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....great holiday reading please?
Im interested in adventure, escapism, thrillers and will soon be going on holiday. Any ideas that I can buy at WH Smiths etc would be appreciated.
PS If you could add a one sentence summary without the end, I would be most grateful.
Thanks in anticipation!
Where Eagles Dare - Awesome, alot of sneaky stuff and sceene setting with a few twists. (WW2)
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
An historical detective story set during Restoration England. Four characters give their version of events concerning a murder. Really, really enjoyable read - think Name of the Rose by Umberto Echo any you'll have a flavour.
EDIT - Also 'Q' by Luther Blissett (no, not the 80's footballer).
Another historical thriller set in Reformation Europe. Subversive political thriller that keeps you guessing to the end. Riveting.
The Junior Officer's Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey is an entertaining if somewhat self indulgent read
The Litigators by John Grisham found to be more entertaining than Grisham usually is
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer (the book the film is based on) an interesting challenging and thought provoking read
Anything by James Ellroy.
Dune - Space n stuff
The forever war - Joe Haldeman - contemplative story of soldiers fighting an interstellar war
Hmmm, some interesting ideas there. Think I read all of Alistair Macleans books 25 years ago.
Don't know James Ellroy....what sort of fiction is it?
Not into sci fi, but appreciate the rec.
some interesting looking books by deluded, anyone else read them?
James Ellroy is America's greatest crime fiction writer. Dark, hard boiled, moody Americana. Known for writing in short, clipped sentences. Have you seen the film L.A. Confidential? - he wrote the novel.
EDIT - Cletus, good shout +1 Flashman. Remember John Charity Spring from Flash for Freedom! - one of my fav characters ever!
Flashman - George McDonald Fraser
First is arguably the best ever historical fiction series covers Flashy leaving school, joining the army and winning undeserved laurels in Afghanistan in the early 1840's.
One of the best books I've ever read on holiday was Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim, even if you've seen the film do it! Suspense throughout the book is unbearable at times, plus it's really long so will keep you occupied for ages.
Summary - German U-Boat crew tooling around in the North Atlantic during the height of WW2, war correspondent is sent along for the ride.
if you want something super easy to read, cheesey action type stuff, then you cant go wrong with a BEN HOPE adventure, I think theres 6 or 7 of them now.
Nothing intellectual, but easy, page turning action, bit davinchi code ish, with secret societies, lost relics etc etc but fun non the less.
Neil Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (he's know for writing sci-fi, this isn't sci-fi).
Allied code break efforts, Nazi gold & a modern day romance, these stories all converging...
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Operation Mincemeat is also well worth a read.
Not into sci fi, but appreciate the rec.
There's the thing; it all depends on what you think of as SF. There are so many books, novels and stories out there that come under the blanket heading of 'Science Fiction' but have virtually no science in, or are really shading into fantasy, and others that certainly have the science in, and are definitely fiction, but don't have the futuristic content that most would recognise as SF.
[i]Frankenstein[/i] is certainly SF, but I've seen a good case made for including James Bond. Charles Stross writes books in a wide variety of genres, his [i]Laundry[/i] stories are excellent, British undercover spies fighting creatures invading from dark dimensions, basically James Bond fighting Cthulhu!
You really ought to check out William Gibson; he first coined the term ‘cyberspace’ in one of his early short stories, which are collected in [i]Burning Chrome[/i], which is a really good place to start from. His stories tend to the darker, grimy end of things, and if you've ever seen [i]Bladerunner[/i], you have pretty much what Gibson's literary vision looks like. He uses lots of tech, and trade names, real and fictional, that places the stories in a recognisable, future version of our own.
His most recent trilogy I really think you'd like, as it's pretty much in the present day, but slightly shifted 'sideways', involving people who 'cool hunt', but are allergic to logos, people obsessing over strange film clips appearing on the Internet that defy interpretation, (written just before YouTube went online), obsessive denim collectors, iPhone controlled helicopter drones and flying penguins and manta rays.
Look for [i]Pattern Recognition, Spook Country[/i], and [i]Zero History[/i]. More Noir than SF, but with something of SF in it. Really difficult to categorise, but hugely enjoyable.