Favourite books?

[essjay]

I have a few audible credits burning a hole in my proverbial pocket and am after some recommendations.

What are your 5 favourite books of all time?

[rocky]

Perhaps check out these threads?
Read any good books?
Good sports related books
Holiday books
Cambridge United books (although I believe there is a newer book out since this thread)
Books you are reading

Otherwise, it might be helpful to know what genre of books you normally enjoy? Favourite books often have a time, topic and place element that make them special to oneself, and hence difficult to recommend.

Two books that captivated me recently were Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Edwards (about a young man escaping from North Korea) and Educated, by Tara Westover (about a young woman who 'escapes' her family of Mormon survivalists).  I still read old fashioned paper and print, so not sure if audible versions would be equally mesmerizing.

[Andrewlang]

I've always found fivebooks.com pretty handy.

Andrew

[Sandypants]

Magician - Raymond E Feist.
A high fantasy classic. The Empire trilogy he did with Janny Wurts is his masterpiece, but it's better to read this more traditional entry first.

The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin.
It's really a case of take your pick with Le Guin and it's almost definitely incredible; this anarchic sci-fi is one of many brilliant novellas.

The Unwomanly Face of War - Svetlana Alexievich.
A collection of oral histories of the female contribution to Soviet WWII.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa.
The story of a man and his cat. One of the most beautiful pieces of contemporary fiction I've read.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World - Elif Shafak.
Another author that can do very little wrong. Literary fiction on the death and life (in that order) of an Istanbul prostitute.

[kettlewitch]

Sept 29, 2022 19:31:42 GMT Sandypants said:

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World - Elif Shafak.
Another author that can do very little wrong. Literary fiction on the death and life (in that order) of an Istanbul prostitute.

I have just bought this on a A****n deal (I don't think I would otherwise have stumbled across it), having never heard of the author. I tend to read detective, fantasy and/or spy fiction and this looks to be quite different.

Good to hear how highly you rate it; I am looking forward to reading it.

[kettlewitch]

Rebecca Stott's Cambridge-based novel 'Ghostwalk' is very good, as is her memoir about growing up in a church/ cult 'In the days of rain'.

Jodi Taylor has two enjoyably silly series about time-travelling historians and the havoc they encounter, the Chronicles of St Mary's and the off-shoot Time Police.

Joy Ellis' ...in the Fens detective books are some of the better within that huge genre (of which some are dire!). Ditto Mark Billingham with his Tom Thorne series.

John Le Carre is always a good choice with Cold War and many, more recently set, espionage thrillers. 

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens is still in my top 5; I must be on my third copy by now.

So many books yet so little time! Enjoy your adventures.

[lionel]

I will mix in writers with books...

Ian Rankin-Rebus.
Harry Kemelman- Rabbi Small.
James Blake Autobiography (The tennis player)
David Gorman/Danny Wallace- stupid boy project books.
Marco Pantani- Biography ( The cyclist- possibly one of the most heartbreaking reads...)

[squibbon]

I love reading but I've never sat and thought of a top 5 like I have done with music or films.

In no particular order I would have:

Lord Of The Rings - Tolkien
Trainspotting - Welsh
The Swarm - Schatzing
Life Of Pi - Martel
Love And Rockets - Bateman

But if I go and look on my bookcase there could be another 5 instead!

[artvandelay]

Sept 30, 2022 23:04:34 GMT squibbon said:

I love reading but I've never sat and thought of a top 5 like I have done with music or films.

In no particular order I would have:

Lord Of The Rings - Tolkien
Trainspotting - Welsh
The Swarm - Schatzing
Life Of Pi - Martel
Love And Rockets - Bateman

But if I go and look on my bookcase there could be another 5 instead!

Life of Pi is still, by some distance, and including some awful footballer's autobiography, the worst thing I've ever read! Different strokes, etc.

Novel wise, the best thing I've read in recent years is 'A Grain of Wheat' by Ngugi wa Thiongo.
If you like travel writing then I recommend the work of John Gimlette, been getting through his stiff lately and it's all excellent.

[soulhalshall]

Bridge on the Drina - Ivo Andric. A story of a town in Bosnia spanning centuries and centred around a bridge.

One Day - David Nicholas. Like a good pop song, loved this when I read it, got me back into fiction.

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene. Maybe not his most accessible book but one of his best I think.

Barbarian Days - William Finnegan. A sport book, ostensibly, about surfing. A bit like Beyond a Boundary, about sport but also about much more. I was not interested in surfing and am not now.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë. A classic for a reason. Good old story.

[mrjimmy]

Here's a selection of books from aroud the world I've enjoyed. Cricket fans should check out Chinaman. Maidenhair is a touch on the mad side and I'm not sure I understood much of it.

Fraction of a Whole - Steve Toltz
Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman
The War at the End of the World - Mario Vargas Llosa
Maidenhair - Mikhail Shishkin
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
Chinaman:The Legend of Pradeep Mathew - Shehan Karunatilaka
The Last Samurai - Helen De Witt

[belly77]

Engleby by Sebastian Faulkes is a brilliant thriller/mystery set in Cambridge.

11/22/63 by Stephen King is a superbly researched story about a man that has to time travel to try and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK in the hope it will end the Vietnam war.

Open by Andre Agassi is probably my favourite sports book.

[daysx]

If you're interested in science, you might like astrophysics for people in a hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

[cuoutside]

Big fan of the Jack Reacher books, not sure that the latest series did the book it came from justice though.

[foolhandy]

The Passion - Jeanette Winterson
Frog In Love - Max Velthuijs
The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Kensuke's Kingdom - Michael Morpurgo
The Saga Of Erik The Viking - Terry Jones