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seafox · 08-01-2008, 02:55

I always go to the library and grab a few books to read over the Summer on Seafox. I have even got Andy from Marauder into the habit of reading. (I know, those of you who know him will shake their heads and wonder how that gorilla could read!,You there Andy???, log in and fight back).

I have a few favourite authors such as John Grisham, Bryce Courtenay (His books are my favourites), Wilbur Smith, Lorenzo Carcaterra and Joseph Wambaugh.

I have read a few wobbly rubbish novels lately and wondered if there are any authors you can recommend?

**GordMay** · 08-01-2008, 03:51

Anything by Donald E. Westlake (especially the “Dortmunder” novels*)
Donald Westlake ~ Book Excerpts
Bibliography: Donald Westlake ~ Bibliography

* JOHN DORTMUNDER is the savvy professional thief whose plans always, for some strange reason, go spectacularly and hilariously awry. The thing about Dortmunder is that he's a genius, a certifiable criminal mastermind. He's also the world's unluckiest crook - no matter how careful his schemes, no matter how brilliant and elaborate and intricately plotted, right down to the (almost) last detail, something always goes wrong. No wonder Dorrtmunder, already a two-time loser, is plagued by worry. And it doesn't help that his usual cohorts are more than a little eccentric, and not exactly the brightest Crayolas in the box.

Christopher Buckley (William F.’s son)
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley Detailed Book Review

BOOMSDAY
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/bo...w/Stern.t.html

caribnsol · 08-01-2008, 04:37

James Clavell is one of my favorites (shogun, taipan, noble house etc) good enough to be re-read. For classics, really like Hemmingway. Tried to read War and Peace once (someone said it would be good for me) after 3/4 of the book was ready to gouge me eyes out with a spoon and threw it away.

Triton318 · 08-01-2008, 07:36

I just finished a most remarkable novel: The Terror by Dan Simmons (2007, Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company).

Wow...what a story. This is a historical novel, based on the 1845 Franklin Expedition to the arctic to search for the Northwest Passage (The Franklin Expedition).

If you're a history buff, and are particularly interested in 19th and early 20th century arctic and antarctic exploration, you'll really enjoy this book.

A review:

The Washington Post - David Masiel
[M]ixing historical adventure with gothic horror -- a sort of Patrick O'Brian meets Edgar Allan Poe against the backdrop of a J.M.W. Turner icescape. Meticulously researched and brilliantly imagined, The Terror won't satisfy historians or even Franklin buffs, but as a literary hybrid, the novel presents a dramatic and mythic argument for how and why Franklin and his men met their demise.

From the jacket:

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.

When the expedition’s leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.

The Terror swells with the heart-stopping suspense and heroic adventure that have won Dan Simmons praise as “a writer who not only makes big promises but keeps them” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). With a haunting and constantly surprising story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.

liberty16 · 08-01-2008, 08:07

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Moby Dick by Herman Melville

If you're up for a challenging and long read, try Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It's alleged to be the most influential book for Americans today.

mickmul · 08-01-2008, 09:55

I reccommend "HMS Ulysses" by Alaistair McLean, a classic about the Russian convoys during the war . . .

caribnsol · 08-01-2008, 10:40

Atlas Shrugged is a good book (though not politcally correct) and if you like that try "the Fountainhead" also by Rand. They are making a movie out of Atlas, I hope they don't butcher it too bad.

jack7382 · 08-01-2008, 10:47

Patricia Cornwell, james Patterson, Richard North Patterson, Larry Mcmurtry,

and Robert James Waller

David_Old_Jersey · 08-01-2008, 13:00

George Orwell:-

1984
Animal Farm

Still damned good reads.

I tend to binge read pulp thrillers - not too fussy

- But I love the "Jack Reacher" novels by Lee Child.

Jentine · 08-01-2008, 13:21

I like Clive Cussler, David Baldacci, Robert Ludlum, James Rollins and Steve Martini, to name a few. They all write adventure thrillers of some kind.

MarkJ · 08-01-2008, 13:23

If you haven't read any of the Harry Potter books I suggest you grab the first one and stick your nose in.
JK Rowling made a quantum leap in children’s literature with Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. The imagery she evokes from the written word is amazing and her word play is incredible.
Once you have read the first one theres no real need to read the series as you get the drift. Also there is understandable criticism at the darkness and some of the anti-religious themes, but I’m just talking about a joy of words.

Mark

MidLandOne · 08-01-2008, 16:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by seafox

I have read a few wobbly rubbish novels lately and wondered if there are any authors you can recommend?

I take it you might be after some cultcha for a change

but even if not these two are very easy reads if you haven't come across them before:

"The Cruise of The Cachelot", Frank T Bullen. This is his narration of an actual American sailing type whaling ship voyage in 19th Century. It has "Moby Dick" beat by light years as a yarn - and just an embelished yarn I thought it was until towards the end when they get to southern NZ when it was all as I understood whaling to be down there back then. So I assume it is all factual with no polishing to amuse the readers.

"For the Term of His Natural Life", Marcus Clarke. Despite being an Australian novel is very good

. About convict shipped to Tasmania and events in the convict settlement, etc. Quite a bit of 19 Century watery/boaty bits so not all on land stuff. There has been both a film and a TV series of the same name - they are not a patch on the book. I read it in the Sounds and was enough to keep me away from fishing and other troubles.

If you like old navy sailing ship type novels then the Hornblower books by C S Forester books are good stories if not read before.

MarkJ · 08-01-2008, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by MidLandOne

. Despite being an Australian novel is very good

.

I'm affronted! Not that I read any Australian novels as they are all far too pretentiously written by hacks trying to appear educated, but our novels are amongst the best in the whole world, I'm sure! (Given that said pretentiousness, and the slight over emphasis on our treatment of Aboriginals - you'd think we were Spanish conquistadores!) Also sometimes we make the mistake of using 3 or 4 very long words where one short one would fit the bill, but thats just our propensity on grammatical correctness and trying to educate you lot on the other continents.
Finally we have had as many (percentage wise) alcoholic poets as you have had! Maybe we have more! There has never been a sober verse written in Australia - except by Banjo Patterson and who's he when he's at home? Our literature is writ on a sea of booze and high faluten phrases, and thus, its all better than wherever you're froms authors.

I rest my case.