What books are you into? Fiction, (auto)biography, travel, spiritual?

[ozyjon]

Never been able to settle and read a book, find I get restless very quickly.

I prefer to learn something new, a language (Thai), computer skills, website stuff etc.

Something "productive" is perhaps the word, as opposed to just sitting there reading a book, admire those that can, immerse themselves or for some kind of escapism.

I find that reading for information and/or instruction is Ok, but for "pleasure" I just cant seem to do it.

Thank you, can i add my name to your post.

I read a lot of short comments, i can read

short posts, i can learn a language or parts

of a newspaper, i can run through a car work

shop manual or a tutorial on Photoshop or

currently, how to hack wi-fi, although i did

once read ''Huckleberry Finn'' in high school

my one and only book i ever read, and i did

well at school and i have a private pilots

license, but i can't read a novel, i dose off

after the second page, thank you.

[Laza 45]

What a great thread.. so good to see other people enjoy books! Lets keep it going.. a Kindle is tempting.. but I too enjoy a 'real' book..

[Laza 45]

Quick browse and I didn't see the following

1984 - George Orwell. SO many references are made to this book today, it may be lost on you if you don't read it.

Lord of the Flies - William Golding. Same as above.

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein. The introduction to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is short and light. You may get bit by the Tolkein bug, maybe you don't, it's still a fun read.

Hearts in Atlantis - Stephen King. I read this book at least once every six months. It's a little different from his usual stories. It's also not 1000+ pages.

I read every thing Eric Blair wrote 'way back'.. 40 or 50 years ago.. except Burmese Days... what a great find after all these years! If you like this one try... 'Where China Meets India'.. http://us.macmillan.com/wherechinameetsindia/thantmyintu ... Keep the thread going!

[connda]

Historical and present day Geo-politics, specially books by F. William Engdahl.

But also just finished Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson - classic.

And Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm is a work in progress. Tweaking my meditation practice. Not necessarily doing a cover to cover read because the subject matter is not currently within my reach. Nimittas. Been there. Jhana. Maybe some day. Currently working on what Ajahn Brahm calls Full Sustain Attention on the Breath and Full Sustain Attention on the Beautiful Breath. Working on patience and letting go.

And currently finishing up and interview of Joseph Campbell by Bill Moyers that I started, put down for awhile, and now have picked up again.

Happy reading!

[connda]

Thank you for your suggestions all.

Hardly ever read a book or a newspaper.

I still have one book of interest.

Read numerous times.

Until the lights are switched on, I may have to read it again & again.

Do share: What book?

[connda]

I'd suggest, "The Mystery of Shemita" kind of gave me peace.... But then it depends where ones' mind is.....

This is the Shemita Jubilee year. The world's to be reset in 3,2,1.........

[fang37]

What a great thread.. so good to see other people enjoy books! Lets keep it going.. a Kindle is tempting.. but I too enjoy a 'real' book..

I have opened several threads on TV.

A reasonable % have been closed by the moderators. Some posts have been deleted for contravening the rules.

Here, no harassment.

I haven't read much in LOS. Secondly, quality books in LOS are not easy to source outside BKK (I have not even seen a bookstore where I now live).

I hope that members can make this thread a memorable one - a TV GREAT!

[connda]

You or I ending up as a CPA?

I worked for the Australian Tax Office.

Then a university - teaching accounting & taxation law.

Bored to tears - a natural progression.

CPA - loved it!

books - it has been a long time.

Carpetbaggers?

Smut, sex!

Mafia

Try a read of The Godfather Trilogy?

[Paul Laycock]

Try Private Dancer sums up Thailand very well - sorry can't remember the author, easy to read.

[connda]

Read the Bible.

Then you can be come one of the holier than thou posters who infest this forum from time to time, much to the pleasure of us hedonists. They provide hours of fun for all.

Thanks for the reminder: I finished The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels early last month. Read that one cover to cover in two days.

Edited October 4, 2015 by connda

[fang37]

Godfather - addicted to the books & DVDs!

Edited October 4, 2015 by fang37

[connda]

Swedish books, naturally in English, by Liza Marklund, have sold a LOT abroad. They are very good, but read them in the order the were published. The last book in the series have just beem published. I don't know the English title I'm afraid, but Google Liza Marklund and I'm sure you would get both the English titles and the order they were published in.

Amazon I'm sure have them. They call the Swedish crime novels for the last ten years "Swedish Noir". Not just heroes, but people with the same problems that real people have. And a dark side, hence the name "noir".

Sweden puts out some great movies that the US then remakes into mediocre movies Lol. I like watching Swedish movies in Swedish with English subs. The last set:

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Excellent. Now that I'm talking about it, I might get the books.

[connda]

Getting a Kindle would be a good start, easy to carry around for a quick read on the plane/ bus train etc. Lots of fairly inexpensive stuff on Amazon and usually possible to get a preview.

But it might also be interesting to get hard copies of "1984" (Orwell) and "Brave new World" (Huxley), just to see how the world they portrayed compares with what has actually happened. Not read them since my schooldays but might do so again..

Why buy a Kindle. Put the Kindle app on your smart phone. Everybody has a smart phone (well, except for me...don't want one).

[connda]

Godfather - addicted to the books & DVDs!

One more suggestion is you like dark humor based in South East Asia, two authors and their first books.

The Coroner's Lunch: Colin Cotterill

Bangkok 8: John Burdett

[bazza40]

Gene Wolfe. I quote the Washington Post. If any writer from within any fiction genre ever merited the designation Great Author, it is surely Wolfe.

If you do not understand genre, merited and designation, this author is beyond you. Stick to cowboy books. If you enjoy intelligent brain teasing fiction, this is your series of books to read.

You would probably enjoy Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, there seems to be a few common threads.

If you really want to stretch ( I don't, just too opaque ) Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" or "The Name of the Rose" are suitable subjects.

Arthur Upfield was an Australian author much derided by the literary critics. His "Death of a Swagman" in the Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte series is a great crime story, although anyone looking for sex in Upfield's books will be sadly disappointed.

Did I forget Anne McCaffrey and the Dragonflight series? Shame on me. John Buchan likewise.

The really good authors can produce books based around a common theme for quite some time. Example: Dick Francis. There's a horse race. Either a horse or a person dies. Whodunnit? Lightweight but entertaining.

For those who go as far back as Alistair McLean, it was sad to see the moment really good reads such as "The Guns of Navarone" and "HMS Ulysses" were replaced by potboilers when he ran out of inspiration.

[fang37]

bazza40

another dinkum Aussie?

[Stevemercer]

Getting a Kindle would be a good start, easy to carry around for a quick read on the plane/ bus train etc. Lots of fairly inexpensive stuff on Amazon and usually possible to get a preview.

But it might also be interesting to get hard copies of "1984" (Orwell) and "Brave new World" (Huxley), just to see how the world they portrayed compares with what has actually happened. Not read them since my schooldays but might do so again..

I couldn't resist commenting on 1984, because I've just finished re-reading it and watching the movie again (downloaded from ThePirateBay.se). There are some parallels in 1984 to current governments - 'He who controls the present controls the past...and the future', the importance of free speech in keeping the bastards honest, how to suck up an economy's surplus to keep the working class suppressed in poverty, and how to generate perpetual crisis(?) to keep your population distracted from the government's incompetence.

[jimmysjo]

Never been able to settle and read a book, find I get restless very quickly.

I prefer to learn something new, a language (Thai), computer skills, website stuff etc.

Something "productive" is perhaps the word, as opposed to just sitting there reading a book, admire those that can, immerse themselves or for some kind of escapism.

I find that reading for information and/or instruction is Ok, but for "pleasure" I just cant seem to do it.

Thank you, can i add my name to your post.

I read a lot of short comments, i can read

short posts, i can learn a language or parts

of a newspaper, i can run through a car work

shop manual or a tutorial on Photoshop or

currently, how to hack wi-fi, although i did

once read ''Huckleberry Finn'' in high school

my one and only book i ever read, and i did

well at school and i have a private pilots

license, but i can't read a novel, i dose off

after the second page, thank you.

Can you read a take off check list without doseing off? (Sorry. English isn't my native language.)

I really do hope so.

What does having a pilot licence have to do with enjoying a good book?

I read a lot, flying radio controlled model airplanes and MS Flightsim on my computer. I only whish that I could get a private pilots licence.

I _still_ do enjoy a good book.

One thing have nothing to do with the other. Unless of course it's a book about flying :-)

Edited October 4, 2015 by jimmysjo

[jimmysjo]

Swedish books, naturally in English, by Liza Marklund, have sold a LOT abroad. They are very good, but read them in the order the were published. The last book in the series have just beem published. I don't know the English title I'm afraid, but Google Liza Marklund and I'm sure you would get both the English titles and the order they were published in.

Amazon I'm sure have them. They call the Swedish crime novels for the last ten years "Swedish Noir". Not just heroes, but people with the same problems that real people have. And a dark side, hence the name "noir".

Sweden puts out some great movies that the US then remakes into mediocre movies Lol. I like watching Swedish movies in Swedish with English subs. The last set:

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Excellent. Now that I'm talking about it, I might get the books.

The American version is a joke compared to the original movie. That's probobly why they only did one movie of what should have been three.

[bazza40]

bazza40

Another dinkum Aussie?

Don't know about dinkum; however, from Melbourne.

[fang37]

bazza40

Another dinkum Aussie?

Don't know about dinkum; however, from Melbourne.

A Queenslander.

Today - TrueVisions - Broncos v Cowboys.

Top game!

Back to the books.

Looked at Kindle. Think I'll pass today.

I like to feel the book I am reading.

[maximillian]

Ken Follets Pilliar of the Earth is a great book.

I like John Irving stuff as well. Son of the Circus........

Yes, Pillars of the Earth. 800 pages. Wished it had 800 pages more.

Read Walt Whitman or Hermann Hesse

No time wasted

[Frank James]

Where to start...Authors I like.

Orwell: "Burmese Days" is a masterpiece. Cross cultural tragedy. Maugham: "The Moon and Sixpence" made me want to chuck the old life and bust loose, out into the World. Charles Bukowski...unclassifiable. Not for everybody. Wilbur Smith: taught me so much about S. Africa, a place I'll never see in this life. Michael Connelly: great police procedurals. Lee Child: Suspend disbelief and enjoy the adventures of Jack Reacher. Marquis de Sade: SO NASTY, but never boring. George MacDonald Fraser: The Flashman series. Great Historyof the 19th Century, viewed through the eyes of a true cad.

So many more. An endless river of books. Books took me out of the narrow world I was stuck in as a kid, and made me want to learn more, more.

[newnative]

I love to read mystery and suspense novels. Some authors that I find are consistently good and I can recommend are: Lee Childs, Jo Nesbo, Clive Cussler, Stella Rimington, Dick Francis, Ted Bell, Nelson DeMille, Michael Connelly. Jeffrey Deaver, Daniel Silva, Ruth Rendell, Ian Rankin, Ken Follett, Erik Larson, Robert Harris, P D James, Jonathan Kellerman, John Sandford, Elizabeth George, Ed McBain, Joseph Finder, Elmore Leonard, and Martin Cruz Smith.

[Laza 45]

Try Private Dancer sums up Thailand very well - sorry can't remember the author, easy to read.

Stephen Leather.. excellent books.. http://www.stephenleather.com/ ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Leather

[connda]

Swedish books, naturally in English, by Liza Marklund, have sold a LOT abroad. They are very good, but read them in the order the were published. The last book in the series have just beem published. I don't know the English title I'm afraid, but Google Liza Marklund and I'm sure you would get both the English titles and the order they were published in.

Amazon I'm sure have them. They call the Swedish crime novels for the last ten years "Swedish Noir". Not just heroes, but people with the same problems that real people have. And a dark side, hence the name "noir".

Sweden puts out some great movies that the US then remakes into mediocre movies Lol. I like watching Swedish movies in Swedish with English subs. The last set:

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Excellent. Now that I'm talking about it, I might get the books.

The American version is a joke compared to the original movie. That's probobly why they only did one movie of what should have been three.

Agreed! The difference between night and day. It's unfortunate that the average Kim Kardashian, reality TV watch, clone can sit though a movie with sub-titles. Gotta have a remake, and the remakes are generally sh*t.

Edited October 4, 2015 by connda

[connda]

If you are a follower of HBOs A Game of Thrones, then I highly suggest wading into the first book of the same name, that is the beginning of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. Yep, it's the thick book, but it's written in a Point of View style were each chapter is a character in the first person. The reading is easy but descriptively rich in texture. Pick it up and start, and it will be difficult to put down.

My only regret is that HBO is at the point where, in order to continue the series, they are going to have to create the narrative, because the series will push into the Winds of Winters book that has not yet been published. Not sure what GRR and HBO contractual agreement was, but last season the series seriously deviated from the narrative in the fourth and fifth books, A Feast of Crow and A Dance of Dragons. Without The Winds of Winter published, I'm not sure who is now writing the screen plays. Incredible HBO series, just hope it doesn't die on the vine from neglect.

[jimmysjo]

Swedish books, naturally in English, by Liza Marklund, have sold a LOT abroad. They are very good, but read them in the order the were published. The last book in the series have just beem published. I don't know the English title I'm afraid, but Google Liza Marklund and I'm sure you would get both the English titles and the order they were published in.

Amazon I'm sure have them. They call the Swedish crime novels for the last ten years "Swedish Noir". Not just heroes, but people with the same problems that real people have. And a dark side, hence the name "noir".

Sweden puts out some great movies that the US then remakes into mediocre movies Lol. I like watching Swedish movies in Swedish with English subs. The last set:

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Excellent. Now that I'm talking about it, I might get the books.

The American version is a joke compared to the original movie. That's probobly why they only did one movie of what should have been three.

Agreed! The difference between night and day. It's unfortunate that the average Kim Kardashian, reality TV watch, clone can sit though a movie with sub-titles. Gotta have a remake, and the remakes are generally sh*t.

Thank God that we in Sweden had subtitles on all English launguage movies and TV-shows. I think i learned more from that than I did in school. Not perfecly as you probably can see, but I didn't have to hear John Wayne saying "up mit den Händen" instead of "hands up" as I had to hear when in Germany.

[anon4546543]

This is one post that I wish could last forever. Thanks to some posters who suggested books I could read. Maybe there is some profit to set up an English book exchange in Bangkok. But this post is sent to British and American readers who had a parent serving in Britain in WW11. Len Deighton wrote many iconic spy thrillers. But his book Goodbye Mickey Mouse should be read by all Englishmen. All Americans too, it is about a Mustang fighter pilot based in England.

Another is by Leslie Thomas, famed for his Virgin Soldier series. ( these are good books too) But he wrote a book called The Magic Army. The American army preparing to invade fortress Europe and the tragedies they suffered long before the big event. Both these stories are written through the eyes of British people. Have a look all you old old farts. They will remind us how much we owe these young American men, and all allies too I could go on.

[Cam Khao]

Gene Wolfe. I quote the Washington Post. If any writer from within any fiction genre ever merited the designation Great Author, it is surely Wolfe.

If you do not understand genre, merited and designation, this author is beyond you. Stick to cowboy books. If you enjoy intelligent brain teasing fiction, this is your series of books to read.

You would probably enjoy Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, there seems to be a few common threads.

If you really want to stretch ( I don't, just too opaque ) Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" or "The Name of the Rose" are suitable subjects.

Arthur Upfield was an Australian author much derided by the literary critics. His "Death of a Swagman" in the Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte series is a great crime story, although anyone looking for sex in Upfield's books will be sadly disappointed.

Did I forget Anne McCaffrey and the Dragonflight series? Shame on me. John Buchan likewise.

The really good authors can produce books based around a common theme for quite some time. Example: Dick Francis. There's a horse race. Either a horse or a person dies. Whodunnit? Lightweight but entertaining.

For those who go as far back as Alistair McLean, it was sad to see the moment really good reads such as "The Guns of Navarone" and "HMS Ulysses" were replaced by potboilers when he ran out of inspiration.

If you prefer something a little more mature than Wheel of time and the Pern novels, check out Steven Erikson's series of 10 books, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. 3.5 million words, pretty cool. I've read the whole lot about 5 times now and there are still some parts where it's so complex I'm not sure exactly what is going on.