View Full Version : Recommended reads!!! *NO Spoilers!!*
Thought I would start this thread under the book club for us to suggest other books for us to read. Although we will be putting up book reviews I thought they might reveal too much about the book if ppl want to read it without knowing too much beforehand, spesh if multiple ppl have read the book and want to discuss it in detail.
So if you've got any books you'd like to suggest to other people to read without revealing too much then put it here :) for when we get stuck for what to read next!!!
So here are a few of my suggestions......
1) P.S. I love you- Cecelia Ahearn, completely enjoyable if you've already seen the film coz it's actually very different but obviously with the same premise. Basically a beautiful story about a woman coming to terms to the death of her husband from cancer and how he helps her beyond the grave....I love the film but find it very hard going and cry from start to finish, however the book although weepy in parts, I found to be a bit more warming and funny.
2) Twilight saga. Need I say more?? if you've never read them and think they're not your thing just give them a go...they're addicitive and can all be read in under a month easily so not much time wasted if you dont enjoy them!!!!
3) Da Vinci Code. Ok I know my suggestions are a bit predictable but I just think it's an amazing book, full of interesting history and an unusual take on religion (and contraversial of course- this is not a history text book lol!! fiction- says it on the tin) it's thoroughly interesting and exciting. Dan Brown has a fantastic knack of keeping the reader reeled in with short chapters that chop and change from different plots. Angels & Demons is awesome also...in fact I think it's better!!!
Ok a slightly more obscure book that is well known but not so much as my others....
4) The Awakening by Kate Chopin- A classic from I think the late nineteenth century (might be later now can't remember) about a woman living on Creole South USA at a time when women had little rights and were at the mercy of their husbands. She basically has lots of little awakenings in her sexuality and freedom and realises there's more to life than being a wife. If you can get the edition with short stories some of them are brilliant too.xxx
good job stacey.
ok so im more of an action book person me, or true stories.
i havent got much time atm but this is my all time fav
Daniel Steel's 'Silent Honour' - I read this first a few years ago and have read it a few times since. Its circles around the life of a young japanese woman called Hiroko and around the time of pearl harbour. Its basically about Hiroko being shipped to a fugitives camp, falls pregnant ect. Its a proper girly yet military story.
Apparently the twilight books are supposed to be amazing. My sis has them all so I might give them a read...I have enough time on my hands anyway lol .x.
My fave books are:
1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - totally inventive and ceaselessly funny, with a lot of very good and valid points about the ridiculousness of religion and the bizarre behavious of humans. Much better and more interesting than the film...
2. Scepticism Inc by Bo Fowler - similar to the above and one of the best arguments for agnosticism ever :)
3. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin - this is a fantasy saga (currently waiting for book 5 to come out) but it reads a bit like the Tudors meets the Sopranos - lots of sex, violence, betrayal and fabulously nasty characters.
4. The Alex Delaware books by Jonathan Kellerman - somewhat formulaic and predictable detective novels set in LA but written by and told from the perspective of a child psychologist. A lot of unpleasant stories, some potentially upsetting. The descriptions of LA are absolutely unbelievable though, he really paints a picture very very well.
5. Short stories by Christopher Fowler (there are a few collections out there) - lots of Gothic horror but with such a variety of settings, some historical, some modern, some futuristic etc etc - they are all totally unique and emotional but occasionally in a very grisly way. Never gets boring.
6. Anything by Robert Rankin - he has invented his own genre of writing - 'Far Fetched Fiction' and is a brilliantly funny and very well-informed quintessentially English author who has created the most bizarre worlds set in familiar places.
I could go on all night...
xxx xxx
stavey ive read all them books lol, i think i need more suggestions, ive almost bought waterstones out of books...
hmm anything by nicholas sparks is good i.e the notebook, a walk to remember, dear john.
or a curious incident of a dog in the nighttime - mark haddon about an autistic boy who finds a neighbours dog murdered and decided to investigate....quite funny and heartwarming
or the adrian mole series - sue townsend funny books about a boy called adrian mole, its written in diary form, the books start off going through adolesence and end up in adult life
labryinth - kate mosse is an archeological mystery, with two main characters set 800 years apart...love this book read it sooo many times
fallen - lauren kate is about a girl who goes to reform school and falls in love with a fallen angel
my explanations are a bit ****ty but they are all good books!
I don't have any to recommend lol. I will literally read anything! As long as it has a good plot I'm in!
Last time I went to the supermarket I got Patricia Cornwell books for a fiver;
From Potters Field
Cause of Death
(and I can't remember the third! lol)
I read From Potters Field and am now working my way through Cause of Death.
I find Crime Thrillers and books in the style of Dan Brown really interesting as you learn quite a lot as you read the book
x x
My fave ever books are the Twilight Saga..Also House of night series by Kristen & P.C are really good
House of night series is about a girl called Zoey who gets imprinted and has to go the house of night, where they undergo the transformation into vamp and whilst doing that its like a school..some 'fledgings' reject the change and die. It tells the story of Zoe transformation and whats going off around her with friends...Im on the sixth book and love them :)
Marian Keyes Anybody Out There is awesome and a good tearjecker. Cant really say what its about without giving the full story but its a shocker.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is really beautiful. 'Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism' thats with play.com says about it lol id give too much away if i said what i think haha
ill write more later :)
xxx
Generation Kill.
It was recently made into a TV Show, by the director of The Wire. The book is better though.
It's basically about a small unit in the US Marines and what they get upto in Iraq. It's really, really funny and had me LOLing a lot, really interesting, sad, and you really fall in love with the characters.
I love military books, I'm a nerd for them.
[COLOR="Magenta"]A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is really beautiful. 'Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism' thats with play.com says about it lol id give too much away if i said what i think hahaCOLOR]
Yeah that book is absolutely brilliant, as is The Kite Runner, by the same author. I also really enjoyed The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad too. I think all three of these books give a view into everyday life in Afgahanistan and give you a real idea of the people and culture, alongside some cracking stories - I would recommend them to anyone!
Oooh I loved Thousand splendid suns...mite have to give the bookseller of kabul a go!
Have read nearly all the others on here! I cant think of any to suggest either as I just read anything and everything I can lay my hands on!
ooooh, I read A thousand splendid suns and Kite runner over xmas. Fantastic reads and also a good eye opener to what life is like in Afghan. Definite recommended read for anyone with someone out there. Yeah, might also have to give The Bookseller of Kabul a good too.
xxx
Ooh they sound very good! Will give them a go when I get paid - which one should I try first??
Ooh they sound very good! Will give them a go when I get paid - which one should I try first??
This one's a bit different from the others in that it's true life, but is just as good. It's an account of a Swedish (I think) journalist who goes to live in Kabul with (funnily enough, you can guess from the title!) a bookseller and his family. She adopts the burqua and generally finds out what life's like - I really enjoyed it.
....Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
The back says 'A dramatic portrait of two men sustaining themselves through the memory of love'
It'll make you cry but it's worth it!!
Also just finished One Day by David Nicholls. It is about Emma and Dexter and their relationship over 20 years. Every chapter is written on July 15th but each chapter is a different year. It's brilliant, very human if you know what I mean! Also is the kind of book that when you finish it, no other book will do!!
xx
I do love the original Viriginia Andrews series, and although a lot of them are cliche when you get to learn her style of writing I still love them, can read a book in a day if I ma in the right mood.
One of my other favourite books which can be quite a conversation starter is "Call Me Elizabeth". It is about a woman / mother who turns to prostitution when her husband leaves to make ends meet. It is a true story and gives an interesting insight to that area. My husband has taught me to be opened minded when it comes to prostitution so I found it very gripping.
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