Your best ever read, or the book that changed your mind.

[mervyn]

I’m posting this because I’m always on the look-out for new stuff. My best ever read was at the age of around 12/13 when our English teacher explained why he read Lorna Doone twice a year, always in one sitting because it was so gripping. So I read it, and boy was he right. However the book had such a brilliant impact I’ve been scared to re-read it because I don’t want to diminish the memory of that first read.

Here’s a book that changed my mind. About 5 years ago my son and Swedish daughter-in-law gave up their bed to give my wife and me a more comfortable night. On her side table she’d started a book by Max Tegmark entitled ‘our mathematical universe’. He’s a Nobel prize winning Scientist. Definitely not my usual choice of reading, but I made the mistake of glancing at the first few paragraphs, and next thing it was 4.30 a.m. and I was halfway through! He explains in simple layman terms what makes the universe tick, and has really opened up my mind in a way which suddenly makes black holes, dark matter, quantam mechanics and all those weird subjects very interesting.

So, any further suggestions for a good read would be appreciated, as I’m stuck indoors for the next month.

 

[Quinny]

Oh, I've been struggling to think of an answer to this.

Non-fiction is easy: that would have to be Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I was captivated by the series when it first came out: Sagan explained various aspects of cosmology and science in a way which was easy to understand without being patronising. I adored the music (still got the original vinyl up in the loft) and have been a life-long fan of Vangelis ever since. But the book (which my mum got me for Christmas after I first watched the series) blew my mind and opened me up to a (very amateur) interest in cosmology and astronomy. I've still got that hardback in my collection on astronomy books in my study.

Fiction is harder. LotR has to be up there which I first read in my early teens, but I think in terms of novels it would have to be either The Woman in White or The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I've always been interested in early detective novels (I did a module on them as part of my English Literature degree) and the latter is lauded as being one of the first of that genre, but The Woman in White is just as well written and as enjoyable.

 

[mervyn]

Agree about the Wilkie Collins. Had totally passed me by until my daughter put me on to both books about ten years ago.

 

[Aldershot Exile]

Two great fiction book I have read and absolutely loved:

'Last Orders' by Graham Swift.
'A Sense of Ending' by Julian Barnes

Both were Booker Prize winners.

Both are very readable, and not particularly long.

Honorable mentions to:

'Notes From A Small Island' by Bill Bryson-hilarious.

'What A Man Is' by David Szalay

 

[Age of reason]

Two great fiction book I have read and absolutely loved:

'Last Orders' by Graham Swift.
'A Sense of Ending' by Julian Barnes

Both were Booker Prize winners.

Both are very readable, and not particularly long.

Honorable mentions to:

'Notes From A Small Island' by Bill Bryson-hilarious.

'What A Man Is' by David Szalay

The road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson is very good too.

 

[Frank Butcher]

Always non-fiction for me.

I would choose Ian Kershaw’s Hitler books - Hubris and Nemesis. A lesson from history of how easily we (human beings) can become convinced, and why it must never be allowed to happen again - even though it kind of has. It really puts you at the heart of the development of a terrible ideology and the man who came from practically nothing.

Not bedtime reading but incredibly thorough and thought provoking.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

When Covid struck I got into reading books, nothing heavy, just fiction and usually crime thrillers. After Covid I've carried on reading and I usually read a book every 10 days to 2 weeks.

Anything by Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay, Mark Edwards, T. M. Logan, Louise Candlish, C. L. Taylor.

 

[Cheltnum Green]

Only book I've read several times (and topical) is "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian", by Marina Lewycka.

It's a celebration of growing old disgracefully and deeply funny.

 

[Aldershot Exile]

I have read a few 'alternative history'.

'Dominion' by C J Sansom was gripping, as was 'Fatherland' by Robert Harris.
I don't read much non fiction, but I recently reread 'Jupiter's travels' by Ted Simon. It is his account of a four year journey around the world on a Triumph motorbike. Brilliant.

 

[Andy70]

Two books about the tendency of humans to ignore the role of luck or randomness. They are likely to alter the way you think about what happens in football!
"Fooled by Randomness" and "The Black Swan" both by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

 

[Bernie Bernbaum]

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressel.

 

[HC Green]

The Harry Potter series, read the series twice now. The first books are really funny but get darker later further on in the series.
Terry Pratchett, I’ve read almost all his Discworld titles, appeals to my sense of humour.
Currently filling in my gaps on E V Thomason’s novels, find then interesting as many are based in the areas either side of the Tamar so I know the locations.

 

[Biggs]

Would always recommend any Bill Bryson, apart from his book on grammar which is incredibly dry in comparison to the others.

 

[mervyn]

Would always recommend any Bill Bryson, apart from his book on grammar which is incredibly dry in comparison to the others.

Agree with you and AOR. The only author who can make me laugh out loud.

 

[Aldershot Exile]

I also thoroughly enjoyed 'Fever Pitch' by Nick Hornby.
It contains one of my favourite quotes:
'The natural state of the football fan is bitter disappointment'