Good Reads?
 

I'm an avid reader of anythig from autobiographies to Harry Potter novels. A few of my favouite authors are Viginia Andrews, Patricia Cornwell and the criminal psychologist Paul Britton. I always find that the best books I have read have been recommended to me so anyone with any good recommended reads?

Re: Good Reads?
 

rich dad poor dad-robert kiyosaki,would recomend that to anyone who wants a better lot in life.

Re: Good Reads?
 

If your into Horror then any JAMES HERBERT book is a good read try the RATS there are three THE RATS , LAIR, and DOMAIN

Re: Good Reads?
 

If you like Patricia Cornwell, try Kathy Reichs - heroine is a forensic anthropologist - a very good read.

I presume you have read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings?

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my favorite author for the past few yrs is MARTINA COLE.

Re: Good Reads?
 

Thanks Mick and cashman I have wrote them down and will have a look for them

Yes Pendy I have read the Lord of The Rings took me a while to get into the first one but then I was hooked read them, watched the films and got the PS2 games lol!

Forensic anthropoloy sounds right up my street I'll be having a look for Heroine too thanks Pendy

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What kind of books are they mez?

Re: Good Reads?
 

gangsterish, east end, life down to earth, mostley what happens to women through their lives, i find i can relate to some of them, i can lend you some if you want? maggie hudson also writs in the same vein.

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They sound good reads mez I've read quite a few novels associated with the East End mainly because of The Krays

Re: Good Reads?
 

Reading now- Lucky Man, Michael J. Fox, inspirational.

Fave writers-
Emile Zola, translated from French, working class life in C19th France.
Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City.
James Baldwin.
Truman Capote, light weight and witty except for 'In Cold Blood.'

Fave book-
Jane Eyre

Books started never finished-
Catch 22.
In Rememberance of Things Past, Proust.
Lord of the Rings.

Recommended Reads
 

winnie the pooh gets it. thats one of my favourites

Re: Good Reads?
 

I enjoyed "The DaVinci Code" with it's mixture of prophetic revelations, factual information and "who done what and why?" mystery novel.




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Re: Recommended Reads
 

Awwww Thanks!

Can you give me a pull? l've had to much honey and am stuck in Rabbits Hole?

Tiddly-di-di-dum.

Re: Good Reads?
 

I've always been a fan of Micheal J Fox so I'll have a read of that book after I've read the mountain of books mez has lent to me, they'll keep me going for ages lol!!

Re: Good Reads?
 

Agree with the Michael J. Fox book. I read it and alternated between laughing and crying throughout the whole thing. Inspirational is a good word for it.

Also loved DaVinci code and all other Dan Brown books - but once you've read a couple they start to get a bit samey.

Try The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I found it a little hard to get into at first because it's written to sound like it's being spoken by an African woman, so you've got to tune into the language phrasing first. When you get into it though it's a really good read. I'm on the second book in the series right now.

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Tamora Pierce's "The Immortals" Quartet are very very good books. Also read THe Missing Link - Probably the best book I have read since Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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I have got to say some of the best books I have read have got to be .....flowers in the attic books. I have read them twice now and every time I read something new. whether it's because the first time round it didn't seem to have much to say or whatever, but I do read things differently second time round. These books are brilliant though.:D

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If you want a good laugh try Tom Sharpe.

Re: Good Reads?
 

Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series. Also Stephen King and his Dark Tower series - highly recommended.

Re: Good Reads?
 

Would recommend Paula Radcliffe's autobiography - never really been interested in reading an autobiography but I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting. I just wish I was as determined and focused as she is!

Also just finished the Dave Pelzer books - A Child Called It, The Lost Boy & A Man Named Dave. He was very badly abused by his Mother and the series is about his struggle to survive, and once he had been rescused, to adapt to normal life. Very good, but quite disturbing at times - but only because its fact not fiction.

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Read them myself ShortStuff, he's got new one out called The Priveledge Of Youth, I've bought it but haven't started reading it yet. Just finished a similar sort of book called Sickened by Torey Hayden (I think) which is about a troubled little girl so I needed a break from the harrowing stuff!

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The Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill are very good;as are Stephen Booth's books;think he has written 3 so far;very entertaining crime/thriller types.

Re: Good Reads?
 

try the manor if you haven't read it(charlie richardson's)autobiography.

Re: Good Reads?
 

Thorn birds by Colleen Mc Cullough.........The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy.......Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.......A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.........Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie (not an easy read that one...but I did enjoy it) Far Pavilions by M.M.Kaye.........Deja Dead by Kathy Reich........these are all wrist breakers(thick books). I could go on but my brain has deserted me for a moment.
I read on average 3-4 books per week.

Re: Good Reads?
 

I also have read the Dave Pelzer books shortstuff, i could not put them down i had to read them in one sitting.I will have to buy The Priveledge Of Youth, have not read that one.

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My wife who enjoys Martina Cole has found Lesley Pearse to be very good.

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Just finished the novel " Carter Beats The Devil" a guaranteed page turner, and if its autobiographies you want, Julian Cope " Head-on/ Repossessed" a work of true genius!!

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I couldn't read the Dave Pelzer books.......I found them disturbing.

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I've read a lot of the books that have already been mentioned really enjoyed The Da Vinci Code and Memoirs of a Geisha, recently read the autobiography of Marc Almond its been out ages but well worth a read, he's had a very colourful life, though it appealed to me because I was a massive fan in the 80's, still worth a read though. Also love Stephen King and the odd classic.

Re: Good Reads?
 

I really enjoy Dragonlance; the originals (Chronicles and Legends) written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They have written other trilogies as well, and also the Death Gate Cycle. If you are into Dungeons and Dragons you may enjoy it, as it was based on it.

Also Terry Brooks' 'Shannara' books are all a good read.

My wife has most of Sidney Sheldon's books, which oddly enough, I quite enjoyed myself.

But if you suffer from insomnia, I would highly recommend a couple of study texts - Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Planning, and Taxation and Trusts from the Chartered Insurance Institute!

Re: Good Reads?
 

Agree with Lindsay on Reginald Hill and Stephen Booth - an idea dawns! - why don't we have an Accyweb book swop? I have three of Stephen Booth's, there is a fourth one but I haven't tracked it down yet. At my flat in South London I have several thousand books (yep, honest), we have God knows how many in our flat in Bloomsbury, and a load at the Ossy house - we could start our own library! If anyone is coming to the next meeting and wants to try Stephen Booth, pm me and I will bring them along.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is great - I also like Beryl Bainbridge, but she's not everyone's cup of tea.

Re: Good Reads?
 

My favorite author is Patrica Cornwell, the Kay Scarpetta books, excellent crime stories.She always uses the same characters so you really get to know them through the series of books.The First one is called Postmortem, you can get them from the library.

Re: Good Reads?
 

Margaret Atwood Alias Grace
Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.

Toni Morrison Beloved
A haunting story; it tells the story of slavery, especially when it comes to the human heart, and the lengths to which a runaway slave will take to keep her children free.

Isabel Allende The House of Spirits
A magnificent saga of the Trueba family. It begins at the turn of the century in a South American country with the child Clara del Valle, the future matriarch of the Trueba family. Mute for nine years after her sister, Rosa the Beautiful, mysteriously dies, Clara finally speaks to announce that she is getting married. Her husband-to-be is Estaban Trueba, a lonely, stern and willful man who was engaged to Rosa. Clara has willed him to her through her special telepathic powers.

Ernesto Che Guevara The Motorcycle Diarys
Follows an inspiring journey of self-discovery and traces the youthful origins of a revolutionary heart.

Re: Good Reads?
 

Willow did you not find the ending though a bit anti-climatic? I enjoyed the book but just felt that the ending was missing something.

Re: Good Reads?
 

My Dad just said the other day that he read the "Da Vinci Code" on Bank Holiday Monday[he doesn't mess about!] and reckoned it was the most predictable book he had ever read,which coming from an ex librarian is quite something.He read it to get an idea of what makes a "Best seller" these days!

But he did agree that it's a page turner.;)

Re: Good Reads?
 

Daughter of Fortune by Isobel Allende is another good one........I finished that off on a flight back from Oz.

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There is one that I absolutely love called "Pearl" by Tabitha King [wife of Stephen].I have read it time and again.Once I get it back off my Mum i will happily lend it out but I must get it back as it's out of print now!

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:) Stupid Question time and it had to be me.....Anybody got a copy of "Towards the light". I haven't seen a copy for twenty years. It’s a book about a 19th Century Danish? Spiritualist.

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I havn't sat down and read a book for a long time.
Cathrine Cookson is My favorite.
I dont think there as been one book I havn't enjoyed reading.
Also the books of Doris Stokes are amazing.

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Just finished Tears of a Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith, the second in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series - just as good as the first book.

By the way, don't ever try reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith - it was a Booker Prize winner and it's a complete waste of time. I only got half way through it and gave up, and I read all sorts of dross normally without giving up.

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Since you like crime novels, I just read" The Long Firm" by Jake Arnott, good London crime novel. George Pelecanos writes about Washington DC, everything I've read of his was good, his grocery list would probably be interesting, Loren Estleman writes hard boiled crime about Detroit in the vein of Raymond Chandler, and Chandler is still good some 70 years on. Dennis Lehane has written several good novels set in Boston, Boston Massachusetts I mean. Not "Mystic River" , perhaps because Sean Penn's scenery chewing in the movie was so over the top. "Gone Baby, Gone" was a better book.

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MESSIAH by BORIS STARLING and its follow up, STORM. FANTASTIC>

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I am glad that someone else found Zadie Smith's book' White Teeth' a dead loss........I thought that it was just me. Just because something wins the Booker Prize doesn't automatically make it worth a read.

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I sometimes think they pick books for these prizes because they're 'worthy' and not necessarily because they're readable.

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I have resurrected this thread because I have just finished a book called THE READING GROUP by Elizabeth Noble. I really enjoyed this book and would heartily recommend it.
I know there are lots of ladies out in Accyweb who would really enjoy this book.

It's not really one for the fella's.

Re: Good Reads?
 

My personal choice is anything autobiographic, particularly about womens' struggles in the middle east.

A few of my favourites are
Fatwa (living with a death threat) about her life after marrying an egyptian man and converting to Islam.

Out of Iran by Sousan Azadi, she lived an affluent life in Iran, the story tells of her escape to the West with her son after the fall of the Shah. Gripping read!

My forbidden face by Latifa, Afganistan through the eyes of a 16 year old girl. The story tells of her life as a carefree teenager and ambition to be a journalist, when in 1996 the taliban seized power and she and all other Afghan women became prisoners in their homes.
An excellent read.

Burned Alive by Souad, the story of how she was the victim of an 'honour killing' for falling in love. Her brother in law was chosen to perform the killing after her family decided she had shamed them. She miraculously survived after being helped by the village women, and wrote this book to uncover the barbarity of honour killings.

For good light reading any of Tom Sharpes books are good, I find them hilarious.
Good holiday reads are anything by Maeve Binchy

Re: Good Reads?
 

Re. The Da Vinci Code

I couldn't agree more, g.
Right from the outset, The Da Vinci Code was a page-turner, but the ending didn't quite live up to all that had gone before it.

Lettie has lent me another Dan Brown book, Angels & Demons, which is my next read, but first I must finish reading "Glue" by Irvine Welch.

Re: Good Reads?
 

I love the Kathy Reichs books. On similar lines to Patricial Cornwell's Scarpetta novels, Reichs's heroine is a lot more likeable than Scarpetta.

Marc Almond's Tainted Life is a damn good read. I also love the Bill Bryson travel orientated books, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, Down Under and Big Country which tell of the hapless Mr Bryson's world wide travels and witty observations he makes along the way. Wish my travelogue could read like that.:D

Re: Good Reads?
 

Oh but it will, Lettie. It will. But only if you can write like Bill Bryson. ;)