Best books.

[Norman Verona]

What's the best fiction and non-fiction books you've read?

 

 

I'll start with:

 

Fiction: Lord of the Rings.      

 

Non-Fiction: W.S Churchill's History of the World War II.

[Doug Dastardly]

This is tricky...I've read a lot of stuff and some very good stuff too.

 

Non fiction is easier....I like Stephen Ambroses' books on WW2, band of brothers is probably the best known. I'm so glad people have taken the time to record the memories of the people involved while they have been alive. Probably my favourite book , if I have to pick one, is 'The essays of Warren Buffet'

 

Fiction.....Love Nevil Shute, Stig Larsson oh there's just so many   Maybe Prester John, or John Macnab by John Buchan. Or 'In the darkest corner. Or maybe 'Fatherland' by Robert Harris. Or the count of Monte Christo. If I have to choose...maybe the last one, they're called classics for a reason

[Rusty Nuts]

Anything with pictures

from the top shelf

[echoz]

I love Ian Rankins books

[User0083]

Where would auto biography come? Sure that's a mixture of the two!

Fiction: The Game, Neil Strauss

Non fiction: The Game, Neil Strauss

Take away the extrovert personality and surface story, read between the lines and it's actually pretty similar to the life of the average bloke!

[SootySport]

Difficult to name one, Sir Ranulph Fiennes books have good expeditionary stories and funny parts as well.

Charles Dickens for historical fiction. Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero was probably the most absorbing book I've read, even made me cold and shiver at times.

[Norman Verona]

If we include Biography then the huge tomes of the official Biography of Churchill would be my Desert Island Discs book.

[peterg]

I love biographies and possibly to a lesser extent autobiographies so with that in mind a lot of my choices are those...

 

The Endurance - by Caroline Alexander, the tale of Shackletons Antarctic expedition with unpublished photos by Frank Hurley.

 

Churchill's Bodyguard - by Tom Hickman

 

Titanic Voyager - by Patrick Stenson, the story of Charles Herbert Lightoller, the only senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic who amongst other exciting 'adventures' went over to Dunkirk to rescue troops from the beaches in 1940.

 

Touch Wood! - by Duncan Hamilton, his autobiography, best known for winning Le Mans after not expecting to be driving and er, having a few drinks the night before...most of his life is a riot and nothing like you'd expect from a professional racing driver.

 

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee - by Dee Brown a history of the American West 1860-90 from the American Indian's perspective, 30 years of broken promises, disillusionment, war and massacre... as The Times said in their review "your head will pound, your heart ache and your blood boil".

 

also, anything by Bill Bryson as I enjoy the way he describes things and people, even if he is a septic ;-)

[Leftfield]

"Tough guys don't dance " and "The Executioners Song" by Norman Mailer

"Stalin, the Court of the Red Tsar" by Simon Sebag Montefiore

[Terry Everall]

Harry Potter

[pistonbroke]

Touch Wood! - by Duncan Hamilton, his autobiography, best known for winning Le Mans after not expecting to be driving and er, having a few drinks the night before...most of his life is a riot and nothing like you'd expect from a professional racing driver.

 

Brilliant read and what a character , bettered only by the biography of Paul Hawkins .

 

On the same motor sports subject . 

 

Innes Ireland's  All Arms and Elbows  

 

The Last Road Race,  Richard Williams  account of the 1956 Pescara GP

 

 

 

Anything written by Alistair Cooke is shear poetry to me ,  a wonderful way with words and the ability to make the most mundane subject sound interesting .

[boris77]

Fiction: Anything by Douglas Adams

 

Non Fiction: The Kon Tiki expedition by Thor Heyerdahl

[Doug Dastardly]

Is 'Touch Wood' worth £35?

 

Sounds good but that's a bit steep for a book.

[peterg]

Is 'Touch Wood' worth £35?

 

Sounds good but that's a bit steep for a book.

 

in my opinion yes, and you can always sell it on afterwards... it was reprinted in 1992 but I have an original hardback I picked up at Goodwood Festival of Speed about 10-12 years ago, can't remember what I paid for it but I suspect it was £25-30 even then.

[alexander72]

Recently read "Treo - a year with a search dog in Helmand - great read and made me look at life more subjectively.  

 

Non-fiction - "Prof Claus Mattheck  - the body language of tree's - a book that literally gave me a new way of life....