Book recommendations

most amazing vision of humanity i have encountered in a long while:

cradle to cradle, remaking the way we make things.

by a german environmental chemist and an american architect about the way design can change the face of environmental commercr. also, if you get the american version, it is made out of plastic.

Have only just stumbled across this thread.

Books already mentioned that I can wholeheartedly recommend: 1984, The Plot Against America, Lolita.

Book slagged off upthread that I think is brilliant: Moby-Dick. Its qualities aren't in the plot; it's a tremendous work of imagination. Some of the language used is just tremendous, and you can see it as being allegorical and symbolic in all sorts of ways.

Book I can't believe hasn't been mentioned yet: Kerouac's On the Road. It has a real energy and vibrancy about it, and an exhiliarating enthusiasm for life. The last paragraph is also one of the most beautiful written in the English language IMO.

"Snake Pilot" by R. Zahn. The story of a 19 year old sent to Vietnam to fly Cobras for the U.S. Army. Brilliantly written and in places very moving. Very similar to "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason - I'd recommend both of them in a heartbeat, and if you've read one and liked it, you should definitely read the other.

Tales of Woe and Sorrow - One Woman's Struggle Against Life's Tedious Adversities

its not available in print yet so remember where you heard about it fisrt.

Are you the editor, fap X 5?

Hi

I recommend The Morning After written by Lisa Jackson. Quite addictive. I started reading the first page and couldn't stop until I finished it.

Five minutes ago I finished reading Mating, by Norman Rush.

Anyone else read that? Whew, I didn't think I was gonna make it through.

Reminds me of reading Moby Dick at university. We were permitted by the instructor to skip the "whaling chapters" if we wanted, in favor of the chapters that more obviously forward the plot.

In reading Mating, I felt like the "whaling chapters" were in the middle of chapters and sometimes paragraphs, so there was no skipping them, even as my eyes glazed over.

I don't necessarily require that a novel be aggressively plot-driven or fast-paced, but this was crazy.

Anyway, if you like books with a lot of socialist theory disguised as a love story between ueber- and possibly pseudo-intellectuals, set in an African utopia, Mating is for you.

Empire of Debt - The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis by Bonner & Wiggin

The fiction book We have to talk about Kevin was a brillantly written, and dark book, on ending up with a child you don't like after deciding to have kids late in life.

A successful NYC thirthy something married couple decides to take the plunge and end up with their lives completely turned around. The characterizations are fabulous. You like and hate most of the main characters. They are complex and don't hide the dark parts of us that, as Billy Joel so aptly put it "the stranger" side that we barely show ourselves, let alone others.

It has become a sleeper hit.

Of course not the best book choice for me right now, as the parallels in my own life are uncanny...but I hope for a better outcome.

Just remembered a great book I read some good 10 years ago... it popped into my mind, while reading user ID names here...

It is classical, but a very good read... and also a good memory exercise cause Russian novelists use all 5 names of a character in each sentence and they really operate with many many characters...

It is a famous one though, excellent introspection into the human soul:

"The Adolescent" by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

One more, very actual... though written a long long time ago... in 1972... when some of the members of this forum were born... and others were not born yet (like me), but it is quite up to date because of these North Korea and Iranian happenings...

"Malevil" by Robert Merle...

answering the basic question how would humanity and society re-design and re-make itself, after a major atomic catastrophe-attack... phantasy novel, but could be quite useful (oh, I hope not!).
I think they also made a movie after the book.

Here, the wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malevil

I'm reading The Distant Echo (German version) written by Val McDermid. Got it as a birthday present.

When I buy a book I usually read the first two pages to see if I like the style. Is it all in third person or in first person. There're some points which i've to check but anyway here a small synopsis.

Well Alex Gilbey and his friends dicover a girl aged 19 nearly dead with a slashed belly and soon they're supposed to be the murderer of her. The second part of the book plays in 2003 where Alex and the others are spreaded all over the country. It gets some refreshment when Ziggy, one of Alex' friends dies and it's never been boring until then.

The author has a fabulous writing style and the book is still very exciting. I've been reading 200 pages today and can't stop. It is really well.

She introduces the characters in the course of time and some details you might be thinking about are explained later on. So everything will be explained.

I don't want to write too much about it but if you like well written book and if you like thrillers you should go for this book. I'm on page 262 atm and it still has the thrill to keep reading.

Ok for some of you it might be too longbreathed but I like it. It would probably the best to check it out at your local bookstore. For all who don't mind buying a book out of the blue the amazon-link:

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/search-ha...0distant%20echo

Watch out for Val Mc Dermid as the author.

Hope this "review" was kind of helpful. Have got to go reading the book

I've read that book, and really enjoyed it.
Another good one by her is A Place of Execution.

If you like Val MacDermid, then you'll probably also like Peter Robinson.

I have finally managed to finish "The Pillars of The Earth" by Ken Follett and it is a really good read.

...a really good read...does that make sense

@Topsy
Thank you for naming anther good book by her. Will buy this one first and then have a look at Peter Robinson.

It's unbelievable how many books I've bought in the last couple of weeks. Thanks again

" The Devils Teardrop " by Jeffery Deaver. A really great page-turner. More twists than Snakes and Ladders.
Don't miss it.!!!

Raffles.

History of Love by Nicole Kraus.

FYI: I coincidentally picked up the book above along with Extremeley Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Foer. Didn't realise they two authors were married, haven't read this book yet but the bookstore people were *unusually* excited about *both* these books and both these authors. 4-5 bookworms in all gushed over the two selections.

Don't read "Velocity" by Dean Koontz, it is pish!

comment on Val MacDermind: giving another opinion here.
having read a lot of thrillers and most if her books, i like her Kate Brannigan character the best. i cannot recommend the books with the profiler tony hill.
kate brannigan:
* Dead Beat (1992)
* Kick Back (1993)
* Crack Down (1994)
* Clean Break (1995)
* Blue Genes (1996)
* Star Struck (1998)
* Half Life (TBA)

Here's another vote for Peter Robinson; my favourite so far (waiting for his latest to come out in paperback) is In a dry season.

Thanks to planetmoni and kay

Well I finished The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks this morning. The book caused different emotions in me. First I was thrilled by the unusual start of explaining Maya and Thorn (her father) experiencing some weird yes weird stuff.

It went better during the next pages but then I got lost in the story and didn't want to read further but I changed my mind and it turned out to be a good choice.

Telling the story of Maya protecting two brothers and their connection to the people, to the world etc. This doesn't sound interesting or thrilling but J.T.H used a special environment to describe our world where we live in. Maya belongs to a group called Harlequins who have to protect "Travellers". They can leave their body and cross into other realms and have the power to change our minds. Wouldn't be interesting if someone wouldn't be interested in getting or killing those travellers to establish their view of living in the world (Tabula called in the book).

Ok you've to accept this story but if you do you'll get action, a bit of hidden romance and adrenaline. Not that much but it is a page turning book. You don't want to lay it away. You just want to go on be with the characters as they experience their adventures.

It's quite a thick book with more than 600 pages but nevertheless you can finish it within 2 days. Well written book, the characters of the book are more than names, they're filled with a past and that makes the different to other books. They're not just names.

When you finished the book J.T.H explains what he wanted to achive with the book and it is a good explanation for those who haven't understood words like vast machine etc.

I can really recommend the book.

J.T.H is supposed to live of the grid as he calls it. And there's something different about this book (the first part of a trilogy). You can enter a website called www.traveller-book.com

Experience it. It's so different from anything you've ever read.

Enjoy this one.

If you are into Long-distance running, then Flanagans Run by Tom McNab is the one or you. Featuring a 3,000 mile run from the East to West coast of America during the depression. I have owned, and sold, this book at least six times, and always give it another go after having sold it a few months earlier. A really good book that is well worth your time.

Raffles.

No I'm not into long-distance running. Reading "A Place of Execution" now and I still have "Last Witness" written by Jilliane Hoffman.

The best book I've read for, well, years: Seven Types of Ambiguity

For details and to order:
amazon

Will (re)list it soonish at the bookswapper. But this book is well worth ordering online at amazon or at your local bookstore as well.

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.
Awesome book, ties in the occult, science, the beginnings of our common mythology and our ultimate fate. Epic shit.

Dangerous Parking
by Stuart Browne

Really good book, read if you want to remember how lucky we are...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dangerous-Parking/...ie=UTF8&s=books

I recently finished reading 'The world is flat' by Thomas L. Friedman. I think it was a superb book which so simply but still brilliantly outlined various issues that affect our contemporary world. Right from the direct impact & implications of outsourcing to the western economies to the cultural subtleness involved in the background, I personally liked the style and the message of the book. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone would wants to refresh himself to the realities of the flat world we really are living in these days.

I have just finished 2 books by Paullina Simons called "The Bronze Horseman" and the sequel "Tatiana & Alexander". It has been a long time since any book has absorbed me so much. It was honestly an epic. The mix of war and their battle for love and each other was beautiful. I was sad to finish it. Highly recommended.

Four Souls by Louise Erdrich.

Detailed reviews in the link above but basically hot Indian (feather not dot) sets off on foot from her reservation on a revenge mission against the man who stole her land. Not earth shattering but a good plane book.

The Power of One
Author : Bryce Courtney

Here are some book recommendations.
"Lesser Evil: The Lesser Evil -- Political Ethics in an Age of Terror" by M Ignatieff
(Ignatieff has a very nice and easy style to write political books. he mixes theoretical approaches with real life examples. i read his other book "the warrier honor" and i really liked it.)

"A History of the Middle East" by Peter Mansfield and Nicholas Pelham

and for anyone interest in international politics and feminist approach:
Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics by Cynthia H. Enloe
one of favourites. very easy read but i love her arguments.

I read a book by M ignatieff a few years ago called Scar Tissue- extremely brilliant- a novel. i'd love to own it but i borrowed it from a library in a small town in Canada where i was living that summer and i've never heard of the book or the author since, but i have recommended it to people. It's not political, just a very personal story, not a light read but a really well worth it read.

Coming up for air - George Orwell. read it at 20 then at 40...

And it's Goodnight from Him... The Autobiogrpahy of The Two Ronnies by Ronnie Corbett.

A very British book about a very British friendship. Brilliant light reading - nothing erudite, but a few interesting facts, and a small insight into a very private man who, nevertheless, was probably the funniest man ever to grace British TV screens.

If you don't read the book do yourself a favour and do a YouTube search on 'Ronnie Barker'. Brilliant stuff.

I just finised A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Brilliant! Totally original, hilarious, a fantastic read.

"Until I find you" - John Irving
Well it is big, about 800 pages long but romps along at a fine pace. Not entirely sure if this is a great book or not, but certainly has a big ole tale which screams "screenplay" - Jack Burns, a illegitimate boy who grows up to be a movie star specializing in transvestite roles but who as a child is defined by the absence of his wayward father.
Alll the usual Irving components are there, the (underage/illicit) sex, the wrestling, the fall from grace, the redemption, in fact in a recent New York Times piece, Irving talked about being molested as a child and had also searched for his biological father. It isn't clear if Irving also shares Jack Burns' transvestism though. Or the tattoos.
A real page turner but not always in a good way, the story grates in places due to the thoroughness and that screenplay feel, some compare the novella within a novel to Dickens (Irving would be flattered with the comparision). And the pop psychology as well might not suit all:


In any case, for a better type of beach holiday read or a long flight, you could do worse.

"Drop City" - T.C. Boyle
Californian hippies go Alaska and clash with real homesteaders so the sought external utopia goes cosmically pear-shaped (maaaaaan).
Funny, smart, biting, warm. witty, touching, sharp, soulful, sexy, T.C's done it again. Have I ever said that I like his man's style? Well I should have, although having attended a reading of his made me realise that T.C. speaks in the voice of TT's very own UpQuark. So now every T.C. book I read has UpQuark's voice reading to me. Slightly bizarre but in a good way (UpQuark has a lovely voice). The story is complex but the characterisation holds the work together.
Not read a T.C.? Try one, you might like it (but then, you may never stop). "Talk Talk", his latest about identity theft and now being made into a film, is my next thing to read.

"Incendiary" - Chris Cleave
Ok, ok, so Osama Bin Laden blowing up the Arsenal football club's Emirates stadium might not be the worst thing in the world (I'd have personally chosen Upton Park but that's just me, at least it is during an Arsenal vs. Chelsea match), but Cleave's first novel strikes a blend between political satire and psychological experiment. Using a letter format, Cleave's unnamed (anti-)heroine writes letters to Bin Laden regarding her life and the loss of her husband and child in a terrorist attack.
Much has been made of various conincidences between the topic and events at the time of launch (the launch was due for July 7th - as in the Tube bombings), including a pulling of all advertising by a UK book chain, it would be a shame to overlook the work for that reason. The placement and language of Bethnal Green is well-researched, the character remains consistent (an acheivement for a first novelist), love it or loathe it (reviews have been very extreme), the contrast between horror and normalcy, love and hate, the haves and the have nots, the informed and the populace certainly make for interesting reading.

i've decided to punish myself and read something German. and admittedly it is a pageturner: Der Schwarm by Frank Schätzing who is some rich guy from Cologne who has time to finance 5 years of research, write music and run a successful advertising agency. what a loser!

From Amazon: The Swarm: A Novel of the Deep (f*ckers also spoil a bit with their synopsis, which I've edited)


Basically, huge methane-loving worms are found off the norwegian coast, apparently destabilizing the continental shelf. whales and orcas begin to attack and feed on whale watchers off of british columbia and neurotoxins are contaminating lobsters in france, killing off those who come into contact with them. there are huge plagues of jelly fish, boats are disappearing off the coast of peru and chile...

it's nearly 1000 pages long and I'm only on page 300 or so and damn, I went to wikipedia to find the truth behind an urban legend about some germans who read this book were able to save themselves from the tsunami in 2004 cause there is a tsunami in this book (no surprise there) and there is no spoiler warning and the cause of all things going wrong with the Earth is the first line in the synopsis section. f*cking bastards.

righto finally finished on Sunday. definitely a page-turner, but a challenge for those whose German is not up to par!

i have the audio book and it is a very good. if i remember correctly, they speak clear and not too fast but then i might not be the right one to judge.

A Painted House - John Grisham. An excellent narrative and it doesn't have a single lawyer in it. It was refreshingly good regarding the usual Grisham stuff.

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hoseini. I found this book to be a heart-gripping journey. It takes you through the life of an afghani boy who is forced to leave to the US when the soviets invaded his country. Whenever you thought life would give him a break it takes you into another corner of unexpected happenings. Really enjoyed it.

All the Pretty Horses. Guys book with a little love story . Crap movie if you saw it...incredible book. Author...Cormac McCarthy.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Amazon.

The book is about his life. The best way to describe what it's about is to read the author's CV.

Born June, 1952, Melbourne, Australia

* Founder member, Anarchist People’s Liberation Army, 1969

* Union activist, Builders Labourers Federation, 1972

* Founder member, Australian Independence Movement, United Front Against Fascism, 1973

* Student Leader, Melbourne University, occupation of university Council Chambers, 1974

* Student Leader, Black Week Aboriginal Activism Movement, 1975

* Marriage break-up, loss of daughter in custody dispute, beginning of heroin addiction, 1976

* Armed robberies with toy pistol to support heroin habit, end year 1977

* Capture and imprisonment, 1978; Escape from Maximum Security Pentridge prison, 1980

* Helped by motorcycle gang, BLF Union, & revolutionaries to escape to New Zealand, 1980

* Fight conservation campaign to save sacred Maori mountain, Mount Maungahiha, 1981

* Escape from custody (twice) in New Zealand, end 1981

* Arrive in India, beginning 1982

FROM 1982 to 1990
* Six months in remote Maharashtrian village, learn to speak Marathi language

* Live in Bombay slum, establish and operate free clinic for slum dwellers

* Imprisoned in India for 4 months

* Recruited by Bombay mafia, training in currency crime, gold smuggling, passports

* Gunrunning operation to unit of mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan

* Wounded in action, evacuated to Pakistan, recover and return to Bombay

* Appointed controller mafia forgery unit, write short stories, published in popular series

* Passport smuggler to Nigeria, Zaire, Iraq, Iran, Mauritius, Sri Lanka

* Establish casting agency for foreign extras in Bollywood movies, act in movies

* Arrive in Germany, work as singer, establish rock band, receive recording contract

* Manhunt by European police, escape custody in Italy & Switzerland, escape to India

* Act in Bollywood movies & TV dramas, establish travel agency in Bombay

* Passport smuggling to Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Nigeria, Zaire, Mauritius, etc.

* Break with Bombay mafia council, freelance drug smuggling missions to Europe

FROM 1990 to 2004
* Captured Frankfurt, 1990, imprisoned in Preungesheim prison with terrorists, 1990-91

* Teach myself to read & write German, win concessions, extradited to Australia, end 1991

* 2 years solitary confinement, 4 years mainstream prison in Australia, begin novel, 1991-97

* Develop philosophical and cosmoogical model, "Resolution Theory"

* Released from prison, begin novel 1997, end parole 2002

* Sell rights Shantaram, in USA (St. Martin’s Press) & UK (TimeWarner Books UK)

* Publish Australian edition of novel, Shantaram, August, 2003

* Tour Australia, New Zealand, Europe, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong during 2004

* Sell movie rights to Johnny Depp, Brad Grey, Graham King, Warner Brothers, October 2004

* Sell Italian Translation rights to Neri Pozza, October 2004

* Begin writing screenplay for movie version of Shantaram, October 2004

Richard Dawson The God Delusion

Why Don't Penguins Feet Freeze

Schott's Almanac 2007

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian

Amazing touching book, even though it is an old one!

The Barracks by John McGahern

http://www.amazon.com/Barracks-John-McGahern/dp/0142004251

Jodi Picoult -- My Sister's Keeper, Plain Truth or Salem Falls. She is really absolutely awesome.
For mysteries I can recommend Lisa Gardner -- so far everything I read from her was very good.

"When Nietzsche Wept", I. Yalom
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060748125/re...9826984-2655803

"The Piano Tuner", D. Mason
http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Tuner-Novel-Da...9826984-2655803

I'm about to start reading McCarthy's "The Road" but light reading it is not - it is about a father and son heading for the coast following a nuclear attack and how love and hope can go on even under the bleakest of circumstances. The reviews have been resoundingly good, some even saying that this is the masterpiece McCarthy readers have been waiting for, but bleak/beautiful was always his terrain.
For a great thriller and smart read, T.C. Boyle's "Talk Talk" - I might have discussed it earlier in this thread but it is well worth another piece of promotion, covering topics such as identity theft, the place of the deaf in a hearing society and what identity really is, it makes for a fine read. Beautifully written as ever, plus T.C. Boyle speaks in real-life exactly like UpQuark (which may be an extra selling point to Madame Showem) so it is like UpQuark is reading to me.

Orson Scott Card-The Ender Saga

Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind

Fish Who Answer the Telephone and Other Bizarre Books - Russell Ash, Brian Lake
Review
Interested in "Boobs as seen by Henry"? Are you "Happy though married"?
Perplexed by "The Supernatural History of Worms", intrigued by "Penetrating Wagner's Ring", or perhaps always wanted to know about "The Darjeeling Disaster - Its Bright Side"?
This is the book for you, all about strange published works from times where "Roger the Scout" was not seen as an order.

Yay! I finally have it and it rules as much as I thought it would.

The Domination by S M Stirling

The Draka make for excellent protagonists, I really want them to win, and having to face the fact that they may not makes me hesitant to approach the end of the book, but I cant stop reading it.

The wikipedia link gives a better idea of what its about than the amazon one.