Topic: Five Books... that's all you've got.

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

TW - I loved the characters, I loved the way he captured their speech patterns.  I thought it was extremely moving and a beautiful, if gentle, rumination on life, death, fate, regrets, what could have been, the whole human shizzle.

[the 92A]

I think 100 years is the better book but it broke the 30 year rule so I plumped for Cholera.

Your welcome to borrow any of the ones I've got if you want mate.

[furtive book swapping club at the back of the Kop, we'll never live it down ]

Good job Hodgson's gone because otherwise, never mind taking photos during the match, there would complaints on here about this fella in the Main stand reading Salman Rushdie during the match

[TepidT2O]

TW - I loved the characters, I loved the way he captured their speech patterns.  I thought it was extremely moving and a beautiful, if gentle, rumination on life, death, fate, regrets, what could have been, the whole human shizzle.

And I wanted them all to die quickly to end my suffering having to read it

Funny how books mean different things to different people.  They are very personal experiences which is why I hate things like book clubs, books are far too personal to discuss in that way.

[UntouchableLuis]

Need to add to my literary portfolio this summer but for now:

USA

The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Catcher In the Rye and Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger
Edgar Allan Poe (nearly all of his short stories, particularly 'Ligeia' and 'The Black Cat')
Arthur Miller's plays - Death of a Salesman + All My Sons.

Britain

Thomas Hardy - Jude The Obscure
Ian McEwan - The Child in Time
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
George Orwell - 1984
Patrick Hamilton - Hangover square

Russia/France

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
The Possibility of an Island - Michel Houellebecq
Whatever - Michel Houellebecq
Ivan Turgenev - First Love

[The China Fox]

Let's see...

Saki (his short stories) - Hector Hugh Munro. Exceptionally well crafted short stories dripping with dry wit and superb sarcasm, against the foibles of the Edwardian upper class. I am particularly fond of 'Tobermory' and 'The Mappined Terrace' off the top of my head, but the general standard is very good

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig. A journey through philosophy which really makes you think. Probably my favourite book at the moment. Not a lot to say other than I think everyone should read it.

Lord of the Flies - William Golding.

The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky.

1984 - George Orwell. The choice might be a bit cliched, but it's still an excellent novel.

[eitzel]

quick update, read 'The Road'

You tease. 

Come on, what are your initial thoughts?

[hassinator]

Last 30 Years...

Yankee Classics:
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
White Noise - Don DeLillo
The Plot Against America - Philip Roth
Generation X - Douglas Coupland
Beloved - Toni Morrison

Best of British:
Any Human Heart - William Boyd
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
Last Orders - Graham Swift
Awaydays - Kevin Sampson (Liverpool bias coming through)

International Velvet:
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Atomised - Houllebecq
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Marukami
Disgrace - JM Coetzee
Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Essential Non-Fiction:
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
No Logo - Naomi Klein
The Age of Consent - George Monbiot
The Emperors New Mind - Sir Roger Penrose

I think I have rather abused the format but what the hell, get thee to the library before the c*nts close it down

i hope to meet you one day kev.

i'll keep it short and sweet and in no particular order:

breakfast of champions - kurt vonnegut
american tabloid - james ellroy
crash - jg ballard
lolita - vladimir nabokov
i claudius - robert graves

actually how the fuck can you just pick 5?  no dickens; no flaubert; no john fowles; no alan moore; no tom wolfe; no doctorow...

[hassinator]

arrrgh - no cormac mccarthy! no steinbeck!  can we make it ten?

[hassinator]

got a kindle myself about 2 months ago. Have been reading like never before since, I love it, so would really recommend.

i cannot recommend them highly enough.  straight forward; they look and feel as close to a book as i think is currently possible.  get one.  you won't go back.

oh and how did i not mention michel houellbeq?  i've enjoyed all his books but 'atomised' is probably the best of the bunch.

[MichaelA]

arrrgh - no cormac mccarthy! no steinbeck!  can we make it ten?

It's all in the edit Hass

[hassinator]

Reposted with explanations:

Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains Of The Day - an elegantly written, effortlessly readable piece of high brow literature that captures mood, place and emotion perfectly. I've been moved by many books on many occasions, but the key relationship in this book still brings me up in goosebumps when I think about it.

Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory - I read this when I was seventeen. I had been reading avidly and widely, but it redefined what fiction could be for me. It was a life changing book that showed me the outsider's perspective for the first time, it's still a striking a solitary piece of fiction.

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - either the first book or the whole epic trilogy in 4/5/6 parts. The most inventive and flawed author that I have ever read. Again, I read them in my teens, but reread them all a year or two back when Colfer completed the story on behalf of the Adams estate. I can safely say that this book made me the lightweight faux intellectual that I am today.

Ian McEwan - Atonement - in a similar vein to 'Remains Of The Day', McEwan depicts era, place and emotion in an epic fashion. He is a supremely talented writer who has written many excellent novels all of which are worth reading.
 
Martin Amis - Money - Amis can be hit and miss. I've not read anything he has written since 'Time's Arrow', but his early works are a tremendously good read, and make great/vicious fun at the expense of the characters. 'Money' nails London and a British way of life that I recognised and partly lived through in the early Nineties.

If I was doing my list again I'd ditch Amis and replace with Atomised by Michel Houellebecq, because it is an utterly epic and mesmerising read that left me flattened after I had read it. All of his books have had a similar impact on me for one reason or another.

haven't read remains of the day but will have to add it to my never ending list.

iain banks.  i've read all his fiction and all his science fiction even enjoying the beta material.  the wasp factory still lives me agog as a debut novel.  impossible to talk about without giving anything away if you're not a generally enthusiastic reader i would defy anyone with a brain not to be blown away by this.

i read douglas adams oeuvre at primary school or at least started with 'hitch hikers guide' when i was 10.  i loved it then and again in my teens but have found it less rewarding when i've revisited. 

i enjoyed reading atonement but can't help feeling that mcewan's books explore a hideously middle class world of 19th century values that just don't always ring true to me.  saturday is a particular example of this and also chesil beach.  still there's no denying the absolute excellence of his english.  if you like him i would recommend reading john fowles too particularly the french lieutenant's woman which while set 70 years earlier explores the same space but with a lot more vivacity.

i don't like martin amis at all but its impossible to dispute the technical excellence of money.  its just that he's so hateful about everything.  i find very little redeeming about it - and that's probably he his point - but i just think he's a c*nt and that i wouldn't like him if i met him at a party. 

is it ok to comment on other people's choices like this or are we more focused on getting to know what as many people like as possible?

[hassinator]

Think that The Road will be my first read, I've been wanting to see whether the fuss about McCarthy is based on substance and as so many of you rate it, seems like a good place to start. btw eitzel, I've read a few short stories by Carver and been impressed by how he manages to write about what seems like a random moment yet the stories reveal so much about wider things in life.

its so good that when i finished i turned to the first page and read it again. 

[hassinator]

I know I'm pissing against the wind with this, but I really thought that 'The Road' read like an extended Sixth Form English Language A Level essay from the mid eighties. Nuclear winter, whooo.

splash back

its flabbergasting.  spare, profound and to a new dad (me) absolutely heart wrenching. 

[eitzel]

Hass any views on Celine, Knut Hamsun or William Maxwell?

[hassinator]

quick update, read 'The Road', now on to book two, thanks for all your suggestions.

how did that grab you big man?

if you fancy warming up you can't go wrong with one of kev's recommendation 'any human heart' but william boyd but if you've seen the teevee show and fancy some surprises i also loved his 'true confessions'

boyd tells storys with depth, richness and character.  they affect you in the same kind of way the very best of evelyn waugh or graham greene can do and that, for me, is very special.

[hassinator]

Hass any views on Celine, Knut Hamsun or William Maxwell?

have to admit i have read none of them.  i have been exploring some classic french literature - i loved maupassant from school but was recently hit for six by flaubert's classic madame bovray.  it reads like it was written yesterday in terms of speaking with a modern mind.  its a masterpiece.  my old pa steered me to huysman's a rebours about the ULTIMATE aesthete which in turn finally steered me to dorian grey.

which of the above you would recommend big man?

[Ben_JP]

Five I've loved, off the top of my head:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Great Expectations - Charles Somethingorother
American Tabloid - James Ellroy
First Light - Geoffrey Wellum
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell

Oh, and if you want an easy read that romps along, Conn Iggulden's Emperor series is great fun.

[eitzel]

All of them to be honest although although im not sure they will suit your positive disposition.

Death on Credit by Celine is a mighty book, full of black humour and undisguised hatred for people. Must of been a massively courageous book for its time with its unusual stream of consciousness prose, mixed with misanthropic humour.

The Folded Leaf by Maxwell is a beautiful book. Writes with depth and understanding of human relations. Deep compassion.

[monkeyharris]

I love non fiction books which touch on political(small p) issues so

From the world of Sport

Dark Trade - Donald McCrae
Football Against the Enemy - Simon Kuper
Put me Back on my Bike - William Fotheringham

From the World of Music

The Dirt - Motley Crue - Neil Strauss
have Gun will travel - the rise and fall of Death Row records  - Ronan Ro

[rafathegaffa83]

First five off the top of my head:

The Plague by Albert Camus
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

[jaffod]

'Money' by Martin Amis, possibly the funniest book I've ever read.

'The Dice Man' by Luke Rhinehart, great concept- making the major decisions in your life on the roll of a dice.

'The Stand' by Stephen King, just a fucking epic novel.

'The Executioner's Song' by Norman Mailer, the story of Gary Gilmore.

'Helter Skelter' by Vincent Bugliosi - the story of the Manson murders.

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

Hass any views on Celine, Knut Hamsun or William Maxwell?

I've read The Hunger by Knut Hamsun and it never really did anything for me I'm afraid. 

Oh, and Hass, read Remains of the Day, you'll LOVE it.

[jaffod]

Five I've loved, off the top of my head:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Great Expectations - Charles Somethingorother
American Tabloid - James Ellroy
First Light - Geoffrey Wellum
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell

Oh, and if you want an easy read that romps along, Conn Iggulden's Emperor series is great fun.

Did GE as part of English lit in school, made me want to gouge my eyes out. Would be interesting to read it again now I'm all grown up....

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

i hope to meet you one day kev.

i'll keep it short and sweet and in no particular order:

breakfast of champions - kurt vonnegut
american tabloid - james ellroy
crash - jg ballard
lolita - vladimir nabokov
i claudius - robert graves

actually how the fuck can you just pick 5?  no dickens; no flaubert; no john fowles; no alan moore; no tom wolfe; no doctorow...

Strangely, Hass, despite our similarly tastes in these things I am ashamed to say I have not read any of those 5.  I loved Slaughterhouse 5 so clearly need to read more Vonnegut.  Ballard I love but I prefer his short stories (I have Vol 1 of his collected short stories by my bedside) to his novels.

[Broken Accidental Stars]

The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien (intended to be one volume)
Something by Dickens or the Bronte sisters, probably Great Expectations or Jane Eyre

[UntouchableLuis]

Something by Dickens or the Bronte sisters, probably Great Expectations or Jane Eyre

Wuthering Heights is the far better novel than Jane Eyre IMO, it's actually brilliantly constructed and very forward thinking for the period.

[gemkopqueen]

David Gemmell- Troy trilogy (Lord of the Silver Bow, Shield of Thuder, Fall of Kings)
Pat Barker- Regeneration
Steven Pressfield- Gates of Fire

[hassinator]

i hope to meet you one day kev.

i'll keep it short and sweet and in no particular order:

breakfast of champions - kurt vonnegut
american tabloid - james ellroy
crash - jg ballard
lolita - vladimir nabokov
i claudius - robert graves

actually how the fuck can you just pick 5?  no dickens; no flaubert; no john fowles; no alan moore; no tom wolfe; no doctorow...

Strangely, Hass, despite our similarly tastes in these things I am ashamed to say I have not read any of those 5.  I loved Slaughterhouse 5 so clearly need to read more Vonnegut.  Ballard I love but I prefer his short stories (I have Vol 1 of his collected short stories by my bedside) to his novels.

looking at these i'm realising they're all about extremes of behaviour bordering on madness.

'breakfast of champions' is clearly written by a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown or at the very least reliving it.  a phenomenal; odd; funny different take on the world that's not a perspective i've seen described before but have sometimes touched on feeling. 

ellroy is as psychotic in life as much as through his fiction but no one writes more thrilling prose for me when you want it hard hitting.  this is - on reflection - his magnum opus.  if you only read one of his i'd say make it this.

ballard writes about space - and by that i mean the world we live in - the way i've really felt it to be under the influence of lsd.  this book was written after his claimed solitary experience with the drug so has a slightly richer style than some of his later work - maybe 'high rise' is the single must read from him as his themes are most concisely expressed - but there's also a romance to it and i just love it.  he really pushes my buttons.

i read 'lolita' at christmas and was utterly beguiled.  why did it take me so long to actually pick up and read it?  morbidly, perversely funny start it first thing tomorrow and you won't be able to put it down.

'i claudius' is just brilliant.  written exactly in the style and cadence of suetonius and his 'twelve caeser' graves perfectly evokes ancient rome, its people, its spectacle and its custom.  again i suggest reading everything he's done.  i've downloaded some history text books he wrote in the 20s as i want to squeeze out the last drop.

still just downloaded 'remains of the day' and have 'midnights children' to read on jp-65's recommendation but only after i finish the new jilly cooper.  its about people who like horses and having sex with each other so really not more than a hop skip and a jump from robert graves

[TepidT2O]

looking at these i'm realising they're all about extremes of behaviour bordering on madness.

'breakfast of champions' is clearly written by a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown or at the very least reliving it.  a phenomenal; odd; funny different take on the world that's not a perspective i've seen described before but have sometimes touched on feeling. 

ellroy is as psychotic in life as much as through his fiction but no one writes more thrilling prose for me when you want it hard hitting.  this is - on reflection - his magnum opus.  if you only read one of his i'd say make it this.

ballard writes about space - and by that i mean the world we live in - the way i've really felt it to be under the influence of lsd.  this book was written after his claimed solitary experience with the drug so has a slightly richer style than some of his later work - maybe 'high rise' is the single must read from him as his themes are most concisely expressed - but there's also a romance to it and i just love it.  he really pushes my buttons.

i read 'lolita' at christmas and was utterly beguiled.  why did it take me so long to actually pick up and read it?  morbidly, perversely funny start it first thing tomorrow and you won't be able to put it down.

'i claudius' is just brilliant.  written exactly in the style and cadence of suetonius and his 'twelve caeser' graves perfectly evokes ancient rome, its people, its spectacle and its custom.  again i suggest reading everything he's done.  i've downloaded some history text books he wrote in the 20s as i want to squeeze out the last drop.

still just downloaded 'remains of the day' and have 'midnights children' to read on jp-65's recommendation but only after i finish the new jilly cooper.  its about people who like horses and having sex with each other so really not more than a hop skip and a jump from robert graves

Really like I Claudius especially as I am very much into my roman history....

Jilly Cooper is total shite....but I've read a few and they are strangely addictive...she really is a filthy mare isn't she?

[the 92A]

You tease. 

Come on, what are your initial thoughts?

Thought provoking. Wasn't sure at first, as the descriptive evocation of the dead world was technically very good, even poetic in parts, but bordered on repetitive due to the subject matter. But the novel came alive with the relationship between Father and Son. The Father's battle to pass on his morality while doing what was necessary to keep them alive, contrasted with the sons openness and willingness to take chances to experience humanity. The post apocalyptic landscape quickly became secondary to the Human struggle that for me made the book a great read.
 
No complaints with book one, now onto two, so many tempt me and it's difficult to narrow down but 'Midnights Children' and the 'Wasp factory' seem to fit the bill. Anyone any thoughts on choosing between these two?

[legendkiller]

Ham on rye
 
Diceman

Junkie

Catcher in the rye

Veron God little

All about people on the outside and all easy and entertaining reads 

[Ben_JP]

Did GE as part of English lit in school, made me want to gouge my eyes out. Would be interesting to read it again now I'm all grown up....

Give it a go. Might not click right away, but persevere and there's plenty to enjoy. That's not exactly a glowing recommendation I know, but it took a while for it to click with me but once it did I really enjoyed it.

[hassinator]

 
No complaints with book one, now onto two, so many tempt me and it's difficult to narrow down but 'Midnights Children' and the 'Wasp factory' seem to fit the bill. Anyone any thoughts on choosing between these two?

i've only read the wasp factory but i can confirm that its immediately engrossing

Really like I Claudius especially as I am very much into my roman history....

Jilly Cooper is total shite....but I've read a few and they are strangely addictive...she really is a filthy mare isn't she?

i think they have a lot in common - fucking and horses

[Mal]

The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks.
My bro' is 4 yrs wiser than I & he read it at 17 so I guess I nicked it & read it before I was 15, I actually re-read it last year & it's still a mesmerising read. Knowing what's going on only makes it all the more gripping actually.

i've only read the wasp factory but i can confirm that its immediately engrossing

If anyone hasn't read The Wasp Factory & wants a serious book that engages you from the first sentence then you have to pick it up & read it. It's fucking ace.

Anyway, onwards with this impossible task...
The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe.
The subject matter might not be the stuff of literary classics but the depth of feeling & admiration for the trail-blazing men it documents is astonishing.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor.
Absolute poetry. Not literally but it's so beautifully written it might as well be.

Brighton Rock - Graham Greene.
Ok, it's a thriller but if there's a better villain than Pinkie in the history of UK literature I'm a dutchman (you can call me Dirk).

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Need I elaborate?

I've been looking for some new authors to read; I bought War & Peace recently, everyone's got to read it at some point right? I expect to be back in here if only to catch up on some recommendations from the good folk of RAWK; well the good people whose opinions I've grown to like & value... 

[The Bill Hicks Appreciation Society]

Brighton Rock - Graham Greene.
Ok, it's a thriller but if there's a better villain than Pinkie in the history of UK literature I'm a dutchman (you can call me Dirk).

Never read the book but loved the film, and it sounds like Dickie Attenborough was brilliantly cast, my most favourite screen villain.

I've been looking for some new authors to read; I bought War & Peace recently, everyone's got to read it at some point right? I expect to be back in here if only to catch up on some recommendations from the good folk of RAWK; well the good people whose opinions I've grown to like & value... 

If you've not read them yet then James M Cain; Postman Always Rings Twice and Mildred Pierce are brilliant reads. Especially the latter. I mention them cos I'd imagine they're written in a similar style to Brighton Rock, going by the film.

[loveisreal]

The Catcher In the Rye and Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger

franny and zooey is a bag of shit.  one of the worst follow ups to anything of all time ever.  up there with blair witch 2 and rocky 5.

[The Bill Hicks Appreciation Society]

franny and zooey is a bag of shit.  one of the worst follow ups to anything of all time ever.  up there with blair witch 2 and rocky 5.

Not read Franny and Zooey but From Esme with Love and Squalor (collection of short stories) is great though.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Ham on rye
 
Diceman

Junkie

Catcher in the rye

Veron God little

All about people on the outside and all easy and entertaining reads 

Only read 'Catcher in the Rye' and I dunno how you can find it entertaining. The main character was an annoying little self-obsessed shithead.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks.
My bro' is 4 yrs wiser than I & he read it at 17 so I guess I nicked it & read it before I was 15, I actually re-read it last year & it's still a mesmerising read. Knowing what's going on only makes it all the more gripping actually.If anyone hasn't read The Wasp Factory & wants a serious book that engages you from the first sentence then you have to pick it up & read it. It's fucking ace.

Anyway, onwards with this impossible task...
The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe.
The subject matter might not be the stuff of literary classics but the depth of feeling & admiration for the trail-blazing men it documents is astonishing.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor.
Absolute poetry. Not literally but it's so beautifully written it might as well be.

Brighton Rock - Graham Greene.
Ok, it's a thriller but if there's a better villain than Pinkie in the history of UK literature I'm a dutchman (you can call me Dirk).

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Need I elaborate?

I've been looking for some new authors to read; I bought War & Peace recently, everyone's got to read it at some point right? I expect to be back in here if only to catch up on some recommendations from the good folk of RAWK; well the good people whose opinions I've grown to like & value... 

Catcher in the Rye again? Why? Why? Why?

It was an OK book. It had its moments. But it was mostly drivel and contrived. Given the sheer number of books out there, surely you have read hundreds of books better than this one? There is just so much excellent literature out there.

[UntouchableLuis]

Catcher in the Rye again? Why? Why? Why?

It was an OK book. It had its moments. But it was mostly drivel and contrived. Given the sheer number of books out there, surely you have read hundreds of books better than this one? There is just so much excellent literature out there.

There's far better techincal novels out there but for sense of character it's up there with the best. I suppose it resonates with teenagers more than anyone though.