:
Varjak Paw

Richard Bach:
jonathan Livingston Seagull