ewenm Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 All, Given that shortly I'll be back in gainful employment in London, so spending significant time on tube/train/bus ☹️, can the combined shed wisdom recommend some decent books please 🤔 Muchos grassyarse Approaching 77777 miles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owelly Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Er, no. Sorry. ☹️ its only a game......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debert Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Wotcha Ewen - The recent contents of the Fletcher library include: Silver Darlings - Neil Gunn A town like alice - Nevil Shute Maurice and his extraordinary rats - Terry Pratchet Schotts Miscellany - Ben Schott The Ballad of Halo Jones - Alan Moore Comic strip novel Girl with a pearl earing - Tracy Chevalier Chocolat - Joanne Harris The Art of Happiness -- His Holiness Dalai Lama & Howard C Cutler Anything by Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers / Dirk Gently / etc) Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein Better than life (Red Dwarf) - Grant & Naylor "Dragon" series - Anne McCaffrey If you wanna borrow any of these - or want a fuller library list, drop us a blatmail (envelope icon above) we're in the "finding more boxes of books and putting up more shelves" stage of moving house 😬 PS: Are you going to the sheds xmas "do" we could bring you a "xmas pressie" Growing old is compulsory - Growing up is optional 😬 See the old Barbarella here... PPS: When working in London, find the nearest library to your workplace. It gives you somewhere warm and quiet to go to at lunchtimes, kept me sane (some would argue that point) when i was there Edited by - Fletch on 24 Nov 2004 22:55:59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs GTD Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Just about everything by Terry Pratchett The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series - Alexander McCall Smith An Instance of the Fingerpost - Ian Pears The Eyre Affair - Jasper fforde Spanish Steps - Tim Moore (I think) Going Gently - I'll ask GTD who wrote it, but be warned, you may cry over this one, which could be embarrassing on the tube I also quite like Harlan Coben. Writes murder mysteries, solved by an ex-basketball player! 😬 GTD will no doubt be along soon to add to the list... Bad luck on the job front... ☹️ Mrs GTD Carbonette - patches that make it easy to say NO to carbon fibre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry21p Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 How about anything by Cina Mieville or Iain M Banks if you like your science fiction (the real kind).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric McLoughlin Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe. My favourite book of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevSull Too Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Dune Anything by Iain M Banks (seconded) All Pratchett (his newer books are better, but you need a good grounding in the characters that the early books provide) The Brentford Trilogy by Robert Rankin Freedom series by Anne McCaffrey Life in the Fast Lane by Sid Watkins Flat Out, Flat Broke by Perry McCarthey for starters... 😬You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same. 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTD Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Going Gently is by David Nobbs (who, of course, wrote Reggie Perrin) Anything by Carl Hiaason (start with Stormy Weather?), he's a Florida based journalist who writes darkly comic novels about the corruption there. Everything by Christopher Brookmyre - a Scottish version of Carl Hiaason - and my top tip for passing journeys! G 4 Geoff Leather Good - Carbon Fibre Bad 619 GTD here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Depends what you're into..... personally (and speaking as a commuter who does a lot of reading ) I would agree with any Pratchett, Tolkein or Douglas Adams. The Harry Potters are a nice easy read and you can get them with adult covers (no, not THAT kind of adult cover ) I have just finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - some of her books have been disappointing but this one was really good (as was Alias Grace) I have also taken the opportunity to re-read some old favourites - 1984, various John Irving books and even Wind in the Willows Avoid hard backs - they are incredibly cumbersome to read on the tube 🙆🏻 Happy commuting Tam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs GTD Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Have to agree with Tam about Alias Grace (Attwood) and the chance to re-do the classics. Wuthering Heights - dark & gripping, Pride & Prejudice - very funny (IMHumbleO), Tess of the d'Urbevilles - sad, Mill on the Floss - best avoided!!! I agree with GTD about Christopher Brookmyre, but you may have the embarrassment factor again -hard not to laugh... Mrs GTD Carbonette - patches that make it easy to say NO to carbon fibre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boonie Hound Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Have to agree with Kev about the Dune series I have hundreds of trashy thriller/military type books that I would be happy to lend -Dale Brown, Chris Ryan, McNab,etc etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meldrew Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Depends what you like: I have big enthusiams on particular writers that make me read lots of their stuff back to back. The last one I had this with was Philip Roth. Dark, tough stuff about human nature with lots of quite unappealing, flawed and brilliantly described characters, very black humour, superbly written and as rich and chewy as a Christmas pudding. With lots of custard. (Stop sniggering, Ross). Jasper Fffffffffforde or A L Kennedy look like the next victim. I really enjoyed "The Eyre Affair" by the former and am halfway through "Everything you Need" by the latter. Actually, if you want a good laugh, go to www.a-l-kennedy.co.uk for her review of her reviewers. Very funny. If you haven't read "Midnight's Children" or "The Moor's Last Sigh" by Salman Rushdie, do so. Even if everything else he ever wrote was pants, he'd still be classed a great novelist on the strength of these alone. "Millennium People" by J G Ballard was good. "Toast" by Nigel Slater was too. "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer varied between puzzling, irritating and jaw-dropping and was well worht the effort. Looking forward to "Oryx & Crake" soon, too. Got to get A L Kennedy out of the way first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buda Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 there is a sesame street series of books which I have enjoyed, I keep reading them over and over again, can't put them down, stupid accident with some copydex when I was 6, makes typing difficult Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric McLoughlin Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Buda - sounds like you'ld enjoy the Dr Seuss books - which still make me laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Jasper Fforde agreed. French Revolution by Tim Moore will have you snorting out loud on the tube. Very handy -- gets a you a little extra "nutter space" as people give you a wide berth. My ... Preciousss! Member #109** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewenm Posted November 25, 2004 Author Share Posted November 25, 2004 Great stuff all. I've read all the Pratchetts and am working my way through re-reading the Jasper ffordes at the moment. Read a few of the Iain M Banks (and without the M) so will continue on that theme perhaps. Keep em coming though Thanks for the offers of borrowing books although I like to buy books Approaching 77777 miles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevSull Too Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 If you like Pratchett, try Robert Rankin.... Start with the Brentford Trilogy - The AntiPope, The Sprouts of Wrath, East of Ealing, The Brentford Triangle, The Brentford Chainstore Masacare Also worthy of reading are Malcom Pryce's two books, Aberystwyth Mon Amour and Last Tango in Aberystwyth. Very good, even better if you know Aberystwyth. 😬You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same. 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTD Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Kev - absolutely agree on the Aberystwyth books G 4 Geoff Leather Good - Carbon Fibre Bad 619 GTD here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbarella Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Fletch forgot these Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong - WW1 setting I Robot - the original Asimov - nothing like the movie, but pretty good nevertheless A Brief History of TIme - Stephen Hawking - how to look intelligent on the Tube Alexander series by Valerio Massimo Manfredi - Child of a Dream, the Sands of Ammon and The Ends of the Earth. I have read the Sands of Ammon and will be looking for the other two on my next visit to a bookshop. The movie about Alexander has been panned - I'll go and see it anyway. At the moment I am re-reading Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (politician Shirley Williams' mum) - WW1 from the point of view of a nurse, how hard it was for women to go to university - everyone should read this, you will wonder why we are still starting wars and realise how hard it was for women to get a university education and have an independent career. Also on my bedside table 'Wicca - a guide for the solitary practitioner' You will have to excuse me, the eye of bat and toe of newt stew is boiling over..... Se7en's - the most fun you can have with clothes on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debert Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Better than chicken noodle soup Growing old is compulsory - Growing up is optional 😬 See the old Barbarella here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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