Books - What do you recommend? / What are you reading?

[Andy78 10]

Originally posted by mojoworking

One book I think should be compulsory reading for everyone before they post on this forum is Eats Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

 

It's been the number one hardback for weeks.

 

Yeah, my mother has been on at me about reading that. However, she described it as a book about punctuation, which didn't make it sound too much fun. Could someone possibly give me a better description?

[LoopyLou 10]

"The Lovely Bones " - by Alice Sebold

 

An unusual book, where the main character tells the story of her murder whilst watching the after effects from heaven. A completely new way of telling a story which leaves you hooked from the very first page.

 

Extrememly moving and guaranted to affect you in one way or another.

[drp215 10]

Agree with lovely bones. Great book - she has also written her own life story as she had something similar happen only (obviously!) she survived. Its called Lucky and equally interested though perhaps not quite as flowing a read.

 

I struggled with the Curious Incident, mainly because I have worked with children with Aspergers for a long time and it's a bit like Rainman in that I felt it would make everyone thing that every child/person with Aspergers/Autism had some special talent/gift whereas in reality this is rarely the case. Having said that, the Curious Incident does provide a great incite into a good deal of how someone with Aspergers deals (or struggles to deal)with everyday social situations and for that end I think it's done a good job.

A similar book if anyone is interested in looking further at Aspergers/Autism is by Donna Williams called Nobody Nowhere - she has Autism herself and it is about her early life - very interesting, only remember again that Donna Williams is at the very top end of a huge spectrum know as Autism.

[mojoworking 10]

Originally posted by Andy78

Yeah, my mother has been on at me about reading that. However, she described it as a book about punctuation, which didn't make it sound too much fun. Could someone possibly give me a better description?

 

That's exactly what it is, a zero tolerance approach to punctuation. If it sounds boring, it's not. It's actually very funny, but you need a feel for the subject matter to start with.

[Andy78 10]

Originally posted by mojoworking

That's exactly what it is, a zero approach to punctuation. If it sounds boring, it's not. It's actually very funny, but you need a feel for the subject matter to start with.

 

As you mentioned, it's been a best seller for quite some time, so I'm sure that it is an entertaining read. I'll have to give it a bash.

[miniminch 10]

I am reading a book called 'In Praise of Slow.' It makes you feel good about doing less work and telling your boss to shove it. I would recomend it highly

[Wavey 10]

I'll tell you another good book I read recently, it's called "Where Did It All Go Right?" by Andrew Collins (of Collins & Merconi fame). If you're in your late 30s early 40s it's a scream. He just writes about growing up in the 70s on an unremarkable housing estate and how nothing worth writing about ever happened to him. Bar one or two details it could have been written about me (and loads others I've no doubt).

 

Highly recommended.

[mimicraze 10]

I have recently read both the Alice Sebold books, which i absolutely loved, especially Lucky, the Lovely bones was brilliant too, I recommend them to women especially, opens up your mind.

 

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood-i didnt enjoy it but both my sis and mum absolutely loved it and couldnt put it down.

 

Holes by Louis Sachar is an absolutely wicked book, read it in one sitting, you must read this !! Can borrow it if you like, just pm me.

 

My Summer of Love by Helen Cross, I absolutely love this book, just recently read it again, one of my faves, set in 1984 in Yorkshire, and is about a 15 yr old drinker, thief and fruit machine addict, "A hand-grenade of a novel...Cross depicts a workd every bit as shocking, and as violent, as the one Anthony Burgess created in A Clockwork Orange", you can also borrow this if you like!

 

I'm reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby at the moment which is funny as hell and also Atonement by Ian McEwan which is interesting but hard to get into.

 

Lindsay

x

[Phanerothyme 12]

I'd go with EDN on his choice of Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd - a genuinely strange and eerie book that follows a crime investigation which is curiously mirrored in a London narrative from the time of Wren and Hawksmoor.

 

He has also written "The house of Doctor Dee" again another dual contemporary/ancient storyline.

 

For sheer genius, Vineland by Thomas Pynchon is hard to beat. Gravity's Rainbow, his major work, defeated me entirely, but I will try it again, because what I did get was very interesting indeed.

 

To shock your world out of comfortable slumber I'd recommend "prometheus rising" by Robert Anton Wilson (dont be put off by the cover).

 

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut, anything at all. He is a rare writer who breaks most, if not all, novel writing conventions. His masterwork is Slaughterhouse 5 - a stunning read and possibly one of my favourite books of all time.

 

The Dice Man, and The Adventures of Wim, both by Luke Rhinehart are excellent, funny investigations into human nature, fate, and abrogation of responsibility.

 

Visual Explanations and Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte. This is great material for understanding how we interpret data, and common mistakes made in representing information in flat land. Learn about chart junk, and learn to recognise skewed and innaccurate graphs of the type often shown on TV

 

Also anything by David Icke. These books are amazing, a chaotic cascade of cobbled together alien mythology, quasi religious proclamations, conspiracy theory, templar mythology and freemasonry. Makes me feel really sane and reasoned - most reassuring...

[angel_b 10]

As people have said before, both the Alice Sebold books are compulsive and moving reading. I'd also recommend The Kid by Kevin Lewis and Sickened by Julie Gregory. Both of these books will help you to put your life into perspective and realise just how bloody lucky you are.

[JoeP 11]

I'll suggest my usual favourites....:-)

 

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov.

The Devil and his entourage visit Stalinist Moscow where they encounter the Master, a writer who's in trouble for writing a novel about Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate, and Margarita, the woman who loves him. The good guys get rewarded, the bad guys get thumped, and I always cry at the end.

 

The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder.

The lives of a group of strangers intertwine as they die when crossing a bridge. A monk tries to see whether there is any meaning in their lives and deaths. Thought provoking.

 

Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler

An account of an 'old time' Communist Party member as he is arrested and interrogated in Stalinist Russia. Very psychological!

 

Le Grande Meaulnes - Alain-Fournier

A French classic. A lost schoolboy encounters a strange wedding party one winter afternoon which results in his life being intertwined with those of a brother and sister. Captivating.

 

This is the way the world ends - David Morrow

A weird and wonderful science fiction story about an 'Everyman' who survives a nuclear war only to be put on trial by the 'Unadmitted' - those who would have lived had the war not been fought.

 

The Human Factor - Graham Greene

Excellent espionage story.

 

The Go Between - L P Hartley

A story of adolescence narrated from the point of view of old age. A boy visits a school friend and becomes involved in the romance between the daughter of the house and a local farmer.

 

Any of the Jeeves and Wooster stuff!!

Just think Hugh Laurie and Steven Fry! Excellent stuff!

 

Joe

[SilentStatic 10]

Robert Rankin is very funny. Try reading The Book of Ultimate Truths first - it really does have some