Anything by Elmore Leonard, Martin Cruz Smith, Ian Rankin (Rebus), John Harvey (Resnick), or if you prefer something a bit more literary try John Updike.

11 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

I enjoy most John Le Carre spy novels ... Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Spy Who Came in From the Cold; Smileys People, The Honourable Schoolboy.

 

Patrick O’Brien wrote about English naval adventures ... the movie Master & Commander with Russel Crow was based on these novels. He wrote quite a few of them, and it’s best to read them in chronological order. Excellent books.

 

On a lighter note I was in Bali during the Day of Souls, were no one is allowed out on the streets for 24 hours, and you are stuck in your hotel. So I downloaded two books by an Australian lady, Hotel K and Snowing in Bali ... about the famous prison and the islands many drug dealers. Gives you a good understanding of the depth of corruption, funny and sad at times.

You've reminded me of Nicholas Montserrat. " The Cruel Sea" was a classic. Or Alistair McLean's " HMS Ulysses " Sadly, he descended into potboilers.

If you like spy books, Elleston Trevor under the pseudonym Adam Hall wrote the Quiller series.

I also read a lot, biographies or fiction, John Grisham books are generally a good read. 

Currently reading "The Chimp Paradox" by Prof someone or other - interesting....

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

You've reminded me of Nicholas Montserrat. " The Cruel Sea" was a classic. Or Alistair McLean's " HMS Ulysses " Sadly, he descended into potboilers.

If you like spy books, Elleston Trevor under the pseudonym Adam Hall wrote the Quiller series.

Is Quiller a UK spy series?

3 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

Is Quiller a UK spy series?

Yes. First book is the Quiller Memorandum, which was also made into a film starring Michael Caine. More than a dozen titles after, e.g The Tango Briefing, The Scorpion Signal, The Warsaw Document. Can be read in no particular order.

A non-fiction read that I enjoyed was The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson. It’s both interesting and funny ... especially the guy who pretended to be insane to get out of a jail sentence and now cannot get out of a mental institution because they think his sane behaviour is evidence of his insanity.

 

i also enjoyed a book who’s author and title I can’t quite recall ... but it is something like “Why E=MC squared” ... it explains all the science behind Einstein’s famous equation, discussing the scientific discoveries that allowed Einstein to craft that equation. Brilliantly written and incredibly interesting. You’ll get a better understanding of his “standing on the shoulders of giants” quote ... his work could only have been achieved from the knowledge and discoveries of others.

59 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I read books at the rate of one every two days, always have done. Mystery, sci-fi, adventure, biographies - it's all grist to the mill. I revisit favourite authors. 600 books currently on my Kindle.

James Lee Burke, C J Box, Lee Child, Frank Herbert, Eric Flint, Robert Dugoni, John D. MacDonald, Frederick Forsyth, Kerry Greenwood, Ben Aaronovitch, John Grisham, Maurice Druon, Dick Francis, Scott Pratt, Steve Martini, William Diehl, Trevanian, John Buchan, Irving Stone, Ken Follett, John Steinbeck, Arthur C Clarke, Allen Drury.

Wilbur Smith. Geoffrey Jenkins.

Is that enough? I have more.

I have about 10,000 ebooks that I have collected over the years and I am slowly filing into last name, first name and category such as novels, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr Who, cookery. There are far more books than I can read in my lifetime. I am reading Caesar by Colleen McCullough at the moment on my Lenovo tablet using FBreader app downloaded free. It is some 1,5xx pages long.

 

8 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I am reading Caesar by Colleen McCullough at the moment on my Lenovo tablet

I refuse to read books written by women.

Lots of guys to choose from who write 'Roman' novels, I enjoyed the 'Marius Mule' series by SJA Turney, and the 'Cato' series written by Simon Scarrow..

4 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I have about 10,000 ebooks that I have collected over the years and I am slowly filing into last name, first name and category such as novels, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr Who, cookery. There are far more books than I can read in my lifetime. I am reading Caesar by Colleen McCullough at the moment on my Lenovo tablet using FBreader app downloaded free. It is some 1,5xx pages long.

 

IMHO "The Thorn Birds" was Colleen McCullough's best. Like you, I can't read every book in my lifetime, but I'll give it my best shot.

i'm content just looking at pics & videos

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I refuse to read books written by women.

Lots of guys to choose from who write 'Rome' novels, I enjoyed the 'Marius Mule' series by SJA Turney.

Your loss. Ann McCaffrey's Dragonflight and Tower series are brilliant Sci-fi, unique. Mary Stewart with the Arthurian legend, Rosemary Sutcliffe's history of the Welsh kings. More recently, Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher heroine might even satisfy your fantasies. You are robbing yourself. Why?

11 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Your loss. Ann McCaffrey's Dragonflight and Tower series are brilliant Sci-fi, unique. Mary Stewart with the Arthurian legend, Rosemary Sutcliffe's history of the Welsh kings. More recently, Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher heroine might even satisfy your fantasies. You are robbing yourself. Why?

There are plenty of male authors to choose from.

Just now, BritManToo said:

There are plenty of male authors to choose from.

Yes there are. However. that doesn't explain why you avoid women authors. Unless your marital wounds are so deep you've become a misogynist.

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

Yes there are. However. that doesn't explain why you avoid women authors. Unless your marital wounds are so deep you've become a misogynist.

No, I've never enjoyed reading books written by women.

I read a lot, and at a younger age (around 35) realised the books I didn't like were invariably written by women.

I don't hate women, I just don't think they write books I enjoy reading.

For a "can't put down" series try Stieg Larsson with his.

1. The The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

2. The Girl who Played with Fire.

3. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

 

Must be about 1,500 pages of gripping reading.

"Everybody Lies"

 

Way more interesting and informative than I thought it would be. Really great read.

 

From the back cover.... 

How much sex are people really having?  
How many Americans are actually racist? 
Is America experiencing a hidden back-alley abortion crisis? 
Can you game the stock market? 
Does violent entertainment increase the rate of violent crime? 
Do parents treat sons differently from daughters?   
How many people actually read the books they buy?

In this groundbreaking work, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a Harvard-trained economist, former Google data scientist, and New York Times writer, argues that much of what we thought about people has been dead wrong. The reason?  People lie, to friends, lovers, doctors, surveys—and themselves.

When travelling on business I try to load books onto the Kindle that are set in the area I'm heading to.

 

Fleming"s Bond books make a fun read and they cover many geographies, and The Spy Who Loved Me is interesting, as its written from the viewpoint of a female character (and nothing at all like the film).

 

Birdsong by Sabastian Faulks is another excellent read that has a female character penned by a man. 

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

No, I've never enjoyed reading books written by women.

I read a lot, and at a younger age (around 35) realised the books I didn't like were invariably written by women.

I don't hate women, I just don't think they write books I enjoy reading.

Well, you can't have read every woman author in existence, so excuse me for thinking your mindset isn't entirely logical. However, I won't read books by L Ron Hubbard, because of the damage his Scientology cult is doing. Each to his own.

How do you know some of the books you read are not authored by a woman under a male nom-de-plume?

An odd thing to ask as we all read different stuff.  I have about 30 books out here and all have been read 2 , 3 , or 4 times.  Has any one heard of Jodi Picoult the most prolific female writer in the UK ? My eldest daughter brings me out her books and removes the ones I have read 3 times and I agree with the OP , I too get fed up sitting at the PC all day , cold room , read a book and siesta. Last year she brought out 2 Linwood Barclay novels , damn good both of them.

2 hours ago, nikmar said:

im not any type of academic but love reading so can read any pop fiction but struggle with some of the classics.

Couldnt agree more about hte Da Vinci code but I have to admit to enjoying The Beach.

Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest was my "unputdownable". Also enjoyed Giles Fodens The Last King of Scotland.

Have you read, Ón The Road' by Jack Kerouac?  Its an oldy but a goodie.

Cheers   GBW

1 minute ago, GBW said:

Have you read, Ón The Road' by Jack Kerouac?  Its an oldy but a goodie.

Cheers   GBW

been looking for that and also Heart of Darkness

 

52 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I refuse to read books written by women.

Lots of guys to choose from who write 'Roman' novels, I enjoyed the 'Marius Mule' series by SJA Turney, and the 'Cato' series written by Simon Scarrow..

Up to you but you may miss out on a lot of good reads.

imreally enjoying this thread. Due to my aversion to Thai tV and the rubbish my missis sits in fronmt of, books are a bit of a life line for me  so Im picking some ideas from here.

 

Im suprised no ones mentioned the John Connolly "Charlie Parker" series. Good detective stories with a bit of supernatural thrown in as well.

29 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

How do you know some of the books you read are not authored by a woman under a male nom-de-plume?

I can usually tell after a page or two.

Not that being fooled would kill me.

32 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

i won't read books by L Ron Hubbard, because of the damage his Scientology cult is doing.

You haven't missed anything, his books were all rubbish.

Solomon Gursky Was Here  by Mordecai Richler, one of my favorites.

 

'On The Road' by Jack Kerouac  Its an oldy but a goodie

If you go ordering it from somewhere,  get the "scroll" version.  Look it up for an explanation, if interested.

 

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  Especially if someone is not from the US, not very often you see that country depicted the way it is in this book.

 

 

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I can usually tell after a page or two.

Not that being fooled would kill me.

We've both been fooled by women a few times, eh?

Last night. I have hundreds of books on my iPad. Love it. Reading them constantly. What is life without good books? Are we ever too old to continue learning and expanding our minds? 

This is an excellent recent release by a female author:-