Looking for three or four books to stick on my Kobo and read on holiday.
Any recommendations? Something obscure that wouldn't be on the Tesco shelves is fine (Pirlo Family Circus, say).
You read 2000ad. I read 2000ad. You know what I like.
A book book?
The Automatic Detective by A. Lee. Martinez
Alternate Choice: Legend of the Galactic Heroes Book 1 - Dawn by Yoshiki Tanaka
I picked up Lauren Beukes' "Zoo City" for exactly this purpose and then decided to read it beforehand. I'm halfway through and its very enjoyable so far. Kind of like China Mieville, but with a real South African flavour.
Or Pat Mills' novel?
For the direct 2000ad link go with Fictional Man by Al Ewing.
Mr Vertigo by Paul Auster (a little atypical for him but I love it)
For a non fiction try This Band could be your life by Michael Azerrad I'm 3/4 of the way through and its a pretty fascinatating read, I suspect even if you aren't interested in the bands themselves.
This all assumes you've read everything by Kurt Vonnegut.
Quote from: The Adventurer on 08 May, 2017, 08:44:21 PM
A book book?
Yup. I thought "novel" covered it but to be clear: prose.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 08 May, 2017, 08:53:22 PM
For a non fiction try This Band could be your life by Michael Azerrad I'm 3/4 of the way through and its a pretty fascinatating read, I suspect even if you aren't interested in the bands themselves.
The book that made me go to a Mission of Burma concert. Shortly afterwards I discovered that I had lost some frequencies of my hearing. The two things may be related.
This, by me: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1530626331/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494274463&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sex+violets&dpPl=1&dpID=4164sPEfARL&ref=plSrch
Read the reviews if you don't believe me... ;)
'True Tales of American Life' is probably my favourite book. Edited by Paul Auster it's a few hundred three and four pages essays by people relating real life events. Always find a new favourite in there!
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
Sure, you've seen the movies, but have you read the book?
It's an absolute page turner and surely one of the best crime fiction/ serial killer novels ever written. :)
I read that years ago, good book! I'd go for Dune, one of my favourites, failing that anything by Asimov, and select Harry Harrison.
I'll second the Harry Harrison love, I especially like The Stainless Steel Rat Is Born.
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton. It has everything - crime, space opera, suspense, supernatural, lasers, spaceships, possession, robots, etc etc. Total page turner - superb for reading on the beach.
That said, it's a chunky book, heavy to hold above your face if you're on your back by the pool - get it on kindle if you can.
I'm currently reading this. It's pretty good and the cover should certainly turn a few heads on the beach.
(https://culturestories.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/i-love-dick-e1478557151840-600x600.jpg)
I always recommend Last and First Men and Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon and Limbo by Bernard Wolfe, but they might be a bit heavy going for holiday reading (and Limbo has yet to turn up as an ebook, and rarely actually stays in print when it does come out...)
Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels. They're all good.
Serial Killer (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Serial-Killer-Read-Weep-Book-ebook/dp/B01MS60RYO/) by two young reprobates called Pat Mills & Kevin O'Neill. :D
Not a novel but it certainly reads like one so I don't hesitate to recommend The Hot Zone (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Zone-Chilling-Story-Outbreak-ebook/dp/B00AKBEIFW/) by Richard Preston.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.
Particularly recommended if you ever got into any of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels.
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is a stone cold classic.
I'm currently reading King of Thorns, the second of The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence. Great if you like Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones.
If Harry Harrison's your thing, West of Eden is a cracking read. Sequels too if you enjoy this alternative history.
Best recent book for me is probably A Death in the Family - Karl Ove Knausgaard. Utterly convincing stuff, should be up a squaxx' street.
Where are you going?
I remember going on holiday and reading Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. Worth a read if you haven't already. you could then move on to an Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators classic. You don't really need to read them in order.
Seconded. This was a fantastic read and I can't wait to read the others in the series.
Quote from: Fungus on 09 May, 2017, 01:46:53 PM
Best recent book for me is probably A Death in the Family - Karl Ove Knausgaard. Utterly convincing stuff, should be up a squaxx' street.
I would also recommend this one:
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Thanks, and keep 'em coming
Lord Jim.
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman.
Quote from: Richard on 09 May, 2017, 07:53:38 PM
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman.
Just be prepared to cringe a bit
Old Man's War, John Scalzi (Main character turns 70 and leaves Earth to join the Colonial Defense Forces)
The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross (Book 1 of the Laundry Files - think X-Files meets Cthulhu via the British Civil Service..)
Storm Front, Jim Butcher (First Harry Dresden) (Private Eye who's also a wizard)
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 09 May, 2017, 05:32:08 PM
I remember going on holiday and reading Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. Worth a read if you haven't already. you could then move on to an Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators classic. You don't really need to read them in order.
Five go to Smuggler's Top was my favourite Famous Five book.
Quote from: sheridan on 12 May, 2017, 10:16:52 PM
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 09 May, 2017, 05:32:08 PM
I remember going on holiday and reading Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. Worth a read if you haven't already. you could then move on to an Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators classic. You don't really need to read them in order.
Five go to Smuggler's Top was my favourite Famous Five book.
Though thinking about it - is Treasure Island the first Five book? And Smuggler's Top is quite early in the run anyway.
I read the earlier Famous Five books to the kids a few years ago: Five on a Treasure Island is the first, and it's great stuff, a perfect kids' book. The second, ...go Adventuring Again is bloody awful, a miserable even traumatic affair, and I don't know what Blyton was thinking. Next is ...Run Away Together, essentially a calculated reprise of the first one, although it is Blyton in full-on evil servant mode; then ...Smuggler's Top is the pick of the bunch, very exciting and evocative.
But dear god that second one.
Getting back on topic, recent beach-type books I've enjoyed include Ben Aaronovitch's PC Grant series, Absalomish fun about the supernatural division of the Met, starting with Rivers of London and improving as they go on; Joe Abercrombie's First Law series, starting with The Blade Itself, a breezily written post-GoT fantasy with a memorable cast; C J Sansom's Winter in Madrid a sort-of historical thriller exploring the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, written in Sansom's easy prose; Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth, very low key grubby 70s Whitehall spy shenanigans with a psychosexual and literary twist, probably my favourite of his recent books; and absolutely anything by Jack MacDevitt: it's not a proper holiday without Chase Kolpath or Priscilla Hutchins in your carry-on.
Can't whack a bit of 'culture' from Iain M Banks...if you really want cheered up, try The Men in the Jungle or The Iron Dream by Norman Spinnard.....if you really, really want cheered up, The Lords of the Starship by Mark Geston.
Happy reading. Z
Quote from: sheridan on 12 May, 2017, 10:17:35 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 12 May, 2017, 10:16:52 PM
Quote from: Tony Angelino on 09 May, 2017, 05:32:08 PM
I remember going on holiday and reading Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. Worth a read if you haven't already. you could then move on to an Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators classic. You don't really need to read them in order.
Five go to Smuggler's Top was my favourite Famous Five book.
Though thinking about it - is Treasure Island the first Five book? And Smuggler's Top is quite early in the run anyway.
Treasure Island is the first one. I think Smugglers Top was about fourth or fifth. I read them so much when I was a kid but I can remember so little about them now. You could read them in a day.
"Dream London" by Tony Ballantyne. If you like it, there's a sequel called "Dream Paris" (and hopefully more to come).
I enjoyed Ready Player One when I read it on holiday.
It's not great literature but it's fun and fast paced and full of geeky references.
Another I've really enjoyed recently is The Knights of Dark Reknown. It's a David Gemmel book but standalone, not part of one of the longer series. I'd never heard much about it but it's an absolute stormer. It'd make a fantastic film.
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
Hiero's Journey - Sterling E Lanier
Desolation Road - Ian McDonald
Regards,
Robin
Another vote for Desolation Road - it's like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel set in a M.artian circus.
If we're considering SF novels which should get more love, I'm going to bat for CJ Cherryh - not a flashy writer, but there are some amazingly good books in her loose Alliance/Union setting, highlights including the classic Downbelow Station; the magnificent tale of a deliberately botched colonisation mission 40,000 in Gehanna; or the SF/Fantasy hybrid of a woman tasked with destroying an alien stargate network in Gates of Ivrel.
Her Chanur stories are engaging as well. Z
Oooh good to hear! I've always been put off by the cat-people on the covers. In my experience the only good cat person is Nastassia Kinski. Have you reas Merovingen Nights at all?
No, read most of the rest: Voyager in the night is one strange read.
Chanur is a good intro into language and cultures and the realisation that what initially appears evil isn't always so. Z
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes is one of the best page-turning books I've read and it's right in the vein of 2000AD. In the crumbling vacant blocks of Detroit, a killer driven by an idea that transcends reality preys upon the hipsters and artists that have laid claim to the empty buildings and desolate street.