Peckham 8:16 Fri Feb 28
A Book Thread - 2020
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If interested please name the best or well remembered 3 books you have read and would recommend to others.
1.Don Quixote , in English, favourite book of all time. By the Spanish equivalent of Shakespeare , Cervantes. Published in fucking 1605. Genius Comedy.
2. Just read The Rose of Tibet , by Lionel Davidson, I do not like adventure books, but this is beautiful and like a better real life Indiania Jones but with a Londoner. Really nice holiday read.
3. Fuck watching 3 hours of old cunts cashing in on Goodfellas of 30 years ago, 3 hours of the Irishman, torture, but "I heard you paint houses" by Charles Brandt is a must read mafia book with the accurate story of the Irishman and Hoffa case.
4. Have not got round to reading SPLATT yet.
COYIs
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Replies - In Chronological Order ( Show Newest Messages First)
BRANDED
8:24 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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A few years ago someone on here recommended World War z. Great book and reminds me of covid 19.
There’s three books in a series called Europe in Autumn, Europe at Midnight and Europe in Winter by Dave Hutchinson. Loved them.
Really enjoyed Silk Roads.
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Peckham
8:31 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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Branded what is the genre of the Europe books?
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BRANDED
8:36 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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They are quite complicated to pin down genre wise. Some spy, some sci fi but in essence future thriller. Not my normal read at all but brilliant.
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Nurse Ratched
8:38 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson
Restoration by Rose Tremain
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
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Takashi Miike
8:50 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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best recent one I've read, 'lonely boy - tales from a sex pistol' by steve jones. it's brilliant
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lowermarshhammer
8:53 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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1. The Peregrine by J A Baker
Man follows a peregrine over a winter. Observation. Obsession. Eventually his sense of human self awareness is replaced with that of the bird. Very easy to read.
2. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard.
Think you're having a shit day? Think again..
The horror of the nineteen days it took us to travel from Cape Evans to Cape Crozier would have to be reexperienced to be appreciated; and any one would be a fool who went again: it is not possible to describe it.... It was the darkness that did it. I don't believe minus seventy temperatures would be bad in daylight, not comparatively bad, when you could see where you were going, where you were stepping, where the sledge straps were, the cooker, the primus, the food; could see your footsteps lately trodden deep into the soft snow that you might find your way back to the rest of your load; could see the lashings of the food bags; could read a compass without striking three or four different boxes to find one dry match etc etc etc
(South by Earnest Shackleton is also excellent.)
3. Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household.
Englishman plans to assassinate a dictator of a European country. He is foiled at the last moment and captured. Held by ruthless and inventive torturers. They bungle the ingenious and diplomatic death that they have lined up for him. He escapes. Back in England he is still pursued and has to strip away all trappings of civilisation as the would be assassin is now a hunted animal.
I don't normally go for thrillers but this one written in 1939 is a cracker.
....
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riosleftsock
9:13 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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I'm with you on Don Quixote. It shouldn't be a great book, but it is a ridiculously enjoyable book. Possibly the most charming and comforting book I have ever read.
I'd also add
1) Heart of the Dog - Bulgakov - hilarious, story about a dog who receives a heart transplant from a human and turns into a complete cunt. (there is more to it, but it is very funny at each level)
2) Any Dickens - just for the incredible character creation and immersing me into that time.
3) Douglas Murray - The strange death of europe. This book completely changed my outlook on what is occurring in europe and made me think a lot more about the unfairness towards us little people everywhere.
4) Simon Sebag Montefiore - Jerusalem, the biography. Nobody has ever written a fairer and more complete history of this place.
5) Primo Levi - If this is a man/The Truce. The most incredible account of the holocaust (his other books are also worth reading). Its the only first hand account of a death camp that made me cry and laugh. He really goes into the everyday minutai of camp life and how human behaviour and everyday life continues even under the most cruel of conditions. (footnote - unable to cope with survivor guilt syndrome, he, like many others killed himself years later)
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Iron Duke
9:19 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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1. Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell. A bit of an obvious one to start, but still relevant now even 36 years after the futuristic date. A real nightmare.
2. Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh. Speaking of nightmares, how about going inside the mind of a coma victim with an ugly past to reveal? Incredibly original.
3. H by Christiana K. A real strory about a teenage heroin addict from East Berlin growing up in the 70’s. Grim.
These 3 have left a lasting impression on me.
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joyo
9:19 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
Don't ever complain you're had a tough deal/life after you have read this.
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joyo
9:21 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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The idiots guide to cheap whores by Sleazy Bell End
Don't ever complain if you catch a STD after reading this
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Iron Duke
9:40 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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* Christiane F. I should have kept it because it is hard to get hold of now.
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Son of Sam
10:04 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b3qUlB8KZ5Z4xie5aQnJcLZYxSbPbMtq
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uM8kRZ5A2BYa8D_XehdT4Qb_MnoFebH2
In case of anyone wanting a selection to read out of boredom or self isolation or whatever , there are 300 books, biographies etc here roughly 50/50 on football and music, ranging from the very good to the not quite so very good. Some I put here before last year but the folders have been added to. Next week I will give links for WW2 and Film & TV biographies.
Finally the following are a few novels and I have added a few from the first posts on this thread here. Will update and add a second fiction from whats posted here next week and if anyone wants anything on any subject or by any author please whomail me. The Stand by Stephen King may come in useful
Fiction 1 link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=153P4W8Om3BSXbQw270rtknHe9PpIQmlG
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only1billybonds
10:14 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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Iron Duke.
Is that about a heroin addict.?
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Iron Duke
10:33 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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Yes, it is. I mentioned it earlier but got her name slightly wrong. She was a heroin addict at about 13 I think
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violator
10:35 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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The Cretan Runner
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only1billybonds
10:49 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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Duke.
Thought so. I saw the film a long tome ago in the once seedy Soho. Was a very dark and disturbing movie.
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zebthecat
11:10 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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1. The Bridge - Iain Banks.
I tend to find some authors' really chime with me rather than individual books similar to bands. This guy is my favourite and this is his best book. Funny, intriguing, very strange but ultimately about one persons horrible injury and the struggle to come out the other side. Very clever too.
2. A prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving.
To explain any of the plot is to give it away.
His perfect book.
3. The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson.
An absolute eye-opener told well. This books explains a hell of a lot things we have all experienced and is an education.
4. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
Bought this for a long holiday purely because I had a long time to fill and it is 1400 page. Expected it to a hard read but that was such a wrong impression. The length gives all the characters (and there a lot) time be fully fleshed out people. If you think, like I did, that a bloody long about matchmaking in India might not be for you give it a go. It is funny, illuminating and touching.
5. A Scanner Darkly - Philip K Dick
When I read this my lifestyle was not a million miles away from the protagonists. It is another clever book (shoe horning some interesting stuff about how the human brain work) into what is, essentially, a tautly written thriller.
If the afterword doesn't make you well up you have no soul.
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goose
11:17 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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Just finished “The European Game” by Daniel Fieldsend.
Very good if you like yr football.
“A season with Verona” and “world in motion” are other favourites of mine.
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zebthecat
11:18 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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My absolute favourite is Excession by Iain M Banks but I am not recommending it as it has to read in the context of the Culture novels that came before it. The imagination that has gone into this is wonderful and the characterisation, vision, plotting and humour is perfect.
Brilliant payoff too,
For a single dip into the Culture SF Universe - Use of Weapons is the one to go for.
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gph
11:42 Fri Feb 28
Re: A Book Thread - 2020
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Don't admit to reading a book on here.
Gentile will think you're an intellectual snob.
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