Help With My Reading List.......

[GymLadTim]

So, I've decided to put down the celebrity gossip mags and do some serious reading.

I need some recommendations of books to help me put together a sweet little reading list that I can work my way through over the next year. I'm very open minded about what I read - classics, thrillers, romance - you name it.

Can you recommend some books for me please - especially your favourite books or books that have inspired you or changed your life.

Thanks so much

XXXXXX

[hereIam]

And one last one before I go - The Kite Runner also by Khaled Hosseni.

[Mozz71]

Oh, Iain (M) Banks.

I would go for the "M-less" books. The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road are both spectacular. The Iain M Banks books are Science Fiction, so only investigate if you're a fan of the genre.

[GymLadTim]

I love science fiction thanks. I've seen the movie of the kite runner - I loved it!!

[Georgiesmum]

If you like a page turner/ thriller read "no time for goodbyes" by Linwood Barclay. All of his books are excellent, hard to put down

[pixie374]

I live sci-fi, hate fantasy... I just wish they would separate them.

[jakep]

I’ve just finished The Keeper by Graham Norton
Excellent story...

[woofgang]

Anything by Terry Pratchett or Ben Aaronovitch

[Stephen_G]

The Ben Aaronovitch series Rivers Of London is fantastic - a Cop who can do Magic.

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

Robert Rankin (Someone else mentioned him) is very funny, as is Tom Holt

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/robert-rankin/

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/tom-holt/

A couple of oddball ones, that I think have not been mentioned - Edward Marston (The Railway Detective series: 16 in total, with a 17th due out in the Autumn / The Home Front Detective series: 8 in total / The Bow Street Rivals series: 4 in total). Railway Detective is set during the Victorian era. The Home Front Detective series is set during World War One, and the Bow Street Rivals series is set around the turn of the 19th century.

Andrew Cartmel - The Vinyl Detective series. Set in modern times, they're about a guy who can be hired to find rare vinyl records, but gets into all sorts of trouble along the way (Written in Dead Wax/The Run-Out Groove/Victory Disc/Flip Back).

[Mozz71]

//Robert Rankin (Someone else mentioned him)//

He's hilarious. Funnier that Sir Terry. And mad as a box of frogs in real life too.

[nailit]

Reading material is highly subjective. We can all recommend books all day long but it means FA.
HOWEVER....
One of the funniest books that I ever read was a Ben Elton novel (not a fan of Ben Elton myself) unfortunetly cant remember the title.
Not a fan of Jeffery Archer either but love his novels, also loved his ''Prison Diaries''
If you are into biographies, then you cant go wrong with Ozzy Osbourne's tome. Also one of the funniest books that Ive read.
(And yes..I am a fan) ;-)

[cashier]

Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Denzil Meyrick, John Sandford, all very good.

[Mozz71]

//One of the funniest books that I ever read was a Ben Elton novel (not a fan of Ben Elton myself) unfortunetly cant remember the title.//

He's done a few now, but his first book Stark, was great.

[nailit]

Martina Cole was mentioned earlier,,,
great story teller.

Just as an aside...most 'classics' are just junk IMO.
A bit of snobbery for some readers!

[237SJ]

Just finished The Stopping Places by Damian Le Bas - I really enjoyed it and it was very poetically written.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Don't know why you think books need to be inspirational or life-changing, GymLad. Maybe excite, interest, or just make you laugh.

First book I gave to my my second wife was Paul Gallico's (he of Poseidon Adventure) "The Silent Miaouw" because she loved cats. And the next two books I gave her were Tom Sharpe's "Rioous Assembly" and "Indecent Exposure". Which were deliciously funny. And there's nothing wrong in that, is there?

My own favourite local novellists of the 20th century (and I'm no kind of expert on English literature, nor any other for that matter) are Graham Greene and Kingsley Amis. Try "The Quiet American" by the former and "Lucky Jim" by the latter.



ed you or changed your life.

[margarettom]

If you want a different sort of sci-fi try John Wyndham- The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Kraken Wakes.

[shoota]

Any (and all) of the books by Robert Crais, especially the Elvis Cole (private eye type character) series. He was a scriptwriter for Hill St Blues and I find him unputdownable.

[drmorgans]

Stoner by John Williams - the gentle life of a boy who grows up on a farm and becomes an English lecturer
Kindred by Olivia Butler - a young black woman travels back in time to 1820s America
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - a girl is fostered by a German couple during WW2
The Dry by Jane Harper - a policeman returns to the small town in the Australian outback where he grew up

[JimF]

>> The Iain M Banks books are Science Fiction, so only investigate if you're a fan of the genre.
>I love science fiction thanks

In which case:
Amazon.com User Recommendation

[ChillDoubt]

My go-to recommendation is always: The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night Time.

I Am Pilgrim is a good thriller too.