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What next?

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/01/2013 20:27

So I've read about 14 books this January, if I've counted right. And once I've finished the history book I'm reading I will bookless again.

It's my birthday soon, so I'm hoping a might get a book token. I refuse to buy fiction because so much of it is rubbish, so please recommend some lovely history or other non-fiction books. Nothing too dense but nothing too lightweight either please. :)

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/01/2013 22:59

Must admit I'd be happy enough if I never, ever read about shagging ever again. :)

Yep I know you're on about his autobiography, but dp owns 'Empire' so I'll start with that and if I like it, I'll try the other.

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CoteDAzur · 26/01/2013 22:56

Empire of the Sun is fiction. I'm recommending the guy's autobiography, where he also talks about his own childhood which was the inspiration for that fictional book.

CoteDAzur · 26/01/2013 22:55

Yeah well the indiscriminate shagging (I think) has a point in that book. Try Heinlein's later books like Time Enough For Love (which is pretty good, actually) and its sequels and you won't believe the number and variety the guy shags - his identical twin daughter/clones (Lapis Lazuli & Lorelei Lee), his personal computer who manages to become a woman (Minerva), his adopted daughter (Dora), not to mention his own mother (Maureen) with whom he falls in love after travelling back in time (don't ask Grin).

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/01/2013 22:51

Oh I've just read 'Stranger In A Strange Land' btw. LOVED the first half and then got a bit bored once they all started just shagging all over the place. :)

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/01/2013 22:50

Dp has got 'Empire Of The Sun' and the 'Running' one, so I'll have a go at both of those. The Istanbul one sounds interesting too, though I'd prefer to wait until I have a hope in hell of actually going there.

Dp would like the stroke one - I'm not clever enough for stuff like that. :)

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CoteDAzur · 26/01/2013 22:44

Also, I want to recommend:

Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino (It's not non-fiction, but has no plot and just talks about many imaginary cities, all with women's names, descriptions of each take one or at most two pages, so I think you will be OK with it in your current state of disillusionment with fiction)

CoteDAzur · 26/01/2013 22:39

I just knew this had to be another Remus thread Grin

OK, I may have mentioned some of these to you before, but if you want to stay with non-fiction:

Miracles Of Life - J G Ballard's autobiography (starting with his childhood internment in Japanese prisoner camp in Shanghai that later became the book & film "Empire Of The Sun")

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami (regardless of what you think about his fiction, this is good. It is sort of an auto-biography in parts, focusing on his awesome running)

Istanbul: Memories and the City - Orhan Pamuk (I can't remember if we talked about Pamuk at all, but he is at his best when he talks about Istanbul)

My Stroke Of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor (She was a 37-year-old brain scientist when she had a stroke and observed from the inside what happens when your brain functions shut down one by one, knowing exactly what was going on in her brain. It is a fascinating read and very informative, especially the parts where she describes the stroke and how she managed to get help when she couldn't even recognise letters and numbers. It gets a bit new-agey towards the end, but it's a small price to pay for this "insight" imho)

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/01/2013 22:25

:) We've got a TV but I hardly ever watch it. Some were re-reads (The Hobbit and LOTR) and one was a Terry Pratchett which is pretty much the work of an evening! And I'm a very fast reader - too fast, probably. I gobble them up, spit them out and move straight on to the next one! :)

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gailforce1 · 26/01/2013 22:21

Blimey Remus 14 books this January? And we have'nt got to the end of the month yet! How do you manage to read so much? Kindle? No TV?
I am in serious awe!

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/01/2013 21:58

Have read the Nabokov. The Roaring Twenties one sounds perfect, thank you. :)

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MumOfMissy · 26/01/2013 21:52

A book I thought was brilliant was "Anything Goes: A biography of the roaring twenties" by Lucy Moore. Packed with true stories of gangsters, socialites and silent movie stars, the glittering rise and fall of the Twenties and those who revelled in their excess. Highly recommended. Biog/Auto Biog I also enjoyed Kenneth Williams Diaries, Rupert Everetts Red Carpets and other banana skins, Speak Memory by Vladimir Nabokov (his gilded childhood in Russia).