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Recommendations?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Hello, I was a-wondering, does anyone have any favourite, or could recommend any good books?

Cheers.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Interview With The Vampire!!!!!
    <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0"> Fuckin' amazin'! <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    'the virgin suicides' Jeffrey Eugenides (after reading this you will also wonder 'why?')
    or
    'the tesseract' by alex garland (bit confusing but once you get it, its pretty damn good)
    or
    'a child called it'/the lost boy/ a man called dave' by dave pelzer - these books are the true stories about a child who survived his abusive mother - then about his life in foster care and afterwards: its really heart wrenching
    bound feet and western dress - Pang-Mei (fantastic read)
    the bridget jones books are funny
    bill bryson ones are cool too

    hope this helps
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you want a quick easy read, any of Jeffery Archer's short story collections are good.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing book. The Crystal Cave, like all Agatha Christie books. Hope that helps.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That will depend entirely on what type of read you are looking for, and how much time you want to spend.

    Austen, Pride and Prejudice
    Chiang, Wild Swans - if you have time.
    Dickens - most are "recommended", but I like David Copperfield best.
    Conan Doyle, the Holmes stories.
    Clancy, but ONLY the Jack Ryan/John Clark ones, the Netforce ones aren't worth it, the Power Plays are dire, and the Op Centre ones are only just readable.
    Forsyth - Day of the Jackal.

    Can't think of any more off the top of my head.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I spend an insane and proabably unhealthy amount of time reading.

    Thank for the suggestions <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You can't spend too much time reading. What are your favourites, it helps to recommend similar others?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Brave New World, My Year of Meat, 1984, The Handmaids Tail, No Logo, The Dice Man, Fast Food Nation, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, anything by Bill Bryson, Terry Pratchett (literary comfort blanket) And what I've read of Chuck Palahnink (fight club, choke).

    Despise chick-lit, Emily Bronte and The catcher in the rye.

    Erm, can't think of any more of the top of my head.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Okay, that's an interesting list.

    Despise chick lit. Hm.

    Okay, you like Naomi Klein. Have you tried David Harvey? Klein talks about capitalism in terms of MNCs, Harvey tends to take a more holistic approach, and is fundamentally Marxist. That said, the books are well written, and quite readable, if you like that sort of thing.

    I've had the honour to meet Professor Harvey at a lecture series he gave - the guy is a living legend.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Terry Pratchetts amazing discworld series
    Ian M Banks Stuff and anything by Robert Rankin for a start, depends on what kind of stuff you like to read about!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What about:

    The Macdonaldisation of society (I can't remember off hand who it is by but the name is on my web site)

    The Bell Jar- Silvia Plath

    Man and Boy- Tony Parsons
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thank you <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">

    I'm gonna have a gander at 'The condition of Postmodernity' (David Harvey)

    Iain banks - he did the wasp factory? I read that at it school, it was pretty cool. I'll have a look at his others.
    The dicworld series is fab <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">


    Had a look at your site KT, I'll check out the George Ritzer book - The Bell Jar is an old fave.

    Thanks Again <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Bridget Jones Diary - it is so much better than the film. i read it in 3 days coz i couldnt put the thing down!

    Victoria Beckham - Learning to fly - enlightening.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Harry Turtledove-Worldwar and colonisation series.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A few I've read recently and really liked.

    Borderliners - Peter Hoeg
    Wide Open - Nicola Barker
    The Dumb House - John Burnside


    <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The secret history, by Donna Tartt is very good.

    Alsso, with a slightly lighter tone to them, most of the ben elton books are good.

    Discworld rulz ok!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The secret history, by Donna Tartt is very good.
    Mindless,

    Good taste in books. Loved The Secret History.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hey Marmite, if you like Iain M Banks' sci-fi stuff you could try Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy (But not his early stuff, that sucked ass!). It ain't as powerful as Banks but it's pure space opera of the highest calibre and one of the best spun Universes I've read for a long time.

    Discworld does indeed rock, though I think Pratchett may be running short on ideas now........
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This novel is great! It got four stars in this week's Heat magazine. <IMG alt="image" src="http://www.thesite.org/mattwhyman/cr.jpg"&gt;

    I think a member of TheSite staff wrote it. I think it might have been me. Shameless plug? Could be. <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    100 years of solitude - by Garcia marquez (fab!)

    Wisdom of insecurity - Alan Watts (all about faith and belief)

    More than Human - Theodore Sturgeon (bit sci-fi bit psychology)

    The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields

    Fall on your Knees- Ann-Marie Macdonald (absolutely amazing but about 2 inches thick)

    Once in a house on fire - Andrera Ashworth (True life in the 70's/80's in Manchester with abusive stepfather - great story)

    [ 30-01-2002: Message edited by: byny ]
  • DomDom Deactivated Posts: 344 The Mix Regular
    Groan.

    OK, to make Matt's shameless plug slightly less shameless, lets have a competition around this. The prize will be... a copy of Matt's new book (4 stars in Heat blah blah blah...).

    Just tell us who you think the three characters on the front of Matt's book coould be based on. The funniest answer wins the book.

    And if no one enters, then we'll use it as a door stop.

    Oh, and there's a bigger pic of the cover
    HERE

    [ 30-01-2002: Message edited by: Dom ]
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The guy in pink looks a bit like Matt's own shameless publicity photos... could it be?

    Who wants to go to a show home anyway?

    Susie <IMG alt="image" SRC="rolleyes.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well, I can reveal that the one in the middle is based on Dom when he's relaxing at home.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well the one on the left looks like a badly disguised alien, you know, one of them "grey" dudes off X-Files, the one on the right looks like Gary Oldman's character in True Romance, the chick in the middle is gonna be the next Britney/ J-Lo/ Christina/ insert manufactured BS here.

    They're all having a video conference on the proposed building of Columbia Road, a new residential area for alien invaders, criminal scum and sanitised pop nymphettes to be built on a US Government experimental weapons testing area.

    <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought they were Graham Norton, Beyonce from Destinys Child and Prince (or Squiggle).

    I have heard of Matt Whyman, aren't you an agony uncle or something?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Scroll to the bottom
    ignore all the other horrible photos and scowl at Dom for taking them!
    http://www.thesite.org/about/staff.html
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by go_away:
    <STRONG>
    'a child called it'/the lost boy/ a man called dave' by dave pelzer - these books are the true stories about a child who survived his abusive mother - then about his life in foster care and afterwards: its really heart wrenching
    </STRONG>

    Brilliant brilliant books. Recommend those.

    William Golding - Lord Of The Flies. Read it at school earlier this year. Done all the symbolism etc, written pages of notes and still like it.

    Douglas Adams - Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy (and series). Read these a while ago. Alot of people liked these...

    *Tries to think of funny thing to say about book cover* *fails* <IMG alt="image" SRC="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

    Whoa, never realised how many TheSite writers/workers there are. So many eyes watching... <IMG alt="image" SRC="eek.gif" border="0">
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