Books, Books, Books

Nanfeishen

Nanfeishen

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I am a keen reader/collector of books, and i was wondering what do you all read?
I generally read across the spectrum, and have a bad habit of buying all the books of author's that i enjoy, from Asimov, to Clancy, to Raymond E. Feist to Louis L'Amour, to books of movies.
I am always looking for new and interesting books to read, so would be keen to get some new suggestions.
List of my favourite 10 books of alltime (so far :) ), not in order of preferance

1. Lord of The Rings -J.R.R.Tolkien
2. Magician -Raymond E. Feist
3. Fingerprints of the Gods -Graham Hancock
4. Red Storm Rising -Tom Clancy
5. Tao of Pooh -Benjamin Hoff
6. Acid Alex -Al Lovejoy
7. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee -Dee Brown
8. A Short History of Nearly Everything -Bill Bryson
9. The Importance of Living -Lin Yutang
10. How To Be Idle -Tom Hodgkinson
 
i dont read much. Just r.branson, d.trump type books. Wanted to buy steve waugh's book when it was released, but never got around to it.

Dont think i ever read a book at school. I hated reading.
 
things I've read recently:
Closing Time - Joseph Heller
The Folly; and The Exploded View - Ivan Vladislavic
Stranger Than Fiction - Chuck Palahniuk
and of course The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

I used to read 2-3 books a week through most of school, that dwindled to 1 a year during varsity, now I'm on my 5th book in the past month so slowly getting back into the groove.. and I got a pile of branson and trump books lying around, just can't get the motivation to read them :D
 
Top 10 list:
Lord of the Rings also by far my favourite book,
Portrait of a Lady (Henry James),
I Robot (Asimov),
Left Hand of Darkness (Le Guin),
The Magus (John Fowles),
Nick Hornby's 'About a Boy'
Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
Fever (Robin Cook)
Gone with the Wind
Dune (Frank Herbert)
 
Last edited:
Currently reading a Terry Brooks and "Trojan Odyssey" by Clive Cussler.

The 2nd has got me totally confused, as to who Pitt is, in the other novels, because there's a Pitt Snr and Jnr. Hopefully by the time I get to the end of it, the clouds will clear....
 
I collect Terry Pratchett Discworld series hard covers but read alot of Southern African military literature. I recently read a fantastic fantasy trilogy by Robin Hobbs called "The Live Ship Traders"... a brilliant read and I highly recommend it.
 
I also have most of Terry Pratchet,s books- his disc world series as well as the other and his childrens books- that is realy very good and rather for adults.
I am also completing The wheel of time - Robert Jordan at the moment and obviously have all the Harry Potters asx it is the same gendre.
My top 10 would be:
Lord of the ring (Tolkien)
A hat full of sky ( Pratchett)
Wee Free Men (Pratchett)
The blue nowhere (Jeffrey Deaver)
Wuthering Heights( Emily Bronte)
A brief history of time ( Stephen Hawkins)
Great Expectations (Charles ****ens)
Earthsea trilogy (Ursula Guin)
To ride a silver broomstick (Silverravenwolf)
Aleister Crowleys Biography
 
The Magus? that used to be one of my favourites, nice. And I really enjoyed Freakonomics too.

Currently reading:

Against the Day - Thomas Pynchon (fiction)
I didn't do it for you - Michaela Wrong (non-fiction)

I used to read loads, 10 books a week, but then at some stage I had to get a job :( .

Now I read very little fiction, but still enjoy a reasonable amount of non-fiction. And my daughter insists on being read at least three books every night, so I'm really into the Winnie the Witch canon. :D

edit: Charles ****ens :D
 
Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials series also excellent.

Plus CS Lewis's Ransom trilogy
 
My Top 10

Mort - Terry Pratchett
Live Ship Traders - Robbin Hobb
Lord Of The Rings - Tolkien
Acid Alex - Alex Lovejoy
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
The World According to Garp - John Irving
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
The Acid House - Irvine Welsh
The Legend of the Selous Scouts - Ron Reid-Daly
No One Here Gets Out Alive - Jerry Hopkins,Danny Sugerman
 
Military history :)

Currently reading two books by Mark Rowlands - 'Eveything I know I learned from TV' and 'Philosophers at the End of the Universe'.
 
For those of you interested in good fantasy style series, i recommend the "Magican" series by Raymond E. Feist, it spans about 5 generations of characters, and the co-written series of "the Empire" with Janny Wurts, is a spin off series.
1) Magician
2) Silverthorn
3) A Darkness at Sethanon
4) Prince of the Blood
5) The King's Buccaneer
6) Shadow of a Dark Queen
7) Rise of a Merchant Prince
8) Rage of a Demon King
9) Shards of a Broken Crown

for those interested in murder , mystery, mysticism and modern China/Tibet, i recommend Eliot Peterson,
1) The skull mantra
2) Water Touching Stone
3) Bone Mountain
4) Beautiful Ghosts

For the military Junkies:
Against All Odds --Bryan Perret (last stand actions ,:eek: )
Buffalo Soldiers --Col. Jan Breytenbach (S.A.'s 32 Battalion )
Chickenhawk --Robert Mason (Helicopter pilot , Vietnam)
The Phantom Major --Virginia Cowles (True story about origins of the S.A.S )
The Forgotten Soldier --Guy Sajer(Novel about a German Soldier on the Eastern Front)
Carve Her Name With Pride -- R.J.Minney (Resistance in WWII Europe) also a movie B&W,very rare
The Dam Busters --Paul Brickhill(Bombing the Third Reich's Dams)also a movie B&W ,rare
The Boat -- Lothar-Gunther Buchheim(Novel about the U-boat war)movie "Das Boot", original german, English version "The Boat" some video shops on dvd
The Longest Day --Cornelius Ryan(Factual recounts of the D-Day landings from both perspectives)movie based on books events available some video shops B&W, or in box set along with "Patton" and "Tora Tora Tora"

Books on the Kruger National Park:
A Game Ranger Remembers --Bruce Bryden (modern, 70's 80's)
Memoirs of a Game Ranger --H. Wolhuter (founding the park)

enjoy :)
 
Nanfeishen said:
For the military Junkies:
Against All Odds --Bryan Perret (last stand actions ,:eek: )
Buffalo Soldiers --Col. Jan Breytenbach (S.A.'s 32 Battalion )
Chickenhawk --Robert Mason (Helicopter pilot , Vietnam)
The Phantom Major --Virginia Cowles (True story about origins of the S.A.S )
The Forgotten Soldier --Guy Sajer(Novel about a German Soldier on the Eastern Front)
Carve Her Name With Pride -- R.J.Minney (Resistance in WWII Europe) also a movie B&W,very rare
The Dam Busters --Paul Brickhill(Bombing the Third Reich's Dams)also a movie B&W ,rare
The Boat -- Lothar-Gunther Buchheim(Novel about the U-boat war)movie "Das Boot", original german, English version "The Boat" some video shops on dvd
The Longest Day --Cornelius Ryan(Factual recounts of the D-Day landings from both perspectives)movie based on books events available some video shops B&W, or in box set along with "Patton" and "Tora Tora Tora"
enjoy :)
Click to expand...

Thanks :)
 
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