*** 'THE OFFICIAL BOOK THREAD' ***

[Tal]

I'm rereading a much-loved second-hand copy of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It is a collection of stories that start after the Reichenbach Fall, so where the latest TV adaptation will start in series 3.

Such a warm writing style

[Sark79]

This is a great thread. I mostly read non fiction, although these are some of my favourite fiction. I love these books and read them when I need a pick up or boost of feel good.


Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach . I must have read this about twenty times over the years.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho . The greatest book ever written and my choice if I ever find myself stranded on a desert island.

The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason . Great book and full of sound advice.

I am also a sucker for anything by Jim Rohn, Anthony Robbins and Napolean Hill. 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne is awesome as well if you manage to work your way through the advertising and sometimes religious language used.

[Waz1892]

Welcome to the thread, glad you enjoy!

I could happily ignore the fact, but feel compelled to admit, other than johnathon seagull, I can hand on heart say I've not heard of either book or author on the others you've mentioned!

Hope that won't put you off posting future joys!

[Sark79]

The Alchemist is suppose to be released as a big budget movie in 2014. Although I have heard that rumour before when Laurence Fishburne planned to release it and that never happened. The author sold the rights for the movie years ago and bought them back after he saw the planned script. Its sold 30 million copies and been translated into 67 languages.

[Tal]

I've heard of The Alchemist by Ben Jonson and by Iron Maiden. This is a new one.

[Sark79]

I know the Iron Maiden song as well, but don't know the Ben Jonson book.

[Tal]

I know the Iron Maiden song as well, but don't know the Ben Jonson book.

Well, it's a play really. Jonson is the daddy of 17th century comedy. Def worth a read.

[Waz1892]

how many have you done......

Times Top 25 books you should read.....

title - author - "what to say"

The IIiad - 8th Century BC  - The original bromance, and still 2'800 years on, still the best
Beowolf - 10th Century - The original war on terror
La Commedia - Dante Alighieri 1321 - don't abandon hope, all ye who enter here
The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer - The blueprint for english humour
King James Bible - 1611 - English would never be the same again

Paradise Lost - John Milton - Sympathy for the devil? It started with Paradise Lost
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin - A women in possession of a good plot line must be in want of a TV adaptation
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë - Reader, I married him. But not before I taught him a thing or two about the evils of the patriarchy and of androcentric hegemony  (no me either!?)
Moby Dick - Herman Melville - Even the most ardent Greenpeacer will be captivated by this whale-hunt
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Desert-Island discs

Alice Adventrures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - The frenchman said it: little girls get bigger every day
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - The only love story you ever need to read
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain - Ernest Hemingway said it: "all modern american literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn"
A study in scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle - From Poirot to Marlowe, they owe it all to Holmes
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - civilisation goes up the creek, without a paddle

Ulysses - James Joyce - One small day for Bloom, one giant leap for literature
Remembering of Things Past - Marcel Proust - One man's experience encompasses practically all human experience
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf - Character is everything. The rest is noise
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald - a book to give bankers
The Trial - Frank Kafka  - Whether it's bureaucracy or brutality, we're still living in a Kafaesque world

All quite on the western front - Erich Maria Remarque - One of the greatest works of pacifist literature is born...in time for another world war
Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell - Big Brother is watching
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - A peerless perv with peerless prose
One Hundred Years of solitude - Gabriel García Márquez - The reality rule-book is rewritten
The handmaids tale - Margaret Atwood - What do women want? Not rapey enslavement, mostly

[bobAlike]

I thought The Alchemist was pretty meh too be honest, I also thought the same of Life of Pi.

Captain Corellis Mandolin was a captivating read though I am a big fan of Louis de Bernières.

[Jon MW]

how many have you done......

Times Top 25 books you should read.....
...

I bought The Times just because of that supplement.

Shoddy editorial control though - the headline strapline was, "... books you should read..."; but then later on they describe them as the 25 most important (haven't got it with me - but it was something like that).

Obviously 'important' is a million miles away from 'best'; it would probably be more accurate to describe them as the, "... Top 25 books you should study...", because they are all 'great' (although I'm personally not so sure about 'One Hundred Years of solitude' or 'The handmaids tale') but I wouldn't recommend necessarily bothering reading at least half of them if you're just looking for something for a 'leisure' read.

[Waz1892]

how many have you done......

Times Top 25 books you should read.....
...

I bought The Times just because of that supplement.

Shoddy editorial control though - the headline strapline was, "... books you should read..."; but then later on they describe them as the 25 most important (haven't got it with me - but it was something like that).

Obviously 'important' is a million miles away from 'best'; it would probably be more accurate to describe them as the, "... Top 25 books you should study...", because they are all 'great' (although I'm personally not so sure about 'One Hundred Years of solitude' or 'The handmaids tale') but I wouldn't recommend necessarily bothering reading at least half of them if you're just looking for something for a 'leisure' read.

Yes you're right it did say that, I should have out that really!  It read, 25 books that changed the course of literature

[Waz1892]

Iceland of all places...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24399599

[DaveShoelace]

Just got the new Malcolm Gladwell book, started it last night.

That is all.

[Waz1892]

Still trudging through Cityboy...painful.

[Waz1892]

(The times is helping alot recently with this thread!) 

10 Thrillers you must read....having learnt from last time, I continued to read...Hey presto....Another "False, headline grabbing sub heading"

As it continues....Are these the best 10 thrillers of all time? Maybe not..but these are my (Linwood Barclay) top 10.

Shan't bother to write the whole thing up...But Top was Marathon Man (William Goldman), other classics, The Silence of the Lambs, Misery.