Books

[Hellion]

Presently, I find myself living and working in a small town 1600km (1000 miles) from my home city. Here, I'm close to some family and I have just a few friends about the place.

It's a big change for me. I've spent the bulk of my life in the city, surrounded by plenty of people. I've always valued solitude, but mostly because it was often hard to acquire. Now I'm left with copious amounts of spare time. And approaching 26, it's probably high time I begin to use this time constructively.

One of the drawbacks of living in a small town is that even if there is a bookshop or cultural centre, it's dominated by poorly written and elementary literature or artwork. This is just the lay of the land. No matter, the internet can be my saviour. I've just joined Amazon.com and have already ordered a couple of books to get me going.

But I'm looking for all the recommendations I can get. The more the better. Don't hold back.

[MetalBlade]

What field of literature do you prefer?
Fiction? Biography? Horror? Thriller? Graphic novels? Sci fi? Erotica? Humour?
I have several recommendations.
MONSTER is the autobiography of Sanyika Shakur, the former Crips gang member who has spent his incarceration by converting to Islam and teaching the wrongs of gang life to those at risk of destroying their own lives at an early age by becoming gang members in LA.
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS is the harrowing true story of American student Billy Hayes who was locked up indefinitely in a brutal Turkish prison for drug trafficking. Far greater even than the great movie adaptation.
Brian Lumley's NECROSCOPE is the story of a young Englishman who discovers at an early age he can converse with the dead. And learn their secrets. He is soon hired by MI6 to work at their top secret E-Branch, who specialise in utilising the paranormal talents of these rare individuals at the latter end of the Cold War. This great novel of high horror spawned several excellent sequels, and an excellenter spinoff series.
Harry Harrison's WEST OF EDEN is the tale of a tribe of prehistoric people who fight for survival against an advanced race of reptilians who seek to enslave and destroy them to establish their supremacy. Sounds cheesy but it's very fucking not.
Hugh Zachary's BLOODRUSH is a macabre story about a series of ritualistic Mau Mau killings. An extremely graphic crime thriller.
Sue Townsend's THE SECRET DIARY OF ADRIAN MOLE AGED 13 3/4 is a hilarious fictional diary kept by the introverted titular English schoolboy, whose unique outlook on life was staple reading in my teens.
I am currently reading the book WISEGUYS by Nicholas Pileggi, which was the book which the classic Martin Scorcese film Goodfellas is based.
It's amazing just how much of the book made it into the film.
So yeah, a few recommendations here, Hellion.
Hope they helped.

[Woo]

I don't read that many books tbh.

The last two I read were autobiographies of Blur bassist Alex James 'Bit of a Blur' and Y2J's book also. My favourite book ever though is Battle Royale. It's just fantastic.

[Hellion]

Thanks guys.

I'll definitely hit a couple of those up Metal. I have no preferance for literary style. A good story, well told is enough for me. In my experience they come in all styles.

[Kevin Borg]

I like character-driven, well-written books with some sort of social commentary lingering in the theme. If you want something plot-orriented like Dan Brown, James Patterson etc. I'm not the one you want to take recommendations from. Nevertheless, here are some personal favourites:

I have enjoyed everything written by Joseph Heller; check out Something Happened if you can find it, if not Catch22 is what he received the most fame/recognition for. Something Happened is a character driven story about a dude who is never satisfied with his life and his slow decent into insanity, Catch22 is about the absurdities and bureaucracies of war.

Lamb by Christopher Moore is the brilliantly hilarious story of "Levi Biff", the forgotten best friend of Jesus Christ. It's a really, really good story that neither promotes or insults catholicism, but rather makes interesting connections between all religious/spiritual lifestyles, emphasizing that the message in all of them are the same.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway tells of three different people attempting to do three different things while living under constant threat of snipes in war-torn sarajevo (one dude is attempting to cross a street, one is getting water for his family and his neighbour, and the last girl is a counter-sniper). A cellist plays the same song for 22 days in the middle of the city in honour of 22 people killed by a bomb, and the story is about how he is able to fill the city (and the three people) with hope through his music; it is brilliantly written, I plan on finding my Galloway when I can.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. is a really heavy read but also brilliant. It is a very depressing statement on human nature. It spans several centuries, starting with Humanity trying to recover after annihilating itself with nuclear weapons to the point where they surpass the technology of present day.