The Lemon Fool

Just a harmless hobby
A C

AleisterCrowley wrote:Just a harmless hobby
A C

Well, if the amulet fits...

AleisterCrowley wrote:Wheatley- hmm, well The Devil Rides Out is a good book, if overlong. The Hammer film is better. His output was massive, covering historical romances, spy stories, even sci fi, and it's generally agreed the quality was...variable.

LOL, I went through a Dennis Wheatley phase during my teenage years. He certainly had whatever it took to fire a colourful teen imagination, and I suppose I was as (ahem) overheated as any 15 year old.

Which is a nice way of saying he's good, but choose your titles carefully. There was a lot of schlock in his oeuvre as well as the good stuff. Enjoy.

BJ

Thanks to all those who took the time to reply, some interesting picks that I will look up.

One more before I bow out is 1Q84 by Murakami

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10357575-1q84

BoE

Anyone else like Jonathan Coe?

e.g. "The Rotters' Club", "The Closed Circle", "Middle England" (Brexit!)?

Aubrey/Maturin Books by Patrick O'Brian
Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurty
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (and the rest of the Border Trilogy while at it)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
First Light by Geoffrey Wellum (non fiction but I promise not to add any more non-fiction even though I mainly read non-fiction)
Bernie Gunther Berlin noir detective books by Philip Kerr.
Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes (to follow up the Flashman novels are an amusing antidote to our PC times if wanting some nonsense)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Witcher (fantasy) and Hussite Trilogy are both very different but wonderful by Andrzej Sapkowski
Hobbit/Lord of The Rings/Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller although I have read this too many times now or just grown away from it.


I've read a lot so I should probably stop there although there is so much more.

bungeejumper wrote:

AleisterCrowley wrote:Wheatley- hmm, well The Devil Rides Out is a good book, if overlong. The Hammer film is better. His output was massive, covering historical romances, spy stories, even sci fi, and it's generally agreed the quality was...variable.

LOL, I went through a Dennis Wheatley phase during my teenage years. He certainly had whatever it took to fire a colourful teen imagination, and I suppose I was as (ahem) overheated as any 15 year old.

Which is a nice way of saying he's good, but choose your titles carefully. There was a lot of schlock in his oeuvre as well as the good stuff. Enjoy.

BJ

I also read The Devil Rides Out inspired by both the book and Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast video/song as a teenager. It seemed a bit pulpy to me even then. Saxon then had a track called Devil Rides Out on the (unimpressive) Innocence is No Excuse album.

I've just started re-reading all the Discworld novels inspired by my 21 year old granddaughter who asked to borrow the first one and is now well and truly hooked. Must admit I'm thoroughly enjoying them because it's many a long year since I first read them.
I also admit to a secret delight in reading the Just William books to my 6 year old great granddaughter. She thinks that they're wonderful but is rather miffed that girls were not allowed in his gang - with the one exception of course. Her mum wanted to know who'd taught her to say "I'll thcweam and thcweam until I'm thick".

R6

May I recommend 'Good Omens' by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman?
It's 'Just William ' meets "The Omen".....

Quite an impossible ask.

My tastes are eclectic and I have forgotten more than I can remember.

But here goes

The Barrytown Trilogy - Roddy Doyle
Any/all of the Culture series - Ian M Banks
The Discworld novels - and for fans thereof, I would also recommend A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
The Shardlake novels - C J Sansom
The Mote in God’s Eye - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Stranger in a strange land - Robert Heinlein
Really enjoyed Good Omens & American Gods
I could go on (and on and on).

• The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Excellent book, terrible movie.
• A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M Miller. His one-page description of the nuclear annihilation of the world is brutally succinct.
• The 39 Steps, or any of the Richard Hannay stories by John Buchan. Hannay is surely the luckiest lead character in all of fiction. The writing is descriptive but economical, and the storytelling is brisk. I particularly like that these stories portray a time where the hero doesn't have to be profane, savage, promiscuous, etc, unlike so many modern action thrillers are. Some of the dialogue is, err, a little out of touch with today's world though(!)
• The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin. This is a brilliantly conceived plot, and really well written.

Greg

The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester. Because the featured character is a real anti-hero.
The author’s other sci-fi novel The Demolished Man is pretty good too.
Both are a timeless sci-fi. A very rare achievement.

I Am Legend is a good book too. Forget the terrible film. Great book.

Gryff