Nickie

Oh god yeah...flowers in the attic series was fantastic. I liked My sweet Audrina, Heaven and there were some others aswell.

I'll read anything...love stephen king, doctor who, harry potter, i even read some of kelseys books called 'the mediator, they were good. Read gordon ramseys, kerry katonas one was good. Childhood interupted was really good..its about 3 children taken from the loving good home of their unwed mum, 1950, and brought up with nuns and its about the abuse and neglect they suffered...true story.


I love books set in bolton in the 50's, my mum grew up there but i cant remember the authors name......and its bugging me now!!!

Love having a nice hot bubble bath and relaxing with a good read when the squids go to bed.

Nickie

egghead4

you have to, read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, my god, I think everyone who has ever read that book has been touched in some way. please read it and tell me what you thought - its not the happiest of stories but wow, it is so well written.

also I love anything by sophie kinsella - domesticated goddess, can you keep a secret, shopaholic gets married, I could go on and on.

Martina Cole is good as well, especially if you like reading about crime and prostitution, drugs, gangsters

another author that interests me is Mandasue Heller, she has written some books about teenagers being in care, witnessing and surviving all sorts of problems that are quite common in todays society.

bec

Kangy-roo

Sky have produced at film of the "Colour of Magic" by Terry Prachett, it will be shown at Easter just before we leave. Luckly we have decided not to send the TV on to Aus, so we will be able to watch it... even if we have no settee. Carpet picnic, Chinese and "Colour of Magic"... Cool.

weez75

read this to , very good and different which i like in a book , love the dan brown books and also the witching hour and the 2 follow up ( can't remember who by, she also did interview with a vampire which was better than the film ) which i read about 10 years ago , and loved. going to the library to find pillars of the earth as i am currently reading a sean hughes book which is pants !!

ivorfatarse

The author is called anne rice she has done quite a few follow ups to interview with a vampire such as the vampire lestat,queen of the damned,amongst others lasher was a follow up to the witching hour i can't remember the name of the next one.
If anyone likes a good thriller check out patrick robinson some great reads.

BadgeIsBack

I've been thinking of reading that one.

I hunt for ages for good books. I like the perfect novel. But also like science reporting written as a novel.

One of the things I find is that most authors and genres seem so tired. I can't read any techno-thrillers anymore as they are all the same, and the inventor of the genre, Tom Clancy, has been crap for a good ten years now, same goes for crime fiction, basically anything ''popular'' you could pick up at an airport bores me, so I find I can only get into books which are sort of one of a kind, are Booker winners etc or have a lot of detail and characterisation. I do quite like Bryce Courtnay as he combines detail with readable plots.
So I liked 4 fires. Also like Wilbur Smith and Michael Crichton. Grisham bores me now so he's out.

Shantaram sticks to mind as the perfect novel.

Recently read:
Master and Commander

Other authors:
David Lodge
Norman Mailer
Tom Wolfe
Sulman Rushdie
Zadie Frost(?)

cheers

B

Carrianne

I have just started an award winning book by Mark Haddon called The curious incident of the dog in the night-time.

An absolute must read. Funny, sweet and well written.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cur...the_Night-time

mancfamily

I'm currently reading 'Heartsick' by Chelsea Cain, and I'ts great I can't put it down.

Never read from this Author before, but it's similar kind of story line of James Patterson's Alex Cross, i.e. cop chasing serial killer.

Gosh I will miss the £3.73 books from Asda!

jdraper

Just read Steve & Me by Terri Irwin - very moving. Made me laugh out loud and cry - very good book.

Reading Mark Billingham's Scaredy Cat at the minute which is OK so far.

Jo
x

jerzo

Just finished 'A Quiet Belief In Angels' by RJ Ellory (was on Richard & Judys' Book Club!) and 'Book Of the Dead' by Patricia Cornwell now I am looking for a more uplifting read perhaps something without murder or autopsies in it!!

Any reccommendations ?????

jdraper

What about Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials? Northern Lights, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass. These are all good books (kids but good)!!

jerzo

Are they sci-fi???

I'm not really into fantasy novels ....I think I have read too many 'Gritty' books to make a jump like that ..... Thanks a million for the suggestions though (perhaps i'll try someones Biography or something!!)

Zoe

jdraper

No, they are kids books - the film The Golden Compass is based on the first book. They are more fantasy books.

mo33

Thought it would be good to resurrect this thread!
I'm a Martina Cole/Tess Gerritsan girl but i'm just coming to the end of Ken Folletts - pillars of the earth.........it is fantastic!! Can't put it down It's depriving me of sleep and OH of ...........!!

Reading the back cover of Pillars i would never in a million years have considered reading it. I spotted it a few weeks ago and after reading this thread thought i'd give it a go, best thing ever!

And the best bit?? Found it in a charity shop for 49p!!

Mo x

Gobbledegeek

I'm a fan of British science fiction and I have just started a collection of shorts by J. G. Ballard (The Disaster Area printed in 1967 and sold for a whopping 30p) but as well as being an accomplished SF writer, he will be best known for Crash (car crash fetishism) and Empire of the Sun.

Here's some suggestions if you're into scifi:


Isaac Asimov (wiki link)

THE granddaddy of “robot fiction”, I highly recommend you read at least some of his short stories (you’ll find most robots from later authors borrow some of his idea’s)

His numerous books include:
I Robot, Rest of the Robots, The Complete Robot (short story collections exploring how robots may be treated and dealt with, also introduces the famous “3 laws of Robotics”)
Caves of Steel A great (detective type) story that introduces one of 2 very important characters for his later books (although you may not know it until you have read a number of his 500 or more other books)
Foundation Series (Foundation, Second Foundation, Foundation and Earth etc, great books to read)
Bicentennial Man

No known official site although plenty of other good ones, ask Google.


Iain M Banks (also writes fiction under the name Iain Banks) - My personal favourite!

His sci-fi books include:

Excession
Use of Weapons
Consider Phlebas
The State of the Art (a collection of short stories)

Most of his sci-fi books form part of his “Culture” series (but they are not really meant to be read in any particular order). Although many years ago now, I have read them all and found them utterly enthralling and very difficult to put down. I might even read them again come to think of it...

The official Iain M Banks site.

Ben Bova - Another recognised sci-fi God although I must confess to only reading one in my early teens and can't remember which it was, sorry.

Books include:

Mars
Return to Mars
Forge of God

The official site.


Arthur C Clarke

Credited as being the first man to think about and work out that a satellite could be placed in Geo-Synchronous orbit around the Earth (so you can blame him for Sky TV) in fact the geostationary orbit at 42,000 kilometers is named The Clarke Orbit

His numerous books include:

2001 - Space Odyssey
2010
The Fountains of Paradise
Waldo Inc (ever wonder why remote operated hands in things like power stations are sometimes referred to as “Waldo’s” this is it)

The Arthur C Clarke Foundation


William Gibson (Wiki Link)

Books include:

Neuromancer, the book that is accredited as starting the Cyberpunk style.

The official site.


Peter F Hamilton

Books include:

A Second Chance at Eden (a collection of short stories that build up the background for his Nights Dawn Trilogy)
Nights Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, The Naked God), a great series of books that build an immense universe full of characters and places

Official site.


Robert A Heinlein (Wiki Link)

Books include: (among many others)

Starship Troopers – Much better than the film (apart from a lack of Denise Richards)
Space Cadet
The Puppet Masters – Donald Sutherland starred in the film



Brian Herbert

Note: Son of Frank Herbert, teamed up with Kevin J Anderson to write the prequels to his fathers Dune series.

Dune: House Attreides
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corrino

The official site.


Frank Herbert

Note: his son Brian Herbert has continued on prequels for his fathers books based on notes his father left behind.

Books include:

The Dune Trilogy (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune)
The Second Dune Trilogy (God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chaptor House Dune)

All are highly recommended, although be warned they can be tough going at times.

The official site.


H.G.Wells (Wiki Link)

What can you say about HG Wells? He invented Science Fiction,

The War Of The Worlds is a classic everyone should have read at least once, and The Time Machine is still arguably one of the best novels about Time Travel ever! (At the Gates) Incidentally, the recent film was directed by Simon Wells, Herbert's great grandson, no less.

Books include:

The Time Machine
The War Of The Worlds
The Invisible Man
The Island of Dr. Moreau

no known official site but hundreds of others.


John Wyndham (Wiki Link)

Another often ignored writer but has written some of the best sci-fi books. The Day Of The Triffids is a certain classic, as is The Midwich Cuckoos. (Filmed as Village of the Damned)

Books include:

The Day Of The Triffids
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Kraken Wakes
The Chyrsalids
Chocky

no known official site


Kurt Vonnegut

Books include:

Slaughterhouse Five about Billy Pilgrim, prisoner of war, optometrist and time-traveller. An Anti-War Novel based on Vonnegut's experience of Dresden in WW2.

Timequake - Time repeats making everyone in the world endure ten years of deja-vu and a total loss of free will. Funny.

The official site.