recommended "must read" books for a very part time reader.

[XWGT]

For a little sci fi or fantasy

Magician - Raymond E Feist. Now 17? books in the series but the first is still the best
Game of Thrones - George Martin. Brilliant series
Assassins Quest and The Tawny Man series - Robin Hobb.
Dune and associated works - Frank Herbert
The Stand , IT and 10 others - Stephen King
The Lies of Locke Lamora- Scott Lynch

[Lotte]

+1 for both Terry Pratchett and Game of Thrones (though Game of thrones is a bit on the heavier side)

Ian Irvine and Traci Harding are also good sci-fi/fantasy authors if that's your thing.
I'd also recommend Ted Dekker's Circle Saga (Black, White, Red and Green)

[Captain Stubing]

Papa,
Have you heard of Evan Green? I've got one of his books, Dust and Glory, about Jack Murray competing in the Redex around Australia Rally in themed 50's. It's a bit of fiction based on fact, as Evan Green competed with Jack Murray in racing for years. A great read!

[poppa smurf]

ah! "gelignite" Jack......that would be a good read.

another for my ever growing list.

[TheSneakiness]

Anything real I like reading. I can't get into made up stuff.

[BENT_8]

Hi Poppa, if you like Aussie books and don't mind a good crime novel check out the work of Robin Bowles.
She writes from a neutral perspective and has a long list of people in high places she draws her information from, no wonder she is so respected when you read her work.

I have just finished 'Blood brothers' the Jeffrey Gilham family murders story.

many of our NSW bretharen would be familiar with the triple homicide which took place in a quite river side setting south of Sydney some 20 years ago.

It is a great insight into how what initially seemed like an open and shut case can become one of the countries most drawn out legal battles in history as a result of poor decision making and destroyed evidence.
There have been further developments after the books release, but it a good read regardless.

She also writes on Peter Falconio, 'Dead Centre' and 'justice Denied' the Jaidyn Leskie mystery among others.
Definitely worth a look if true crime gets your blood flowing.

If you like a good footy book I recommend 'Open Mike' by Mike Sheehan.
It is written dialogue from interviews with the games legends and has been a great source of information which I hadn't known before.

[pottery beige]

young blood

gets right into the family murders.. big vonny einem..

chilling stuff

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Cheese3

Well.... I don't read books at all but when I was in Europe back packing I was recommend one. It's the only novel I have read in my adult years (7years) and ive read it multiple times just because its entertaining, don't take it too literary but it's a good read.

The Game
by Neil Strauss

I do most of my reading while away backpacking... swapped a heap of books on the road at various hostels... Read some excellent and very well used books!

Got given The Da Vinci Code in UB Guesthouse, Mongolia and it kept me busy during the 2 week 2400km road trip in a weird Soviet / Russian 4x4 van around the Gobi Desert



Spent 2 weeks in Egypt in the back of a troopy which didn't make for easy reading, but I caught up when we spent 3 days / nights on a Felluca drifting down the Nile.....

[Burnout]

"Bill the Bastard"; "Rescue @ 2100 Hours" by Tom Trumble; "The Boy Colonel" by Will Davies.
Some good recent Bloke Books.

[Franco Cozzo]

The Hunger Games is an alright series of books, I'm mainly a fan of non fiction though.

Anyone here know of any good War/Notable events (9/11, etc) non fiction books/documentaries?

Thats my cuppa tea.

[Moby Vic]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

The Hunger Games is an alright series of books, I'm mainly a fan of non fiction though.

Anyone here know of any good War/Notable events (9/11, etc) non fiction books/documentaries?

Thats my cuppa tea.

Paddy's Lament, by Thomas Gallagher, is a fascinating and horrifying account of the Potato Famine of the 1840s (spoiler alert: England does not come out looking well).

If you have any interest in the American Civil War, Co. Aytch, by Sam R. Watkins is an interesting first-hand account from a Confederate soldier. The memoirs of William T. Sherman are also good, but that is a gigantic book, some 900 pages.

Moving into the 20th century, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath that Brought down Al Capone, by William J. Helmer and Arthur J. Bilek, is very good. It sheds new light on who actually carried out the massacre and why, gives a lot of information on political and police corruption in Chicago, and outlines the beginnings of ballistics analysis and forensics for police work.

Helmer also wrote an excellent book about the history of the Thompson submachine gun called The Gun that Made the Twenties Roar, but that book is difficult to find these days.

I haven't read this one yet, but I have a copy of The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, by Iris Chang. I have heard that it is very good.

To Fly and Fight, by Clarence "Bud" Anderson, is an excellent account by one of America's great flying aces. He flew a P-51 Mustang (and many other planes) in the ETO during WWII, and had a long military career as a fighter pilot and test pilot after that. He named all his planes Old Crow.

Robert C. Mason started a new genre—the story of the Vietnman helicopter pilot—with Chickenhawk. That's a great book, but I think Tom A. Johnson's To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey PIlot in Vietnam is even better. Johnson flew a great variety of missions than Mason, and had some more harrowing experiences.

For documentaries, I heartily recommend two from Ken Burns: The Civil ar and Prohibition (but all of his documentaries are worth watching).

The old British series The World at War still holds up. I think that was from Thames, not from the BBC. It was made in the 1970s, and many of the key figures were still alive at the time, and were interviewed. It is a bit Euro-centric, but efforts were clearly made for balance. It is an epic documentary, narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier.

[DJR-351]

I have just finished reading "The White Divers of Broome" a cracking non-fictional book by John Bailey, having worked in the pearling industry myself (many years ago) from Broome WA to the Coburg Peninsular NT I couldn't resist it and would recommend it to anyone, it will be an eye opener for some.....

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003R50AQE/...4466410_M1T1DP

In 1912 Broome was as much Asian as Australian, filled with the smell of unfamiliar spices and a babel of competing languages. It was a frontier town, where racial tensions simmered uneasily between whites, Asians and Aborigines; age-long inhabitants of the land around Broome who had been originally forced to skin-dive for shells, but who were now displaced and discarded as it became harder to find.

In that year, twelve British Royal Navy-trained divers and their tenders were sent to Broome, urged on by a Federal Government deep in the grip of the 'White Australia' policy and anxious to rid the country of the last remaining Asian 'taint'. Their task was to master the perilous art of pearl-shell diving, and overcome the Asian stranglehold on the pearling industry, proving once and for all the supremacy of the white man over the coloured.

The White Divers of Broome tells the extraordinary story of this experiment, and its fatal aftermath. Set against the backdrop of Broome, it vividly conjures up a world where lanes and slums teemed with hawkers, noodle stalls, opium dens and prostitutes more redolent of Asia than Australia; and where pearl shell mattered more than human life.

The White Divers of Broome is a gripping narrative, and a window on a past that echoes with many of the same fears, prejudices and hopes as our society today.

[poppa smurf]

well done you lot, a heap of damn fine books,.......already knocked a couple over and I have to say enjoying the "me" time.

a wee dram, and a good book......been missing out all these years on another simple pleasure.

just finding it hard to find a "hidey" hole away from "she' who would have me wearing a ball and chain and breaking rocks all day

[Madaya]

Poppa, I sussed out your pre history of books, many I have not read, but the queue is long, yet slowly I creep towards the cashier.
The one and only one Sci Fi book I will offer you and everyone is...
On My Wat to Paradise by Dave Wolverton/David Farland.


here are just a small example of comments on Amazon

"On My Way to Paradise is an incredibly great work, far better than just about any of the NY Times Bestsellers, meaning it should have been recognized as a masterpiece even outside the SF genre".

"sincerely believe that this is one of the best science fiction novels ever written. Ever since I discovered it back in college, I can't go longer than 18 months without reading it again"

"This book is a masterpiece. It's a black, black shame on the entire publishing establishment that it ever went out of print, but now that it's returned as an ebook, I'm so incredibly happy. If you're looking for a deeply powerful work of science fiction that makes you think and makes you feel, I can't recommend this book highly enough"

"I'm a political consultant - this is my life yet this book gave me quite a bit to think about. To my shock, it also gave me views that have held up well years after having read this. The only negative I can say about this book is that it's not required reading for EVERYBODY."

Other comments alert that this is perhaps on of the most powerful pieces of English Literature ever written


I have a spare copy of the original (yeah, I loaned out a few that didn't come back) if you are interested, I'll send. If you don't feel you need a quiet walk around the block after the first few chapters, return it. Fine. But we are all flying along on the Chareon to Paradise - all of us.

[nuthin' fancy]

J P Donleavy's Ginger Man

[Blue Oval Mopar Man]

Another vote for Robert G Barrett . Good ocker Aussie stories , some of them about a charecter called Les Norton , loosly based on himself ( Robert G Barrett ) some would say ! My Fav was "Davo's little something" but "I wouldnt be dead for quids" was pretty good .........ahhh damn it , they were all pretty goo d. .. ... Unfortunately Mr Barrett died of cancer late last year !

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Blue Oval Mopar Man

Unfortunately Mr Barrett died of cancer late last year !

Very Apt. exactly 1 year ago today

[tapeworm]

A Fortunate Life -AB Facey..really good

[Syndrome]

The Bible is a must read even for non-believers.

[DJR David]

The most amazing book I have ever read
http://www.anhdo.com.au/anh-do-autobiography.php


Not my review, but I fully agree with it. I almost ****ed myself laughing a few times, but also had a few cries.....

“The Happiest Refugee” is both Anh Do’s debut in the literary industry, and a bruisingly honest depiction of his life to date. The book starts with Do’s parents meeting and falling in love in war torn Vietnam, and tracks a young Anh as he and his family journey from their homeland to a refugee camp in Malaysia and finally Australia.


Do then goes on to show the reader the pleasures and pitfalls of growing up in Australia as an outsider. One important thing I noticed about his attitude to events in his life is just how unconditionally grateful he is to have experienced even the bad.

He could very well be the next A.B. Facey (“A Fortunate Life”).

The hardest hitting part is just how wonderfully bipolar it can make the reader feel. When you think you’re about to die from laughing, Do wrenches your heartstrings so hard that within an instant you’re on the brink of crying.

The way Do approaches his story is witty, charming, and heart-warming. This book has everything: war, escape, pirates, love, courage, racism, alcoholism, comedy, tragedy and hope. Above all, this book radiates hope.

This is the kind of book that should be a mandatory read in all Australian schools. That being said, it should appeal to anybody from ages 15 to 50 and will show anybody who reads it just how much they have to be grateful for.

[poppa smurf]

big fan of anh do (spelling?) .....I admire someone who stares adversity down and has the guts to bend it to his will.

I will be reading that one for sure.

[doktoravalanche]

Recent books I would go the Dan Brown stuff.........easy to read page turning stuff.........The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.................crap movies though!

[NickyN]

So poppa smurf, how are you doing with this looooong reading list that you have?

Enjoying your time reading?

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by NickyN

So poppa smurf, how are you doing with this looooong reading list that you have?

Enjoying your time reading?

I've managed to read a couple in between "things"......loving every minute of the "me" time.

I've mainly just been chasing the list down and downloading them as a compilation for future perusal at this stage.

however we are knicking off shortly for a month touring through the murraylands of SA, Victoria, NSW, then to the blue mountains via Bathurst, Oberon, Katoomba and home through Broken hill.

I hope to have a wee bit of time to knock a few over then with a glass or three of red.

[NickyN]

Sounds like fun! Please consider "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. And no it's not about elephants drinking water,

It's about an orphaned boy who finds himself joining the circus and through his life, he learns about himself, love and life. It's written through the eyes of Jacob and he reflects about his life from the present where he's about 90 and in a senior home. The author spent time researching circuses and elephants to properly write about them. This book had a long run on the NY Times bestseller list and it's still one of my favs. I've read it 3 times so far. It's beautifully written and captivating.

[poppa smurf]

that was on the idiot box, either last night or the night before, very enjoyable.

[NickyN]

With Reese Witherspoon? I haven't seen it.....somehow I think books do the author justice more than tv/movie would.

[MR REKLAW]

HI Poppa,not sure what you are interested in reading,I am a avid book reader,you could try the Bourne series now runs to 10 books,anything by David Gemmell or Jack DuBrull,Tom Clancy,Clive Cussler,Jules Verne,H G Wells.Cheers Geoff.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by NickyN

With Reese Witherspoon? I haven't seen it.....somehow I think books do the author justice more than tv/movie would.

I'm not sure who was acting in it, fell asleep off and on, but what I remember it was very good.

the book would be far more descriptive with its ability to use the readers imagination rather than a producers "interpretation" of events.

I'll chase it up this afternoon if I get a chance, thats the trouble with work, it interferes with my resting time so much.

besides my boss is a mongrel, but I cant say too much as I'm self employed and I may just sack me if I open my mouth again, already gave myself a verbal warning.

[Fev]

If you're wanting some horror/scifi check out Brian Lumley - some of the most original stories and ideas for paranormal etc i've ever read.

Wanting Heroic Fantasy (think Game of thrones/Lord of the rings stuff) check out David Gemmel he's also got some really original ideas in his stories.