What's on your bookshelf?

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:52 pm

Apart from paperback novels or library books, what do you keep on your bookshelf as reading material? The sort of books you never pass on or throw away. I've got a pretty varied selection and was just wondering about the rest of you. Tell!

chris · Post by **chris** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:58 pm

I got Winnie the Pooh for my first Christmas, and still have them, and read them occasionally when I'm bored.

enfieldwhite · Post by **enfieldwhite** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:59 pm

Latest additions are 'The lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot' and 'Bollocks to Alton Towers ( a series of alternative British Days out)'

I have read Lord of the Rings 6 times. The 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' more than I care to mention and the'Gap' series once.

Stephen Donaldson and Tolkein all the way for me.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:04 am

enfieldwhite wrote:Latest additions are 'The lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot' and 'Bollocks to Alton Towers ( a series of alternative British Days out)'

I have read Lord of the Rings 6 times. The 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' more than I care to mention and the'Gap' series once.

Stephen Donaldson and Tolkein all the way for me.

Read the 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' years ago. Bought my first one on a day out in The Lakes. Amazing stuff.

enfieldwhite · Post by **enfieldwhite** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:06 am

TANGODANCER wrote:
enfieldwhite wrote:Latest additions are 'The lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot' and 'Bollocks to Alton Towers ( a series of alternative British Days out)'

I have read Lord of the Rings 6 times. The 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' more than I care to mention and the'Gap' series once.

Stephen Donaldson and Tolkein all the way for me.
Read the 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' years ago. Bought my first one on a day out in The Lakes. Amazing stuff.

Good news is the the first book of the 'third chronicles' is now out, What about the'Clan of the Cave Bear' by Jean M. Auel?

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:11 am

enfieldwhite wrote: [Good news is the the first book of the 'third chronicles' is now out, What about the'Clan of the Cave Bear' by Jean M. Auel?

No, not done that enfield. My daughter bought me a beautifullyillustrated copy of "The Hobbit" a few years ago. It's a gorgeous book and the illustrations are works of art. I'll never part with that.

Dujon · Post by **Dujon** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 3:32 am

I used to own both the trilogies of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, plus a small (and darned expensive) filler-innerer which covered a small missing section pertaining to a couple of the characters. Regrettably I lent the first two of the first set to a staff member and, not surprisingly, didn't receive them back.

Donaldson frustrates me. He seems to write repetitively and yet manages to keep me turning the pages. If you sit back and analyse his writings and tried to compress them into one phrase I think you'd have to come up with, "one long moan".

As has enfieldwhite I have Clan of the Cave Bear on a bookshelf. She wove a pretty good yarn and included, at least from my superficial readings on the subject, a reasonably accurate precis of tribal life - and interaction between tribes - during the period in which the story was set. I'm sure she wrote a follow up novel to Clan and I'm certain that I bought it. Oddly enough it's only a couple of months ago I looked for it but, like many books I've owned, it's gone missing.

Much of my 'library' consists of non-fiction publications. Some are reference books, many are more explanatory in nature (meaning that they lead you into a subject and then guide you through the maze). I think my favourites are Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe and Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Ritchie Calder's Man and the Cosmos comes a close third - it's far more wide ranging than the previous two and was written in the late 'sixties' but, to me, is still a compelling read.

Years and years ago I read The Hobbit but really didn't enjoy it much. Perhaps it was the style of writing - I must revisit it.

Talking about style: I have a two volume edition of the works of Henry Lawson (most of you would not have heard of him, but he's famous in Australia). At this point of time I have read very little of them. The reason? This sounds stupid, I know, but it's like reading something that I might have written. I don't know whether it's the style, the phraseology or what but I always feel uncomfortable when I pick one of the books of the shelf and begin to read.

americantrotter · Post by **americantrotter** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:35 am

A couple of churchill books, I have several non-paperbacks, but my favorites are A Peoples History of The United States by Howard Zinn and Guns Germs and Steel, by ??

plodder · Post by **plodder** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:20 am

A heap of WWII history books, The world of Golf an illustrated Atlas, many a cookery book, several atlas', maps and too many childrens books to count.

Backgammon · Post by **Backgammon** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:07 am

Cook books... Heaps and heaps of receipe books. I can't help it, I have to buy them...

Plus a few favourite footie books. I've just re-read 'The Miracle of Castel di Sangro', which is still probably the best football book I've read. I'd recommend it to anyone (but not lend it...).

Gertie · Post by **Gertie** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:19 am

About a thousand Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith cookbooks I've made loads from the Jamie Oliver books they are really tasty and delicious and quite straightforward to manage.

I'm having a go at baking with Delia Smith (well she's not coming to my house I'm reading her book)

I have lots of Jane Austen which I wouldn't part with they were more obsessed with cute boys than I am!!!

I'm reading the Secret History by Donna Tartt at the moment. What a cool name is that?? I wonder if she really is a Tartt or if that is a pseudonym... If it was would you pick Tartt??

Bench · Post by **Bench** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:19 am

At the moment I have a few series of books which will forever adorn my bookshelf:

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
Spares by Michael Marshall Smith
The Grail Trilogy by Bernard Cornwell
The Emperor Series by Conn Iggulden
Life of Pi by....er......
Dirk Gently Detective by Douglas Adams
The Brentford Trilogy by Robert Rankin
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Armageddon.....The Musical by Robert Rankin
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

As well as a few other classics like To Kill a Mocking Bird, 1984, The Wasp Factory, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest......

If you want a review on any of the above then my literary hours are between 9am and 5pm.....

Gertie · Post by **Gertie** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:23 am

Oooh Life of Pi a fabby fabby book.. by Yann Martel? Wasn't he Canadian???

Bench · Post by **Bench** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:23 am

Gertie wrote:Oooh Life of Pi a fabby fabby book.. by Yann Martel? Wasn't he Canadian???

Thats the bugger!! Cheers.

Bruce Rioja · Post by **Bruce Rioja** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:28 am

Loads of stuff by Bill Bryson. Fresh in this week - A Short History of Nearly Everything, which I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into. Other than that, lots of factual stuff and autobiographies. Novel wise I'm still to make a start on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Best novel that I've ever read is The Eye of the Tiger by Wilbur Smith.

Bench · Post by **Bench** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:36 am

Bruce Rioja wrote:Loads of stuff by Bill Bryson. Fresh in this week - A Short History of Nearly Everything, which I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into. Other than that, lots of factual stuff and autobiographies. Novel wise I'm still to make a start on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Best novel that I've ever read is The Eye of the Tiger by Wilbur Smith.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Fabulous book. I really enjoyed it and couldn't recommend it enough.

Wilbur Smith? You can tell you're in your 40's.....

white blood · Post by **white blood** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:39 am

i read alot, but never any fiction - dont see the point. i mostly read biographies, i have read loads, currently im into 'scar tissue' by anthony kiedis (red hot chilli peppers) its a cracking read. Also read all of ben mezrich's non fiction books. when i was younger i read most of the hooligan books too, but thinking back they were all the same and all bullshit.

Bruce Rioja · Post by **Bruce Rioja** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:47 am

Bench wrote:Wilbur Smith? You can tell you're in your 40's.....

Not for one month, 25 days, 14 hours and 10 minutes I'm not, Sunshine!

Seriously though, I'd really recommend Eye of the Tiger. There are twists in it right up to the last line. I found myself sat up reading it at ridiculous times because I couldn't put it down.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:17 am

Bruce Rioja wrote:
Bench wrote:Wilbur Smith? You can tell you're in your 40's.....
Not for one month, 25 days, 14 hours and 10 minutes I'm not, Sunshine!

Seriously though, I'd really recommend Eye of the Tiger. There are twists in it right up to the last line. I found myself sat up reading it at ridiculous times because I couldn't put it down.

Haven't read Eye of the Tiger yet, and I did get a bit fed up of too many Courtney novels,(the early ones were great but he kept it up too long IMO) but "The Sunbird" and "Eagle in the Sky" were terrific reads. Read the Sunbird several times.

communistworkethic · Post by **communistworkethic** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:21 am

Bruce Rioja wrote: Seriously though, I'd really recommend Eye of the Tiger. There are twists in it right up to the last line. I found myself sat up reading it at ridiculous times because I couldn't put it down.

I that what Rocky 3 is based on?

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