Books/Authors

[Dylan]

Without Remorse, fave book ever. Most of Crichton's stuff (Airframe, Timeline, The Andromeda Strain, Rising Sun, Jurassic Park, Prey, Terminal Man etc etc).

I couldn't stand reading American Psycho, or the Thomas Harris 'scary' books.

 

[atrottel]

John Irving - just about everything
John Updike - especially the Rabbit books
John Le Carré - just about everything but especially the older Smiley era ones

(non-Johns)
Cormac McCarthy - especially the Texas trilogy
Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong

(non-fiction)
Joe Simpson - climbing writer (Touching the Void plus a few collections)
Galen Rowell - mountaineer and photographer
Jon Krakauer - wrote recently-filmed Into The Wild, also Into Thin Air and others

 

[heatmeiser]

Mark E Smith and The Fall introduced me to Albert Camus in my teens and The Outsider is easily the most important book I have ever read.

One of those 'must read' novels.

 

[DENNIS STEVENS]

Good man, its a great read. Tried dice living for a while, it's messy.

The 2nd Dice man book's a bit of a let down though.

agree about the 2nd book, but the 1st one is a classic.

i tend to prefer biographical books. although, after reading "birdsong" i'm now on to my 3rd book by sebastian faulks : "on green dolphin street".

 

[Desaparecido]

Recently The Iliad and The Odyssey - I prefer The Iliad to be honest. At the moment I'm on 'History of Western Philosophy' by Russell. Faulks is OK but he is formulaic, plus I prefer real eyewitness accounts like Robert Graves'.

 

[Nebbiolo]

Recently The Iliad and The Odyssey - I prefer The Iliad to be honest. At the moment I'm on 'History of Western Philosophy' by Russell. Faulks is OK but he is formulaic, plus I prefer real eyewitness accounts like Robert Graves'.

An absolute classic. I've actually recently read it again (during bath time) after first reading it when I was a student. It's by far the best introduction to western thought. Much of Russell's work is similarly engaging, and all available on ebay at pretty cheap prices.

I have to say, although I own the Iliad and Odyssey, I've never had the patience to tackle either.

 

[Desaparecido]

An absolute classic. I've actually recently read it again (during bath time) after first reading it when I was a student. It's by far the best introduction to western thought. Much of Russell's work is similarly engaging, and all available on ebay at pretty cheap prices.

I have to say, although I own the Iliad and Odyssey, I've never had the patience to tackle either.

I had a bit of trouble at first, but they're easier if you find a translation you like - Robert Fagles is good.

 

[DENNIS STEVENS]

Recently The Iliad and The Odyssey - I prefer The Iliad to be honest. At the moment I'm on 'History of Western Philosophy' by Russell. Faulks is OK but he is formulaic, plus I prefer real eyewitness accounts like Robert Graves'.

unfortunately, i was put off homer during tedious latin lessons.
i know what you mean about faulks, i'm fairly new to his style & enjoying it but i know that i'll tire of it in due course.

 

[chicoazul]

"the dice man"

nuff said

Cracking book that. Add to it:

American Psycho (as someone pointed out)
Mr Nice.
Most books by Lee Childs.
And loads that I really cant think of at the moment.

Books are boss.

 

[CanadaToffee]

John le Carre
Robert Goddard
Mark Billingham
Some biographies (Mandela, George Bizos)

No-one writes British crime fiction quite like these American writers:
Elizabeth George
Martha Grimes

 

[caught]

Updike, Bellow, DF Wallace, Woolf, Joyce, Cormac McCarthy, Nabokov, Auster, Raymond Carver and Chekhov. I'm a massive geek, though.

 

[atrottel]

For American crime fiction lovers, try George V. Higgins if you haven't already.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Updike, Bellow, DF Wallace, Woolf, Joyce, Cormac McCarthy, Nabokov, Auster, Raymond Carver and Chekhov. I'm a massive geek, though.

'New York Trilogy' is weird but good. 'Leviathon' is much more readable

 

[Dylan]

I was always partial to the 'Spot' series. See Spot run. Brilliant! Literary genius!

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Couple of people mentioned 'Le Carre' but always prefered Len Deighton myself. 'Funeral in Berlin' and 'The Ipcress File' recommendable if you like the cold war spy stories. Also liked the films. Love Michael Caine as Harry Palmer.

David Niven's 'The moon's a balloon' is an extremely entertaining autobiography. Clive James' 'Falling towards England' is brilliant.

Possibly my fave all time non-fiction works is a little known road book called 'Blue highways' by William 'least heat' Moon. The guy is half native American working as an English teacher in college.When he loses his job, he buys a pick up truck and sets off to discover the real America travelling along B roads (marked in blue on American maps) and avoiding the major cities. Wonderful.