OldChinaHam Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Thank you for the Fiction writer list. I will give a few a try, although LeCarre I have read. My preference for Non Fiction has nothing to do with the author being or not being an intellectual. My problem is that my mind wanders back to the real world when I read Fiction. (Films are much the same for me these days. I have no patience with fantasy.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldChinaHam Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 DMC1, you might try this: Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journeyfrom Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davejones Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Just finished Moving To Thailand by Mike Santos - a pretty good book for someone thinking of moving here. Recommended. http://www.amazon.com/Moving-To-Thailand-Everything-ebook/dp/B00CKA3ACI Just started reading Kicking Life's Ass! by Mike <deleted>. This is about the 5th Mike <deleted> book I've read. All have been great reads. I love this guy's writing. His two fiction books - Thailand's Sickest - are particularly good. One of them is free on Amazon Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Kicking-Lifes-Motivational-Series-ebook/dp/B004M8SLQG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Junkie Love by Phil Shoenfelt is a very well written book about being a heroin addict by someone who knows what he is talking about. It made me very happy that I got away from excessive use of hard drugs at a young age, because it was a dead end street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladiator Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Morgan's Run By Colleen McCullough - the author of The Thorn Birds. The plot revolves around Richard Morgan from Bristol. The son on a pub and Innkeeper. Who leads a happy life up until the time he is falsely accused of theft and his world falls apart. He is sentenced to Gaol, initially in Bristol an then in Gloucester, before being shipped to form a colony at Botany Bay and Port Jackson in Australia. A great read. The author also wrote The Thorn Birds, which I found difficult to get into but I will give it another try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladiator Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Morgan's Run By Colleen McCullough - the author of The Thorn Birds. The plot revolves around Richard Morgan from Bristol. The son on a pub and Innkeeper. Who leads a happy life up until the time he is falsely accused of theft and his world falls apart. He is sentenced to Gaol, initially in Bristol an then in Gloucester, before being shipped to form a colony at Botany Bay and Port Jackson in Australia. A great read. The author also wrote The Thorn Birds, which I found difficult to get into but I will give it another try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaccha Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 "Always check university libraries." Thank you. 2 outta 3 ain't bad! And, what DMC1 says is actually true. After passing a certain age, this probably varies with the individual, fiction ceases to have much interest, especially with the world falling apart around us. It has been quite some time since I have been able to read more than a few pages of fiction. It may be my age, or it may just be my world. I've found the opposite. I have read almost entirely factual, but now am increasingly reading fiction, albeit fiction often described as philosphical fiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 I am pretty old and I read both fact and fiction. I go back and forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyDrinker Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Just re-read 'The Lost World' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Super read! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine51 Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 The collective works of Douglas Adams...in ebook form. Anybody want a copy pm me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldChinaHam Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 sunshine51 Thank you but I think I already have access to that. What I do need though is a complete unabridged set of OED electronic version. If you have it, please send to me. I am try8ing to implove me witing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazygourmet Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Just finished: Just starting: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddhistVirus Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 sunshine51 I am try8ing to implove me witing. Looks like you need a good editor too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I am reading Nightmare in Bangkok by Andy Botts. It is another "served time in Bangkok" thing, but well written and a good story. I had kind of sworn off books about Thailand by little known authors at one time, but have read some excellent ones lately about being in prison with a lot of interesting stuff about their lives on the outside. It makes me open to trying more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simple1 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 War Against the Taliban - Why It All Went Wrong by UK jounalist Sanday Gall who did a lot of assignments in Afghanistan, including two documentaries during the Russian invasion. Also has founded a charity in Afghanistan who those who lost limbs in combat. Provides insignt to the alliances with the various warlords and lessons learnt for NATO forces Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookMan Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I have not read it, but this book is titled 'The <deleted> Diet' http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/news-features/we-think-weve-found-the-worst-book-of-the-year-20130531-2nggw.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tutsiwarrior Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 (edited) oh, wahhhh... I left me kindle on the airplane from Paris to Doha and I don't think that I'll be able to retrieve it... wahhhhh...and I was right at the end of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure...what shall Sue and Jude do in their predicament?.... (and then someone well known to this forum will say: 'you poor man, please come to my house and we shall discuss the ending and I make a grand cup of tea...' and then I shall say: 'd'ye mind if I bring some voddy to liven things up a bit? and shall you be wearing short cut-offs and a t-shirt? immodesty and a lack of social decorum are the major themes, you know') Edited June 4, 2013 by tutsiwarrior Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellydog Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Old Murakami. "Dance, Dance, Dance". Wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaccha Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 'Dostoevsky, Kierkegarde, Nietzsche & Kafka' by William Hubben (1952) A book with perhaps the easiest title to misspell in the history of books. An attempt to synthesis the works of the 4 great thinkers of existentialism. A quick read-- possible in under 4 hours. And also, despite yours truly being sloshed on Manhattan, Irish Car Bomb and a martini, I was still able to read my way through it. But the book is a painful failure. It's attempt to mock the atheist opinions of Nietzche as stuck at the first level of aesthetics and never having reached the exultant level of faith simply rings hollow, particularly when most intellectuals are solidly atheist. His attempt to synthesise through Christianity doesn't work. It has made me go back and re-read Dostoevesky's Grand Inquisitor chapter. Like most Anglo-Saxons the overtop Russian histrionics is laugably unconvincing (in the same way that Arab mourning feels etc.) but the author (Hubben) did at least try to show why Mr. D. did what he did. All in all, a book to avoid. Right, I need a Tom Collins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StreetCowboy Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 oh, wahhhh... I left me kindle on the airplane from Paris to Doha and I don't think that I'll be able to retrieve it... wahhhhh...and I was right at the end of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure...what shall Sue and Jude do in their predicament?.... (and then someone well known to this forum will say: 'you poor man, please come to my house and we shall discuss the ending and I make a grand cup of tea...' and then I shall say: 'd'ye mind if I bring some voddy to liven things up a bit? and shall you be wearing short cut-offs and a t-shirt? immodesty and a lack of social decorum are the major themes, you know') I'm on the Mayor of Casterbridge at the moment, a post-copyright printing from India, in hardback. There are some irritating type-setting errors; missed words and the like. But it was less than four quid, so one can't complain. SC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaccha Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 (edited) oh, wahhhh... I left me kindle on the airplane from Paris to Doha and I don't think that I'll be able to retrieve it... wahhhhh...and I was right at the end of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure...what shall Sue and Jude do in their predicament?.... (and then someone well known to this forum will say: 'you poor man, please come to my house and we shall discuss the ending and I make a grand cup of tea...' and then I shall say: 'd'ye mind if I bring some voddy to liven things up a bit? and shall you be wearing short cut-offs and a t-shirt? immodesty and a lack of social decorum are the major themes, you know') I'm on the Mayor of Casterbridge at the moment, a post-copyright printing from India, in hardback. There are some irritating type-setting errors; missed words and the like. But it was less than four quid, so one can't complain. SC For a kindle, simply download from Gutenberg or the archive dot org websites the book for free. e.g. Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/143 Edited June 9, 2013 by Gaccha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StreetCowboy Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 oh, wahhhh... I left me kindle on the airplane from Paris to Doha and I don't think that I'll be able to retrieve it... wahhhhh...and I was right at the end of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure...what shall Sue and Jude do in their predicament?.... (and then someone well known to this forum will say: 'you poor man, please come to my house and we shall discuss the ending and I make a grand cup of tea...' and then I shall say: 'd'ye mind if I bring some voddy to liven things up a bit? and shall you be wearing short cut-offs and a t-shirt? immodesty and a lack of social decorum are the major themes, you know') I'm on the Mayor of Casterbridge at the moment, a post-copyright printing from India, in hardback. There are some irritating type-setting errors; missed words and the like. But it was less than four quid, so one can't complain. SC For a kindle, simply download from Gutenberg or the archive dot org websites the book for free. e.g. Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/143 But by the time I've printed it out and got it hard-back bound, it's easy enough just to pick up the cheap editions in the discount bookshop. SC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overherebc Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Reading three at the moment. Horses Arse by Charlie Owen The Dome by Stephen King A Womens Murder Club Omnibus by James Patterson and next in line is Beersheba byPaul Daley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tutsiwarrior Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 (edited) the airline has recovered my lost kindle from the Paris to Doha flight and has advised me that it shall be available for collection at the Premium First Class Lounge in Doha when I return to Jeddah...so that I shall read fer meself what happened to Sue and Jude...thank you, very much... (tutsi is at the Premium Lounge in Doha: 'ahem, yes...I'm missing my kindle ereader from the last flight in from Paris and I believe that it was left in the FIRST CLASS CABIN where I was seated...can you please assist me to retrieve the item?' the ground staff assistant is harassed as things are busy and makes a few calls and advises reluctantly: 'Sir, you will need to contact the airport lost and found and etc...'...tutsi is mildly annoyed (ye can buy a kindle anytime from amazon.com with 2 week delivery) but in full Vincent Price menacing posture he sez: 'am I correct that you have now advised that my inconvenience is 'not your problem'?' and the ground staff assistant then cringes in terror... tutsi then lays a business card on the counter and smiles and sez: 'just take care of it sweetie, will ye?') tutsi is a bastard...just like in the movies... Edited June 9, 2013 by tutsiwarrior Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GooEng Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Seb Faulks is mentioned a couple of pages back - recommend one of his more recent books "Week in December". Am about to re-read the books of my youth by Iain Banks as he sadly passed away this week from cancer. My faves by him were : The Wasp Factory Walking on Glass The Bridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC1 Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) +1 for 'Week in December.' I am reading 'Human Traces' by Seb Faulks at the moment. OK so far, not an action packed book. Edited June 11, 2013 by DMC1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GooEng Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Faulks is an unusual writer, his books explore a wide variety of themes, but are always worth a look. Also recently read one by him called "Engleby", about a psychopathic split personality. Interesting read.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morakot Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz by Frank J. Barrett, Harvard Business Press Books 240 pages. Publication Date: Aug 14, 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaccha Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 (edited) As start of my new adventure in trying to read all the Speculative Fiction (a more appropriate name than Sci-Fi) classics, I have read my way through A Canticle for Leibowitz and The Forever War. A Canticle for Leibowitz (1961) by Walter M. Miller A book about the place of religion and its role in civilization and with the State. it is slow and turgid with many heavy dialogues plucked from Dostoevesky. For an atheist, this is an argument that is well understood and doesn't need a quasi-intellectual barrage of discourse. In contrast.... The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman With chapters averaging only 5 pages, it is sharp and gorgeously written. No long deluges of discourse, but a brilliantly clever conceit of using the aging process of space travel as a metaphor for the Vietnam Vet's experiences in returning to the USA. Download this. Edited June 20, 2013 by Gaccha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 IMO, slow and turgid is a good description of A Canticle for Liebowitz. If you want to read some good sci-fi, start with these: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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