Bookworms

Just nosey about what books folk are reading at mo plus what are the most important books they feel have made a genuine contribution to,enlightenment,pleasure etc??..Go on then :smiley: my pleasure ( Nico>“songs they never play on the radio” by James Young.This is an account of a musical tour featuring Velvet Underground singer,Nico in the early eighties when she gathered a group of junkie musicians around her and tried to capitalise on her associated legend with that oh so cool,Warhole,Lou Reed glamour ,with hilarious results.She was a complete heroin hound.But jesus it’s a masterpiece of rock history.Would make a formidable movie,up their with Withnail&i for sure.

“Bad Science” by Ben Goldacre. Written about the MMR fiasco, but touching on many other issues, such as balance/bias in reporting and placebo effects. His book on Big Pharma is good too.

“Predictably Irrational” Dan Ariely and anything by Richard Wiseman. The ways people really act…!
(All of us)

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Just finished Papillon by Henri Charriere. Excellent read.
A bit like trying to get out of an RDC…

I read biographies of people I’ve admired over the years.
Last one I read was Ant Middleton’s which I enjoyed, although he could have made 2 books out of it as he skipped over a lot of details, he served in the Paras, and Royal Marines including a stint in the SBS with 2 tours of Afghan, so plenty more stories to tell than what he did I reckon, but still a very good read.
Also I read factual WW2 books, last one being Band of Brothers that the tv series was based on, excellent read and excellent tv series imo.

Favourite book of all time: Shogun by James Clavell.
I try and read it once a year. Every time I read it i discover some hidden meaning, something different, something I hadn’t clocked before. A truly magnificent book.
I am currently o the lookout for a copy to read again.
ALL of Clavells books are masterpieces though.

I only read…

Biographies too. I find other peoples lives and achievements interesting. I’ve just started Fast and Loud by Richard Rawlings owner of the Gas Monkey Garage brand.

Finally got around to Brave New World. Not as thick as I imagined it would be.

Drempels:
Finally got around to Brave New World. Not as thick as I imagined it would be.

A slim volume containng some big ideas, indeed.

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Edith Eger - The Choice

steviespain:
Favourite book of all time: Shogun by James Clavell.
I try and read it once a year. Every time I read it i discover some hidden meaning, something different, something I hadn’t clocked before. A truly magnificent book.
I am currently o the lookout for a copy to read again.
ALL of Clavells books are masterpieces though.

Getting all melvynn braggish :slight_smile: how would you distill its essence.Always remember this one escaped my childhood curiosity in favour of Benchleys,Jaws as I perused my late dads book shelf?Sven Hassel loomed large too.

At the moment I’m reading Running with the firm by james Bannon
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Got to be 'the worst journey in the world ’ by Apssley Cherry Gerard, about Antarctic exploration at the time of Scott, the level of suffering combined with the kit that they had available is hard to imagine, I think it was best seller in the 30s 40s and 50s so going cheap now !!! 10p from Amazon…

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robroy:
I read biographies of people I’ve admired over the years.
Last one I read was Ant Middleton’s which I enjoyed, although he could have made 2 books out of it as he skipped over a lot of details, he served in the Paras, and Royal Marines including a stint in the SBS with 2 tours of Afghan, so plenty more stories to tell than what he did I reckon, but still a very good read.
Also I read factual WW2 books, last one being Band of Brothers that the tv series was based on, excellent read and excellent tv series imo.

Would that be a newer sf book,the bearded bloke on the cover I saw on amazons site?..I’ve feasted on around a dozen or so of sf books and they’re all pretty mind blowing.A recent one I read by a chap,Falconer I think,ex SBS and 14 intelligence,explained some of the intense rivalries between sas and sbs(shakeyboats) lol in ways I never imagined.He outlines one, NI operation when with 14 int where the regiment were meant to be giving cover but due to their trademark off duty appearance,ie…brutal moustaches and leather jackets,they spooked the provos they were attempting to intercept and blew the project stone dead.
In Falconers words,they may as well have been wearing wing-dagger t -shirts.
Rusty ( no gloves ) Firmins book is incredible also,although when he deals with that awful Falklands helicopter tragedy,when 20 or so troopers plummet to their deaths at the bottom of the Atlantic, it really brings it home.He recounts that one trooper,scrambling to safety,got his foot caught in some of the choppers rigging,but was saved by one of his doomed mates hacking away with a knife,tapped his boot,and he was good to go.Not alas his combrade.
Imagine living with that in your memory.

Currently reading ,Rise And Kill First,by Ronen Bergman,ex Mossad.Winning lots of plaudits for it’s game changing candour.Everything covered,Black September take down,Lillehammer fiasco.
I thought Gordon Thomas’s,Gideons Spies was the ultimate chronicle,this one’s a whole new level.

Currently filling the Jack Reacher shaped void in my life with an author by the name of Mark Dawson and his John Milton series. If you are a motorcyclist looking to improve technique (which you should always be attempting) the classic Twist of the Wrist by Kieth Code is always worth a look.

manalishi:

steviespain:
Favourite book of all time: Shogun by James Clavell.
I try and read it once a year. Every time I read it i discover some hidden meaning, something different, something I hadn’t clocked before. A truly magnificent book.
I am currently o the lookout for a copy to read again.
ALL of Clavells books are masterpieces though.

Getting all melvynn braggish :slight_smile: how would you distill its essence.Always remember this one escaped my childhood curiosity in favour of Benchleys,Jaws as I perused my late dads book shelf?Sven Hassel loomed large too.

I doubt I have the vocabulary necessary to fully describe this book to its potential.

It is full of discovery, of how the Japanese mind works, and the clash of cultures between Medieval England mindset and the nationalistic, proud to the point of reckless stupidity, Japanese warrior caste.
He explains what is happening, from both sides, what people are thinking, why they are thinking that way, and does it i a way that really draws you in.
If you haven’t read it…go git it. Thank me later :slight_smile:

I saw Jaws, the film, when I was i Canada. The week after I was in the Belizean keys earning how to scuba dive. Wasn’t too happy, as I recall. :smiley:
Got into the Sven Hassell books when my sis gave me Wheels of Terror on my 20th B’day. Yeah, a good read. Liked em.

Now go buy Shogun :smiley:

Ben McIntyre has written some brilliant books.
“Operation Mincemeat”, a more accurate story than the film “The Man Who Never Was” the WW2 story of deception.
“Agent ZigZag” a WW2 real spy and a book on Kim Philby.
In an earlier period he writes of “The Man Who Would Be King”. The real man that Kipling apparently based his novel on. Incredible stuff on a real larger than life character.

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Franglais:
Ben McIntyre has written some brilliant books.
“Operation Mincemeat”, a more accurate story than the film “The Man Who Never Was” the WW2 story of deception.
“Agent ZigZag” a WW2 real spy and a book on Kim Philby.
In an earlier period he writes of “The Man Who Would Be King”. The real man that Kipling apparently based his novel on. Incredible stuff on a real larger than life character.

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“The Man Who Would Be King”
Who wrote that? and what was the name of the book?
Just kiddin, I’ll look out for that one when I head out on one of my many forays into second hand bookworld.
The film was fantastic, but I like running the film in my head while reading the book.

the maoster:
Currently filling the Jack Reacher shaped void in my life with an author by the name of Mark Dawson and his John Milton series. If you are a motorcyclist looking to improve technique (which you should always be attempting) the classic Twist of the Wrist by Kieth Code is always worth a look.

The john Milton series are great. Hes also got a few others linked to them.

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Firstly the Sven Hassel series of fictional stuff seems to be based on his fraudulent ‘memoirs’ of his non existent German front line military service.

Best WW2 books probably Iron Coffins Herbert Werner.With Spitfire a test pilot’s story by Jeffrey Quill and Sigh for a Merlin by Alex Henshaw and Alert in the West by Willi Heilman all being a tie for second and Belton Cooper’s Death Traps a close third.

Also would put Marathon in the Dust by Innes Ireland and Cola Cowboys by Franklin Wood and Gypsy Moth Circles the World by Francis Chichester and The Only Way to Cross by John Maxton Graham as some of the greatest travel/ adventure stories ever written.

Don Garlits’ Big Daddy and Mark Donohue’s Unfair Advantage among others being favourite motor sport titles.