| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. 20:28 - Dec 9 with 7108 views | qprxtc |
Only Catch 22 for me.
I read it every five years or so. Gets better every time. I haven’t read a book better so far.
Although, The Dice Man (only read once) is the only book, so far, that has repulsed me, made me cry with laughter and surprised me in one read. It ends perfectly too. I’m kind of scared to read it again though.
But I haven’t read a fiction book on over ten years. Now it’s just history books or music books.
Books are good. Reading is the way to go.
Reading Ray Davies “Autobiography” at the moment.
And drinking a bottle of Southern Comfort.
Great film with Powers Boothe.
I’m rambling. |  | | |  |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 14:10 - Dec 10 with 1518 views | Mick_S |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 13:38 - Dec 10 by BazzaInTheLoft |
Harsh on Mel this thread! |
I've read it twice. |  |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 15:22 - Dec 10 with 1474 views | hantssi |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 11:37 - Dec 10 by BrianMcCarthy |
That sounds great, Essex.
I love canals and always wished I'd done more boating on them when I lived in England. I also spend far too much time trying to convince sceptical friends and family to go on canal holidays. |
‘Tis a great holiday Bri.
Done them 4 times over the years, once as a teenager with mum and dad, twice with other couples and once with our own teenage kids, each one different apart from the fun we had.
Recommend it for anybody, was talked about this year as the perfect socially distancing holiday! |  | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 16:33 - Dec 10 with 1446 views | PinnerPaul |
"You'll Win Nothing with Kids" by Jim Smith.
For anyone who has ever been involved with youth football - has many laugh out loud lines in there and so many characters you will recognise, including perhaps yourself! | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:08 - Dec 10 with 1424 views | CiderwithRsie |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 12:40 - Dec 10 by danehoop |
I have a feeling that my liking for and having read so may of the books mentioned here probably indicates that I am of a similar age to many of those posting. Used to really enjoy and re-read the Sven Hassell novels, but eventually fell out of favour after living in Denmark and getting to understand a little more of authors actual background.
Other books I go back to periodically:
Kim - just a great and wonderful snapshot of India at a particular moment in time.
Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle. Again well written stories with great characters and another strong flavour of the darker side of Victorian England
Homage to Catalonia - Fascinating insight into the sights, sounds and horrors of the Spanish Civil War.
Witcher - what more to add, but the books are just a great read once you work out the right order. The TV series surprised me to be fair, I think does a reasonable translation to screen.
Dresden Series by Jim Butcher. When it first came out this was genuinely a very innovative concept which has been copied by many others. Well written, funny and strong characters. The author seemingly stopped writing whilst going through a divorce so ended up re-reading them about 3 times until the new books started to appear again this year.
Eastern Approaches - Fitzroy Maclean - Just incredible memoirs of a genuine war hero and the character that James Bond was apparently modelled on. Just tend to read it every couple of years as it tends to then fire me off looking out similar books by other authors like Peter Hopkirk |
Couple of those ring bells.
Sherlock Holmes is a great observer of Vctorian/Edwardian London, so many of the clues turn on observations of ordinary life that most authors of the time wouldn't bother to mention because they take them for granted.
Read Eastern Approaches when I found a copy on a 2nd hand bookstall just a few days after reading his obituary. Amazing life and he couldn't even put all of it in due to Official Secrets Act (e.g. according to the Obit the reason he was hanging around in Cairo when he got recruited into he SAS was that he'd been sent out to lead a group to sabotage the Caucasus oilfields if the Red Army lost Stalingrad, but of course they didn't.)
If you like Maclean I recommend Paddy Leigh Fermor's Constantinople trilogy (Time of Gifts etc) plus maybe either Ill Met By Moonlight by W S Moss or The Cretan Runner by Psychondoukis, both describe the operation Fermor led to kidnap the German commander in Crete. | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:21 - Dec 10 with 1417 views | hantssi |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:08 - Dec 10 by CiderwithRsie |
Couple of those ring bells.
Sherlock Holmes is a great observer of Vctorian/Edwardian London, so many of the clues turn on observations of ordinary life that most authors of the time wouldn't bother to mention because they take them for granted.
Read Eastern Approaches when I found a copy on a 2nd hand bookstall just a few days after reading his obituary. Amazing life and he couldn't even put all of it in due to Official Secrets Act (e.g. according to the Obit the reason he was hanging around in Cairo when he got recruited into he SAS was that he'd been sent out to lead a group to sabotage the Caucasus oilfields if the Red Army lost Stalingrad, but of course they didn't.)
If you like Maclean I recommend Paddy Leigh Fermor's Constantinople trilogy (Time of Gifts etc) plus maybe either Ill Met By Moonlight by W S Moss or The Cretan Runner by Psychondoukis, both describe the operation Fermor led to kidnap the German commander in Crete. |
If you like that, try Churchill’s Secret Warriors, gripping stuff.
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Terry Pratchett! | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:58 - Dec 10 with 1391 views | MrSheen |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:08 - Dec 10 by CiderwithRsie |
Couple of those ring bells.
Sherlock Holmes is a great observer of Vctorian/Edwardian London, so many of the clues turn on observations of ordinary life that most authors of the time wouldn't bother to mention because they take them for granted.
Read Eastern Approaches when I found a copy on a 2nd hand bookstall just a few days after reading his obituary. Amazing life and he couldn't even put all of it in due to Official Secrets Act (e.g. according to the Obit the reason he was hanging around in Cairo when he got recruited into he SAS was that he'd been sent out to lead a group to sabotage the Caucasus oilfields if the Red Army lost Stalingrad, but of course they didn't.)
If you like Maclean I recommend Paddy Leigh Fermor's Constantinople trilogy (Time of Gifts etc) plus maybe either Ill Met By Moonlight by W S Moss or The Cretan Runner by Psychondoukis, both describe the operation Fermor led to kidnap the German commander in Crete. |
Nothing like as daring a character, but the biography of the historian Steven Runciman, “Outlandish Knight” by Minoo Dinshaw, covers some of that ground. He was a friend of Patrick Leigh Fermor and spent the war as a (not very successful) diplomat and intelligence officer in Bulgaria and Istanbul. He had an amazing life, it’s a fantastic book.
I’ve banged on about it before, but I’m going back to Lucy Hughes Hallett’s The Pike, her staggering life of Gabriele D’Annunzio. He was like Oscar Wilde, Kipling and Cecil Rhodes rolled up in one. Poet, adventurer, seducer and war-mongerer, and improbably still a national hero in Italy. |  | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 21:13 - Dec 10 with 1345 views | CiderwithRsie |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:58 - Dec 10 by MrSheen |
Nothing like as daring a character, but the biography of the historian Steven Runciman, “Outlandish Knight” by Minoo Dinshaw, covers some of that ground. He was a friend of Patrick Leigh Fermor and spent the war as a (not very successful) diplomat and intelligence officer in Bulgaria and Istanbul. He had an amazing life, it’s a fantastic book.
I’ve banged on about it before, but I’m going back to Lucy Hughes Hallett’s The Pike, her staggering life of Gabriele D’Annunzio. He was like Oscar Wilde, Kipling and Cecil Rhodes rolled up in one. Poet, adventurer, seducer and war-mongerer, and improbably still a national hero in Italy. |
I'll have to check out the biog.
Runciman's own book on the crusades is a page-turner too, though I was taught by Jonathon Riley-Smith who was not a fan - thought it was too much of a good story and not enough good history. | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 22:43 - Dec 10 with 1315 views | MrSheen |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 21:13 - Dec 10 by CiderwithRsie |
I'll have to check out the biog.
Runciman's own book on the crusades is a page-turner too, though I was taught by Jonathon Riley-Smith who was not a fan - thought it was too much of a good story and not enough good history. |
I was given Runciman to read for History A Level. I’d love to have been called Kerbogha of Mosul.
One of the many great stories in the Runciman biography is of him going up to Cambridge and wanting to study Medieval Bulgarian. This was terrible news for the Professor of Medieval Bulgarian as:
1) He’d have to teach someone for the first time in nearly 30 years
2) He’d no longer be the only person in the country who could read Medieval Bulgarian
Apparently he hid from Runciman for weeks, before agreeing to teach him as part of a daily walk. [Post edited 10 Dec 2020 22:55]
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 23:25 - Dec 10 with 1290 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 17:58 - Dec 10 by MrSheen |
Nothing like as daring a character, but the biography of the historian Steven Runciman, “Outlandish Knight” by Minoo Dinshaw, covers some of that ground. He was a friend of Patrick Leigh Fermor and spent the war as a (not very successful) diplomat and intelligence officer in Bulgaria and Istanbul. He had an amazing life, it’s a fantastic book.
I’ve banged on about it before, but I’m going back to Lucy Hughes Hallett’s The Pike, her staggering life of Gabriele D’Annunzio. He was like Oscar Wilde, Kipling and Cecil Rhodes rolled up in one. Poet, adventurer, seducer and war-mongerer, and improbably still a national hero in Italy. |
Sheen,
About 'The Pike' - won't I just hate him? |  |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 00:28 - Dec 11 with 1271 views | lave16 |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 23:25 - Dec 10 by BrianMcCarthy |
Sheen,
About 'The Pike' - won't I just hate him? |
Papillion | |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 00:37 - Dec 11 with 1250 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
Sudden Range Robbers the happy ending after a long journey .Read it first in 1979 go back regularly . |  | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 06:59 - Dec 11 with 1196 views | distortR |
great thread this - have noted down a few titles to check out at the library.
Laurie Lee's 'Cider with Rosie', and particularly the follow up, 'as i walked out one midsummer morning', are two books I've read a few times, the third is harder going purely because of where the author is and what's happening around him. I would love to actually be Laurie in the second book.
A great biography is 'A Pirate of Exquisite Mind' about William Dampier - interesting fella, to say the least! | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 07:52 - Dec 11 with 1180 views | Phildo |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 22:43 - Dec 10 by MrSheen |
I was given Runciman to read for History A Level. I’d love to have been called Kerbogha of Mosul.
One of the many great stories in the Runciman biography is of him going up to Cambridge and wanting to study Medieval Bulgarian. This was terrible news for the Professor of Medieval Bulgarian as:
1) He’d have to teach someone for the first time in nearly 30 years
2) He’d no longer be the only person in the country who could read Medieval Bulgarian
Apparently he hid from Runciman for weeks, before agreeing to teach him as part of a daily walk. [Post edited 10 Dec 2020 22:55]
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I also read Runciman on the Crusades for my A level — my teacher the deputy head of the school swore that he was the only source you needed on the subject. I then went to to history at University and a lecturer told me to forget Runciman on the first day as he was way out of date! |  | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 08:29 - Dec 11 with 1158 views | MrSheen |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 23:25 - Dec 10 by BrianMcCarthy |
Sheen,
About 'The Pike' - won't I just hate him? |
Yes, part of the fascination is trying to understand why other people didn’t. Apparently he looked like Nosferatu and smelled like a sewer, but the ladies couldn’t resist. His own audacity and other people’s gullibility and addiction to glamour are what made him. Apparently he could write too, but you’d have to ask an Italian. | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 10:35 - Dec 11 with 1116 views | CroydonCaptJack |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 21:07 - Dec 9 by Discodroids |
I never liked the track either mate, but the book is mindblowing.
Blitz club, rusty Egan, Steve Strange , Detroit Techno, New wave, Qualuudes.. its all there! |
I will have to give that a read mate.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet is probably my favourite story. I have read it three times now and I don't read that much. |  | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 18:59 - Dec 11 with 1049 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 10:35 - Dec 11 by CroydonCaptJack |
I will have to give that a read mate.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet is probably my favourite story. I have read it three times now and I don't read that much. |
So, despite never having expressed an interest in churches, the medieval era, or peasants shagging each other, my partner brought me all the Ken Follett books to read.
I was sceptical at the outset but actually enjoyed them in the end. |  | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 12:56 - Dec 14 with 927 views | Mick_S |
These were the books of choice when we were kids at Junior school - our school had a library next to it which was very handy. Read, re-read and re-read them all again except Tiger Adventure which was the only one not held in the library.
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| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 13:15 - Dec 14 with 904 views | terryb |
As stated in his thread, I have read all of John Le Carre's books more than once. Some of them must be more than five. I've also read all of Hans Helmut Kirst novels more than twice.
Another numerous reread is Bluebeat Boy by M A Horsfield (Mark?). A Rangers supporter who has posted on this site in the past. Whenever I feel down, this uplifting book takes me back up the slippery slope. | | | |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 18:32 - Dec 14 with 867 views | NewYorkRanger |
The Force - Don Winslow. Very realistic = an absolute page turner that achieves the difficult balance of making you root for a wrong'un.
HIs cartel trilogy is also amazing but haven't read them more than once (yet). |  |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 22:40 - Dec 14 with 807 views | Esox_Lucius |
| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 12:56 - Dec 14 by Mick_S |
These were the books of choice when we were kids at Junior school - our school had a library next to it which was very handy. Read, re-read and re-read them all again except Tiger Adventure which was the only one not held in the library.
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I absolutely loved all the Willard Price books as a youngster, and the WE Johns Biggles books. Such fond memories. Chuck in Arthur Ransome and I will feel we were spoiled as kids. |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 00:58 - Dec 15 with 790 views | itsbiga |
I dont reed so gud no how | |
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| Books so good that you’ve read them more than once. on 07:09 - Dec 15 with 750 views | SimplyNico |
The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities. Excellent writing. | | | |
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