blonde poker forum

One to start you of with:

1984  by George Orwell

the broons

Not read loads, but the book of The Green mile and Shawshank Redemptio were fantastic.

Also Stephen King "IT" brilliant book but that guy must have issues !!

God damn you have nicked my answer.

Ok  Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Another great book not as good IMO but a great read.


Bravo 2 zero  A quality read

Past Imperfect by John Matthews

i'd like to change my mind from the broons too oor wullie

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

The picture of Dorian Grey

A book of which i could never become tired

I could not nominate one, here's 10 to be going on with though.

A short history of nearly everything, Bill Bryson. Jaw-droppingly good.

The Watergate Tapes - (these were the real unedited tapes). Shows just how corrupt Nixon & his cronies were.

Formets Theorem, Simon Singh. A must for those with a fascination for the wonders of numbers.

Men & Horses I have known, The Rt Hon Heorge Lambton. A fascinating insight into the world of toffs a century ago.

Papillon, Henri Charriere, the underworld as it really is, though a tad embellished.

Boo Hoo, a case study on why the .com bubble bursst so spectacularly.

The Alan Clark Diaries - just awesome, every tiny detail of his life, from his relationship with Margaret Thatcher to the quality of his thompsons. His death was so poignant.

Tony Benn's Political Diaries.

The Double Helix, Crick & Watson. It's the story of the discovery of DNA, probably the most important discovery of modern medical science. All the DNA books are excellent.

British Birds - probably given me more pleasure than most books ever could, but my eyes are not good enough to bird-watch these days.

Sceptre, by Robert Standish Seivier. The greatest racehorse that ever trod British Turf, owned & trained by a grade one but lovable vagabond.

Oops that's 11 already.....Want more?

I could go on & on. Some would say I already have.....

you missed the broons and oor wullie

The Warren Buffett Story. No greater or wiser businessman ever lived.

All the biographies of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a colussus amongst men.

The Signalman's story - a regular railway signalman with a zillion tales to tell.

The best book I've read recently is The End of Faith by Sam Harris - a breathtakingly lucid account of how religion is not only a massive waste of time, but how tolerance of organised religion is actually dangerous to humanity.

The General, story of an Irish underworld hero, who stuck two fingers up to the IRA. They stuck six bullets in his head though, which kinda spoiled his day.

Nelson Mendela - Long Walk to Freedom

Sceptre, by Robert Standish Seivier. The greatest racehorse that ever trod British Turf, owned & trained by a grade one but lovable vagabond.

Can't find this one TK

The living legend that is ..........stevie G's Auotbiography

impossible to name one....



Life of Pi..Yann Mantel

The End of the Affair..Graham Greene

Fleshmarket Close..Ian Rankin (his latest, choose any)

Catch 22...Joseph Heller

Biography of Winston Churchill...Martin Gilbert

Tom Jones ...Henry Fielding
 
Madame Bovary ...Gustave Flaubert

One Hundred Years of Solitude...Gabriel Garcia Marquez

..........

Shatter....Richard Prew (in negotiations!!)

I'll wait untill the film comes out ::)

Sorry Shelley, I misled you as to the title. It's actually called "The Autobiogrphy of Robert Standish Sievier", but it's largely about Sceptre, a Mare which he owned & trained. Ran in the Lincoln, 1,000 Guineas, 2,000 Guineas, Oaks, Derby & Ceaserwitch - in the same year! I thiknk it ran 37 times as a 3 year old.

The book was published in 1905, by "The Winning Post". I have an original first edition, signed by Sievier "yours ever truly". I must have over a 300 books on Horse Racing & breeding, including a complete set of Timeform Annuals up to 1985, & ditto "Timeform Chasers & Hurdlers".

Acid Row by Minette Walters

Brigadier Gerard" (a racehorse) by Tom Hislop, who bred & owned him.

Thankyou TK

The grandstand still stands at Lincoln but sadly it is very old and unused now.

I shall try get this book for Pete,I'm sure he would love it.

Shelly

ps there is no second E in shelly xxx

Anything by Mark Twain, I delight in his stinging sarcasm, his wonderful heroes and his all-around general grumpiness.

I imagine it's out of print Shelly (sp!), but you might find a copy in an Antiquarian Turf Bookshop. Failing that, any book abouot Sceptre or Robert Standish Sievier - I have several - will do for Pete, it's gripping stuff for anyone with a love of the Turf.

The Diceman by Luke Rhinehart
The Search for the Diceman by Luke Rhinehart
The Book of Die by Luke Rhinehart

I suppose my best measure for this is to go for books that I've chosen to re-read at least once, so....

1984 - Orwell
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Wilt - Tom Sharpe
LA Confidential - James Ellroy

Also, on that basis, all the Harry Potter books qualify too.  People might take the piss but, over time, they'll probably do more to improve the literary levels of children in this country than 25 years of political meddling (by any party) will achieve (and they're bloody entertaining to read too!)

has anyone else read oor wullie or the broons?

Biko.........Donald Woods

to kill a mockingbird by harper lee, gives good morals and ethics to youngsters reading and shows how to look beyond the appearence of someone deeper into them as a person, i feel this book has shaped me somewhat in life.

When are you in court?

http://www.thatsbraw.co.uk/

wednesday, im turning up in a tracksuit to continue the farce

Blonde poker---------Various Authors (a very good read)

lol

Hmm this is a toughie, I liked sifferent books for different reasons, an example eas Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire, I got this book after seeing all the hullaballo on the news, I started reading it to my daughter before bedtime when she was a nipper and I was hooked on the damn thing, It was indeed I that was saying "just one more page"  not her in this instance, most of the time she had fallen off whilst i continued to read.

Now in reading this book i was compelled to read all of its predessesors, as it turned out i read books 1 - 4 in reverse order  ( i know !! )  ;ashamed; ;ashamed; ;ashamed;

Another book which made me look like a mental patient, and always got me room on the train, I mean pregnant women would gimme their seast because I would be in fits of laughter one second and welling up with heartache the next, The book that had this effect on me was " the Wrong boy" by Willy Russell  in some ways it can be predictable but in a good way because you cant believe that what happens really happens, and our poor put abon lead character always gets the wrong end of a jaggy pencil.  A book i think is overdue for a re reading again.

last but not least, " Is harry on the boat ?  "  by colin butts,  Just a superb book which shows the holiday rep busines for what it is, This book whilst funny is very informative and it helped me avoid a big mistake.


One notable mention has to go to The testament, The opening chapter of that book had me from the moment of the first major plot twist, i swear that John grisham has a corn flower imagination for thickening up a sequence only to behave like a Tom tom on the fritz with all the misdirection, Back to the point, the opening chapter of this book had me, as the event was so unexpected i just had to read on for the past , present events that lead to this moment and the future ramifications.


A book that surprised me more than any other i had read was the 11th commandment by none other than Jeffrey Archer, I was just shocked that it was to a high standard and that he had invested a lot of time in research.

and just for Ironside, The broons, pick any year they are all good.

Best one I've read so far this year is Conn Iggulden, Wolf of the Plains.

Very much a boy book, very brutal.

Favourite one ever, I'd love to say something by John Steinbeck, or Robert Louis Stevenson to seem arty and cultured. Really though, The Stand by Stephen King was probably the book I enjoyed the most.

"Speed" and "Kentucky Ham" by William Burroughs Junior, the autobiography of the less well-known but equally drugged-up son of the more famous William Burroughs. Available in a single volume from good bookshops. I love the bit where Allen Ginsberg shows him the morgue photos of his mother. Apparently there's a third volume around somewhere that never got published owing to its author dying of alcoholism halfway through.

Just read 'Auschwitz, The Nazi's and the Final Solution'. Really puts life into perspective. Very interesting read, a book that had to be read for me to try and understand this horrific chapter in history.

Stephen King - The Stand, 'It' is a close second.
Ian Rankin - All very good, TV versions do the books no justice
Michael Connellly - All very good
Dennis Lehane - Mystic River is his best but others are very good.
Other good crime/thriller writers I have read include Lee Child, John Harvey, Jeffrey Deaver, John Connolly, Michael Marshall, Harlen Coben, James Ellroy, David Baldacci and Lawrence Block.

Christopher Brookmyre and early Terry Pratchett for humour.

 the road less travelled by m.scott peck

This week my favourite book is The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Kama Sutra

Girl with a one track mind,  ;gobsmacked; I had to kep putting it down if anyone sat behind me.

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Pappilon - French bloke
Trainspotting - Irvine Walsh
Harrington 2
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

How do I begin to answer this question?



I look at titles like "First do no harm" A stunning account of the highs and lows that make up the the everyday life of a paediatric neurosurgeon. Here is a man who saves lives every day and yet must endure the torture of moral and ethical dilemma that come with the territory when your job is to literally put your hands inside someones mind and remove a piece. "Ah well" he sighs as he suctions up a a few centimetres of gray matter surrounding a child's tumour, "There goes the piano lessons" 

Then there is "The dog Caruso" An incredible story about the adventures of a Canadian frontiersman and the Newfoundland puppy that he won in a shooting contest. I read this book when I was a small boy and was so enthralled that when the Tilley lamp (our only source of light) was doused at bedtime, I crept outside and sat in the cab of my dad's lorry. Once there, I wrapped myself in an old overcoat, and by the glow of the tiny cab-light, the frontiersman, Caruso and I shared amazing experiences and incredible adventures until, on the final page, our hearts bursting with pride, love and sorrow, The frontiersman and I lay Caruso to rest.

How do I compare books like these, and hundreds of others just like them? books that have had a profound effect on me, at different times, for different reasons.

I can't.

I read anything regarding special forces, preferrably with SAS and SBS coz they're the hardest, but doesnt matter if fiction or non-fiction gimme! The Duncan Falconer book is superb, charts his life through the SBS!

Did you read it thoroughly or just give it a quick flick?

all of Janet and Johns

Will have to have a read of that.  Have you read any of Richard Dawkins' books?

Surprisingly enough, yes. Haven't read The God Delusion yet - waiting till it comes out in paperback at the end of May (hardback no good for lugging about on the train).

Richard Dawkins = greatest living Englishman (even though he was born in Kenya).

Take it to bed with you - problem solved!!!   lol  (I skipped the 3-some and orgy stuff - been there done that!)




Can't admit to exactly reading it - more kinda look at pics then try and copy.....

Lots of favourites bookmarked tho!!!

Yes I know  -    ;tracet; :redcard:



Ohhhhhhhhh how to switch a thread around to smut Trace style!!

Just started The God Delusion (in hardback, good for....pressing flowers....:dontask:).

Bertrand Russell could be considered one of the greatest Englishmen alive too - except that he was born in Wales and also that he's dead.

So he's Welsh then!

Dostojevski- \Crime and Punishment
Bulgakov- Master and Margarita
Gabriel José García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Franz Kafka- The Metamorphosis
Marcel Proust -In Search of Lost Time
Haruki Murakami - any of his books
Stanislaw Lem - Solaris

Cloud atlas- David Mitchell
Edward Said - Orientalism

Even by the normal standards of forum typing it takes some considerable skill to change Fermat to Formet, but I agree Fermat's Last Theorem is a very good book.

But in terms of the best this reminds me of when the BBC did their poll on the same theme a bit ago. At the time I remember thinking, 'that's impossible, how can you compare different genres', but then Wuthering Heights popped into my mind - shortly followed by Ulysses.

This is as far as I've been able to narrow it down - these 2 in joint first place, and then several hundred others in joint second, another several hundred in joint 3rd (and several million which I haven't got around to reading are 'unranked' - so far)

Any sharper and you'd cut yourself!

There are decent people from Wales - as well as Bertrand Russell, there's Scott Quinnell, Billy Boston, Jim Sullivan, Ian Rush, and Blonde's own Dewi!

Some Welshmen though...;whistle;

No Harold Robbins fans?

It's just pornographic muzak, really.

aha - I knew that there would be a reader lurking somewhere, lol.

FYP

lmfao

Just coming to the end of Stepen King's  , Cell

Excellent reading one that i dont want to put down , reminds me alot of the  stand ???

Must admit worrying using the mobile phone now lol

Good evening,

I thought I'd dip my toe in with this thread: some good reads I've had :-

The kingdom of the wicked - Anthony Burgess
Tommy - Richard Holmes
The soul of a new machine - Tracey Kidder
Enemy coast ahead - Guy Gibson
LIbra - Don DeLillo
All the Presidents' men - Woodward and Bernstein
Watch my back - Geoff Thompson
Money - Martin Amis
One flew over the cuckoo's nest - Ken Kesey
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
Collected Poems - Philip Larkin
Citizens - Simon Schama
Bell's eye - Steve Bell
Lempriere's dictionary - Lawrence Norfolk
Red dragon - Thomas Harris

I steer clear of Waugh, McEwan, Greene and Dostoyevsky, miserabilist sods to a man.

(whew, that wasn't so daunting after all...)

Welcome Yellow

Regards

Red.

Fermat's Last Theorem - was that the Pythagoras Puzzle?

Some of my favourite's all the usuals im afraid


Lord of the rings - tolkien (take it that no longer cool to like the greatest piece of fiction any longer)
1984 -  orwell
Wasp Factory & Espadair street - Iain Banks (not Iain M Banks he's a knob)
To kill a mockingbird - harper lee (loved it from school)
Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy -  Douglas Adams
Fear and loathing - hunter s thompson

One (or three) that's not been mentioned yet that I really enjoyed were the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman

xⁿ + yⁿ = zⁿ
has no integer solutions for x, y and z when n > 2

So I guess it's could be known as that.

No it was Fermat's :D

 ;scarymoment;


Sorry, I mean yes, sort of


Edit:  What Kinboshi said

Cheers Kin,

Think I've read this or seen a film on it maybe. I remember it being really interesting.

Larkin wasn't exactly a glass half-full type character but he's one of my fav's too.

On my list would be: Colin Wilson's 'A Criminal History of Mankind'

Nice first post

 :hello: ;welcome;

Although maybe not the best from a literary point of view the following are on topic for this board (kind of) and are all VERY good.

Breaking Vegas - Ben Mezrich
Ugly Americans - Ben Mezrich
The Great Casino Heist - Richard Marcus

There is a 3rd Ben Mezrich book - Bringing Down The House. I've got a copy sitting on the shelf waiting for a rainy day or boring flight. Breaking Vegas is a belter, highly recomended.

PS>> If there are any Casino or Card room managers reading this.... don't worry about my reading list, I'm not planning anything  ;scarymoment; honest

Read this book along time ago,dont know how it would fair now

but loved it when I read it

Not a penny more not a penny less   Jeffrey Archer

OMG  The Wasp Factory - what a weird and wonderful book.........

It was very famous in mathematical circles due to Fermat writing a note saying that he had found a rather wonderful proof of this theorem but couldn't fit it on the margin of the page he was writing on.  He then, rather inconveniently, died without ever publishing the proof.

No-one subsequently could provide such a proof for about 350 years, until it was solved in the mid-90's.

It sticks in my mind as it was the subject of one of my earliest 1st year math's lectures at University.  Its memorable because the lecturer said that any of us who managed to provide a proof to it would be pretty much guaranteed a professorial seat at the university, which would probably take the pressure off the end-of-year exam situation for us.

Something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

It by Stephen King

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Ffjord

I Am Legend by Richard Materson

Read hundreds and hundreds before the invention of Sky football and internet poker!

One for a cardplayers and gamblers though.

"The Grand Wheel"  by Barrington J. Bayley

I've read most of this guys books and he is a seriously left field SF writer.
He is completely unique and never found anyone like him, but still very readable.

This particular book is by a guy who discovers how to manipulate luck, sounds bizarre i know.
But as another one of his books is about a planet where peoples clothing are a kind of symbiotic lifeform affecting the personality of the person wearing them....quite literally a sharp suit will make you better in the boardroom.

Hmmm, knew trying to describe his books was a bad idea lol.