The 40 best books to read during lockdown

[snoop1130]

The 40 best books to read during lockdown

By Ceri Radford and Chris Harvey

 

 

Books, books, books. They will increase your lifespan, lower your stress and boost your intelligence. They will give you fuller, thicker hair.

 

Whatever the breathless claims about reading, one thing is certain: losing yourself in a great novel is one of life’s most enduring and dependable joys.

 

Job satisfaction comes and goes, partners enrapture and abscond, but you can always fall back on the timeless ability of literature to transport you to a different world.

 

From Jane Austen’s mannered drawing rooms to the airless tower blocks of 1984, novels do something unique. They simultaneously speak to the heart and mind. 

 

Full Story: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/books-best-greatest-read-you-die-classic-novels-literature-austen-orwell-dickens-mantel-a9255191.html

[ChipButty]

The best book I ever read was my Bank Book

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

The best book I ever read was my Bank Book

Isn't that called a short story book?Mine is a Steven King horror story with nothing resembling a nice figure.Any figures that are there are anorexic!

[Moonlover]

Well I love reading books and I've got through quite a few in my time. But only four on that list. Catch 22, 1984, Lord of the Flies and, wait for it, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I read that to my daughter but I actually enjoyed it very much.

 

Probably the top read of the thousands I have read is 'Hawaii' by James A. Mitchener.

 

I'm surprised that 'War and Peace' doesn't feature on the list. That's also a stunning read.

[Damrongsak]

One of my favorites ... it's a practical book.

 

 

[billd766]

I have been reading since I was old enough to get a junior library card in the 1950s and apart from Angola every country I have been to/worked in I have managed to find second hand books. I have about 500 or so hard copy books that I have read and reread over the years but a few years ago I met a guy who downloaded me 165 Gb of ebooks.

 

I have been catalogueing them over the years but had to start again in 2016 when my hard drive crashed and I lost 2 years work. Fortunately the downloaded stuff was on a seperate hard drive si I started once again. I try to work for about an hour a day and so far I don't think I am even 25% finished.

 

Up to 31 December last year I had converted 4,062 authors to the Mobi format and I reckon I must have about 30,xxx books and perhaps another 50,xxx to deal with.

 

I use a Lenovo tablet to read them on using FB reader which is a good free program.

[mark131v]

13 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I have been reading since I was old enough to get a junior library card in the 1950s and apart from Angola every country I have been to/worked in I have managed to find second hand books. I have about 500 or so hard copy books that I have read and reread over the years but a few years ago I met a guy who downloaded me 165 Gb of ebooks.

 

I have been catalogueing them over the years but had to start again in 2016 when my hard drive crashed and I lost 2 years work. Fortunately the downloaded stuff was on a seperate hard drive si I started once again. I try to work for about an hour a day and so far I don't think I am even 25% finished.

 

Up to 31 December last year I had converted 4,062 authors to the Mobi format and I reckon I must have about 30,xxx books and perhaps another 50,xxx to deal with.

 

I use a Lenovo tablet to read them on using FB reader which is a good free program.

Don't know if you have tried a kindle mate but if you've not it is a revelation compared to reading on anything else, the bog standard one now is just as good as the more expensive kindle paperwhite version other than not being waterproof, plenty of free stuff available too

[peterpaintpot]

11 hours ago, mark131v said:

Don't know if you have tried a kindle mate but if you've not it is a revelation compared to reading on anything else, the bog standard one now is just as good as the more expensive kindle paperwhite version other than not being waterproof, plenty of free stuff available too

Yes, I second that. Great for taking on trips as you can have an excess of books and short stories with you. I would recommend looking at Kindle Unlimited a lending library the monthly fee from Amazon UK is a few pence under 8 pounds and for that you can hold eight books at once and read an unlimited number every month. If like me you are a prolific reader it is a money saver.

[billd766]

14 hours ago, mark131v said:

Don't know if you have tried a kindle mate but if you've not it is a revelation compared to reading on anything else, the bog standard one now is just as good as the more expensive kindle paperwhite version other than not being waterproof, plenty of free stuff available too

A few years back when I bought my first reader but I chose a Barnes & Noble instead of a Kindle as the kindle doesn't like non kindle books so m,utch, 3 years ago my B&N died and I replaced it with a Lenovo Business 10 inch tablet. 

 

It does all the Kindle can do and most things my desktop can do. I bought it to replace my mobile as well but I found that I can't use it as a phone for some odd reason. When I replace it I will buy another 10 inch tablet but make sure I can use it as a mobile too.

[Proboscis]

17 hours ago, ChipButty said:

The best book I ever read was my Bank Book

Maybe your best read but hardly a rivetting best seller!

[tifino]

There is always https://issuu.com/search?q=Type here for whatever you are after 

 

- I go here for anything from book, manuscripts, Newspapers, and comics...

[billd766]

9 minutes ago, tifino said:

There is always https://issuu.com/search?q=Type here for whatever you are after 

 

- I go here for anything from book, manuscripts, Newspapers, and comics...

I haven't come across any Asterix yet but I used to follow the comic strip ones. Now if only I could remember the paper they were in it would be worth logging in daily just for that.

 

Goole Is my friend.

 

https://asterixonline.info/comics/index.php?manga=Asterix_Comics&chapter=01

Edited September 26, 2020 by billd766
added extra text

[billd766]

3 hours ago, peterpaintpot said:

Yes, I second that. Great for taking on trips as you can have an excess of books and short stories with you. I would recommend looking at Kindle Unlimited a lending library the monthly fee from Amazon UK is a few pence under 8 pounds and for that you can hold eight books at once and read an unlimited number every month. If like me you are a prolific reader it is a money saver.

I generally load about 25 books at a time and thanks to the guy who gave me 165 Gb of books, they are free.

 

On my Lenovo I also do crosswords, play games, work the internet, read emails, TVF, news as well.

 

The Kindle is fine as an ebook reader but it is really limited if you want to do something else other than read.

Edited September 26, 2020 by billd766

[tifino]

likewise, I have 110s of downloaded eBooks, passed on from a matey

 

I think I read a couple of them, but they have sat in various spare MyBook drives, gathering dust in Storage...  Once I got the YouTube bug, the 'stories' I now follow now just 'have to' have Sound! 

[LomSak27]

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

It does all the Kindle can do and most things my desktop can do. I bought it to replace my mobile as well but I found that I can't use it as a phone for some odd reason. When I replace it I will buy another 10 inch tablet but make sure I can use it as a mobile too.

I bought a first gen paperwhite kindle (backlit) five years ago. It accepts other formats, although you need to convert epubs to mobi. I get most of my books from my friendly next door neighbor, Calico Jack.  However I also buy on occasion from Amazon. Great thing, Family members buy gift cards and send to me. An easy gift for then, if they are feeling guilty during the holidays. BTW I encourage that guilty feeling.   I turned my tablet into a jukebox for music.

[billd766]

2 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

I bought a first gen paperwhite kindle (backlit) five years ago. It accepts other formats, although you need to convert epubs to mobi. I get most of my books from my friendly next door neighbor, Calico Jack.  However I also buy on occasion from Amazon. Great thing, Family members buy gift cards and send to me. An easy gift for then, if they are feeling guilty during the holidays. BTW I encourage that guilty feeling.   I turned my tablet into a jukebox for music.

The problem I have with my downloaded ebook library is that I may have the same author and book in several formats and perhaps in different downloads as well, This is why I am editing the library, to weed out extra books and only using the mobi format.