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Original poster

I am desperate and need you all to help me please!

239 replies

ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 30/04/2011 15:39

I have got one and a half history books left and then I am, once again, bookless. I have been to three different libraries in the last ten days and have failed to find even a single book that I fancied or hadn't read before.

I have some Nectar points to spend, so I could have a bit of an Amazon splurge - but what shall I get?

  1. Favourite writers are Jane Austen and Stephen King
  2. I like v well written fantasy (ie Tolkein) or v well written historical who-dunnit stuff (eg Doyle or Sansom) or quirky history books
  3. I am a snob and get very twitchy about shoddy writing but can't stand overly self conscious crap (step forward Ian McEwan)
  4. I am very, very fussy
  5. I read very, very quickly so the bigger the book, the better

Please help!

OP posts:
elkiedee · 05/05/2011 02:36

There's lots of good suggestions there. What do you do with all your books when you've read them? I'm a hoarder on the whole but have exchanged lots of duplicates and some books I either didn't like that much or don't feel a need to hoard (chicklit) on readitswapit and bookmooch, and found some good stuff.

Are you interested in writing about the books you read in a bit of detail? I review books for www.thebookbag.co.uk and you can find lots of recommendations there, look up books you're thinking of buying, but they're also always looking for people to write reviews - lots of non fiction, lots of teen fiction - reviews about 400-600 words I think (actually I've submitted reviews of between 300-900 words which have been put up pretty much as I sent them, it depends a bit on the type of book and my mood whether I struggle to find things to say or ramble on for a while!)

I have tried Good Reads but prefer www.librarything.com, though either will give you lots of ideas for reading.

Leo35 · 04/05/2011 22:07

Hello Colonel, how is your book search going? Such a long thread. Getting some great recommendations from it.

My DH has also recommended Moondust - Andrew Smith. About the moon landings. Of any interest? But think that you might like your history a bit older than 40 years ago!

There is a history genre (not historical fiction) on Good Reads. The initial page shows a US bias, but it's probably worth an explore.

Original poster
ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 04/05/2011 21:40

Ye gads no to Moby bloody Dick. I have read an excellent non-fiction one though, about the true story that inspired it.

Have read lots of Georgette Heyer to the point where I'm rather tired of her - but I did enjoy some of them for non-thinking bath books.

Failed with Jonathon Strange - found it v tedious.

Have read most 'classic' sci-fi (my dad was a sci-fi writer) but to be honest, most of it isn't really for me.

Will try and find an extract of Cryptonomicon. Thanks again everybody - this thread is proving v useful!

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 04/05/2011 21:39

"Hermetic theory" etc is in Quicksilver and its two sequels. I have read everything Stephenson has written ( I'm a big fan) except those two sequels because I found Quicksilver to be boring and Pirates-Of-The-Caribbean-ish.

DilysPrice · 04/05/2011 21:16

Stephenson is definitely worth considering for sheer volume and meatiness (though the women in Cryptonomicon are disastrous). Not for everyone though, you'd be well advised to try a short extract before committing to eight hundred pages of hermetic theory or whatever.
Would agree that Le Guin has a strong socialist tint, which may or may not put the OP off.

CoteDAzur · 04/05/2011 21:07

Banks is very weak rubbish and Ursula LeGuin's stories are thinly veiled socialist propaganda (and definitely not "hard sci-fi"). If you are going to read sci-fi, try Frank Herbert & Arthur C Clarke for the timeless classics and William Gibson's earlier books and Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, Diamond Age, and his recent Anathem) for mind-blowing "cyberpunk".

CoteDAzur · 04/05/2011 20:55

I wouldn't call Cryptonomicon sci-fi although it is definitely about computer science and is fiction, obviously Smile Two parallel stories run through the book and are beautifully united at the end - one is the young computer programmer trying to build a data safe haven (like Switzerland is a safe haven for money) and his grandfather cracking the Enigma code with Alan Turing and playing mind games with the Germans during WWII. It is not an easy read but a masterpiece.

DilysPrice · 04/05/2011 20:30

Jonathan strange and Mr Norrell, you absolutely must. Huge Regency era fantasy written in Austen pastiche - will keep you going for weeks days at your pace. Seriously, as a fellow Austen / King / Pratchett / Gaiman reader you can't do better.

Young adult but excellently written is Frances Hardinge - I can't sum up her plots because they're so sui generis but I cannot recommend too highly.

And Ursula Le Guin's masterpieces The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed (ostensibly hard sf, but beautiful prose and with a social sciences bent) are fabulous.

There's always Moby Dick and Gibbon if you really are running out of material.

And at the risk of being insultingly obvious....what about Georgette Heyer?

Original poster
ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 04/05/2011 20:23

Have read all the Arianna F ones - the series and a stand alone one about the Princess Anastasia.

No to Banks.

In fact, can people please forget that I mentioned fantasy as the blurbs for most of them aren't inspiring me at all, sorry. Blush

Have read some Antonia F but worth another look, so thanks for reminding me.

I PROMISE to read A Suitable Boy as soon as I can get my hot little paws on it. :)

OP posts:
Oldyellow · 04/05/2011 20:20

Historical whodunnits - I like Arianna Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death books. Pathology in the time of Henry II. Not as well written as the Sansom ones imo, but pretty good.

For fantasy/alternate reality Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World.

Straight history - Antonia Fraser The Weaker Vessel - women during the Civil War.

Iain M Banks - sf/fantasy.

A Suitable Boy is the best book ever!

Original poster
ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 04/05/2011 20:17

Thank you. Is it sci-fi? Is it a bit Catch 22-ish?

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 04/05/2011 20:04

I have a suggestion for you: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

It is historical (WWII codes, Enigma, Alan Turing is a character etc), very long (my hard cover copy is over 900 pages long), good writing without an ounce of pretentious "literary" aspiration.

missismac · 04/05/2011 17:51

Oops, should have said "The Outlander" series by Gabaldon. She does others too but I have no Knowledge of them.

vintageteacups · 04/05/2011 17:48

Okay - this is probably going to be the wrong sort of book but one of my all time faves is

The Wedding Officer - by Antony Capella.

It's set in war time Naples and I think (although am not a literary genius Grin, it's very well written about a subject I knew very little about.

missismac · 04/05/2011 17:46

Diana Gabaldon - if no-one has mentioned her already. Also Sharon Penman, Kate Smedley and Barbara Erskine.

aStarInStrangeways · 04/05/2011 17:42

China Mieville? I've only read Perdido Street Station but enjoyed it despite some wildly flailing prose.

Original poster
ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 04/05/2011 17:40

Have read 'Drood' and my complaints about it are somewhere down the thread! I thought it showed promise and was clearly well-researched but it just got more and more stupid as it progressed. Thanks though.

OP posts:
sonearsofar · 03/05/2011 22:46

Harder to Kidnap - I think you were thinking of The Observations by Jane Harris - a good read

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2011 22:35

Drood by Dan Simmons (dark, quirky, historical, and very long book)
Ilium by Dan Simmons (fantasy and mythological)

He is a very good author who writes in starkly different styles.

Original poster
ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 03/05/2011 21:50

Nope - sorry but I absolutely won't go there! You will never convince me. :)

OP posts:
WhipMeIndiana · 03/05/2011 21:49

my favourite novel is a russian spy novel, Ive re-read it about 4 times over the years, it's quite long,
will go and dig it out, as cannot remember it either.., it inspired me to teach myself russian for a while

WhipMeIndiana · 03/05/2011 21:47

Airframe by Crichton is actually vvv good, tense

WhipMeIndiana · 03/05/2011 21:46

oops - blindsight was robin cook , to be fair he is a bit shite

WhipMeIndiana · 03/05/2011 21:45

avoid Richard Laymon then!!

Original poster
ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie · 03/05/2011 21:45

And nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo to Jodie P - would rather eat my own snot - and hers too.

OP posts: