VinnieK Posted December 4, 2006 Posted December 4, 2006 I'm not a super big fan of literature, but I could recommend anything by Camus, or any by P.G. Wodehouse, or indeed a strange combination of the two assembled by randomly ripping out pages from both's books and sticking them togeter to form a new one. Glammorama by Douglas Copeland (any of his books I would read over and over again) Glamorama is by Bret Easton Ellis, not Coupland (he wrote Generation X and Girlfriend in a Coma).
Chinahand Posted December 5, 2006 Posted December 5, 2006 I'm not a super big fan of literature, but I could recommend anything by Camus, or any by P.G. Wodehouse, or indeed a strange combination of the two assembled by randomly ripping out pages from both's books and sticking them togeter to form a new one. Glammorama by Douglas Copeland (any of his books I would read over and over again) Glamorama is by Bret Easton Ellis, not Coupland (he wrote Generation X and Girlfriend in a Coma). Bret Easton Ellis also wrote American Pyscho ... now that is quite a book, Yuppies, murder and sex! Its an awesome satire on New York in the late 80s early 90s ... with lots of blood and violent, mysogonistic sex ... and a laundry list of the designer labels every well dressed psycho needs!
VinnieK Posted December 5, 2006 Posted December 5, 2006 Bret Easton Ellis also wrote American Pyscho ... now that is quite a book, Yuppies, murder and sex! Its an awesome satire on New York in the late 80s early 90s ... with lots of blood and violent, mysogonistic sex ... and a laundry list of the designer labels every well dressed psycho needs! My girlfriend partly wrote her dissertation on American Psycho, which I enjoyed reading more than I did the actual book - there weren't nearly enough romantic misunderstandings and cheeky toffers trying to scheme their way out of various unwelcome engagements for my liking.
Tea&Biscuits Posted December 6, 2006 Posted December 6, 2006 I'm not a super big fan of literature, but I could recommend anything by Camus, or any by P.G. Wodehouse, or indeed a strange combination of the two assembled by randomly ripping out pages from both's books and sticking them togeter to form a new one. Glammorama by Douglas Copeland (any of his books I would read over and over again) Glamorama is by Bret Easton Ellis, not Coupland (he wrote Generation X and Girlfriend in a Coma). Sorry I meant Ellis and then that I would read all books by Coupland and Ellis! Same kind of authors!
Tea&Biscuits Posted December 6, 2006 Posted December 6, 2006 I loved Coupland's Generation X - one of those books that you could just sit and read in a day by the beach and although not much content in the book in that it is quite plain writing it just gives you pointers to think about your own life - bit like the film American Beauty! Glammorama - Ellis, much better than American Physco - partly because Glam... seemed so real like someones diary and you wonder how much of what he writes actually goes on - of course it does! His description into the shallow world of celebrity makes you thankful you are not part of it! One of my all time fave books is Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - the most "alive" book I have ever read and I feel enchanted by it everytime I read it! The way she cooks with her emotions and just how magical the whole story is!!
VinnieK Posted December 6, 2006 Posted December 6, 2006 Have you read Ellis' latest novel? It received distinctly mixed reviews from what I can remember. Although I'm not a very big fan of his, he was probably one of the defining figures of pop culture in early to mid 90's literature, I think a lot of the bad reviews he's recently received are because he just hasn't moved on yet.
Tea&Biscuits Posted December 7, 2006 Posted December 7, 2006 Lots of my fave authors have the Ellis problem in that many of their books are based around the same type of theme, I have not yet read his new book but to be honest I picked it up the other week and read the back and it just didnt appeal to me at all - maybe now that I am older i am looking for something different to read and I like to be challenged a bit more. I love the author Niall Griffiths, his book Grits I read years ago and I just thought he was so raw and his books often feel so gritty and dirty you want to wash your hands afterwards! However, after reading his book Kelly and Victor - I couldnt bare to read his other book Stump as I had just had enough of that theme although I would love to read something else he has written that are not based around the themes of his other books! He has actually written loads of books but I need to investigate more! Irvine Welsh is another one, yet he keeps the same kind of theme he manages to impress me evertime with his work! I have recently got into Will Self, after reading some of his short stories in a book of erotic fiction I decided to hunt him out and read his Cock N Bull stories! amazingly weird book, although I never got to the end cause my mate threw up on my copy by accident one night so will have to buy it again! I also love erotic fiction and collect it with a passion! Its ladies porn essentially!
martyn Posted October 12, 2007 Posted October 12, 2007 here some nice ones to try out i've read recently Darkness Visible by William Styron My Idea of Fun - Will Self American Psycho (i'm on at the moment) A Brief History of Tractors in Ukranian - Marina Lewycka
Tranq Posted October 12, 2007 Posted October 12, 2007 American Psycho is probably my favourite book of all time. The movie was pretty good too. The second movie was Sh-i-t-e. It was hard to top Mr Bales convincing performance.
Major Chip Hazzard Posted October 13, 2007 Posted October 13, 2007 Only one book for me that stands out far above the others. "The Manipulated Man By Esther Vilar" Total classic and ever man should be given a copy. It's a very frank and brutal unmasking of the human female to reveal the true person behind the feminine mask. What a wake up call. It's real life Matrix stuff. My life has never been the same since reading it. If you really want to know what women are think read this... and it's not a pretty picture either. I read it about ten years ago, and it was like somebody had removed the lace net curtins in front of how I viewed life. Oh, every thing is crystal clear now.. It's very funny walking down Stand street or the likes, and knowing exactly what is going on behind all the facade of make-up of each female that passes you by. You often see me with a huge grin on my face as I see yet another women with her all too willing to please slave in tow. It's quite sad really. Sample chapters here... http://books.google.im/books?id=UMum1kfbos...nt&ct=title
oogie boogie Posted January 18, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 i'd like to add World War Z to my list. i'm half way through it at the moment and it's forking ace
bluemonday Posted January 18, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 Dune Frank Herbert Epic tale of politics, human nature and ecology set in a future interstellar empire. Rightly compared with Lord of The Rings in scale and imagination. A rich, gripping narrative with superbly constructed characters in a complex story. Like all good books, it can be read time and time again. I was surprised that it only came 51st in Waterstones/C4 greatest books of the twentieth century poll ( LOTR was 1st ) but that's not bad when you look at the calibre of the other 99 I suppose it could be argued that it's not the easist book to get into but well worth it If you ever read a single Sci Fi Book, make it this one.
Bananaman Posted January 18, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 Any of the Cornwell's Sharpe series, read all of them at least four times some are on their fifth go. The same thing with any of Robert Rankin's Brentford Trilogy. Just love Omally and Pooley, again I've read each book about three times.
Ean Posted January 18, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 Just read "The Terminal Man" by Sir Alfred Mehran and found it very interesting, the author is an Iranian exile who lost his travel documents on the way to Britain and has to stay in Terminal 1 in Charles De Gaulles. The book is written as a series of diary entries but no in chronological order, as the book goes on Sir Alfred's background is slowly revealed and more is written about his current situation. The book i read before that was "Last Post" by Max Arthur which is a series of interviews with the last survivors of World War 1 in Britain. A very humbling read, not concerned with facts and figures or the official military history but the stories of ordinary soldiers. I'd recommend anyone to read it.
modey Posted January 20, 2008 Posted January 20, 2008 Just read "The Terminal Man" by Sir Alfred Mehran and found it very interesting, the author is an Iranian exile who lost his travel documents on the way to Britain and has to stay in Terminal 1 in Charles De Gaulles. The book is written as a series of diary entries but no in chronological order, as the book goes on Sir Alfred's background is slowly revealed and more is written about his current situation. The film ,which was based on his story, The terminal, with tom hanks in is prety good too. Just finished reading Marching powder by rusty young Basically it's a convicted british drug smugglers story from inside bolivias san pedro prison, brilliant story of what goes on in there.
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