General / Off-Topic What books would you advise others to read once in their lifetime?

[ethelred]

Yes but its the same people and probably to female/parents/libraries. Need a bit more specific.

The heh comes from the lines "From observation adults don't seem to be reading books. Books are for kids with lots of bright coloured pictures, and only when they are told to do so. What happens when they grow up? Paying for books is also a rare occurrence. I have my doubt if many can actually read, I mean I properly. "

Which really is vague. Lot of assumptions to unpick there. For example - "Your observation" Can you be more specific? You assume children only read when told to do so - my "observations" of children of my friends, at schools and in my family that this is not the case.

"Paying for books is also a rare occurence." Stated as a fact, but compared to what? Total books read vs total books bought? Bought new? Second hand? Please be more specific.

"I have my doubt if many can actually read, I mean I properly."

Define "read properly"

Instead of feelsies, let's look at some facts. Of course if you don't trust my source, that's fine but be up front. In the UK and elsewhere we (=publishers and book retailers) use Nielsen to track sales of books through retail. Every time a book is sold either in a bricks and mortar shop or online* in either print or digitally it's recorded by Nielsen who then share this data with us publishers and retailers.

So to quote their figs (and I'll add a link to an article later) Print in the UK grew 2.1% in value and 0.3% in volume in 2018 vs 2017. In total 190.9 million books were sold for £1.63bn - up £34m from 2017. Volume wise, that was 627,000 more books sold in 2018 than 2017.

There's a infographic showing sales 2013 - 2018 that shows gradual growth, but growth none the less.

This does not include any library sales, second hand sales or sales through budget booksellers (or indeed those not registered with Nielsen). Piracy is mainly an issue with ebooks so there probably is more books used by people in 2018 than the 190m stated above.

*so Online is a bit more tricky as Nielsen has no way of knowing if the sale of the title remains in the UK or goes elsewhere. Amazon and Book Depository self report on the destination country for Nielsen.

Here's the article in full https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...rtainment-pack-uk-print-book-sales-rise-again

 

[Para Handy]

I was going to make a reply to the misinformed post about "nobody reads books any more" earlier but @ethelred speaks from the horse's front opening.

My reason for objecting was based on an article I read in the Guardian (on paper) earlier this year. @ethelred linked the online version above.


(Edited to remove duplicated article link.)

 

[Brigetiol1]

James Jones - From here to Eternity
Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting

 

[Stigbob]

Neal Asher.

 

[WeComeInPeace]

Wuthering Heights

Edit:

Graham's Lady Magazine wrote "How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors."

 

[Phongsalt]

Wuthering Heights

Edit:

Graham's Lady Magazine wrote "How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors."

Sounds like a review for the 50 shades ,i see a lot of them remaindered,tho i've never been tempted.to invest.

 

[Phongsalt]

I was going to make a reply to the misinformed post about "nobody reads books any more" earlier but @ethelred speaks from the horse's front opening.

My reason for objecting was based on an article I read in the Guardian (on paper) earlier this year. @ethelred linked the online version above.


(Edited to remove duplicated article link.)

You can't trust the press.I was lied to by no less an establishment pillar of 'meeja' than The Times,only yesterday.
I HAVE THE PROOF. Harrumph!

 

[WeComeInPeace]

Sounds like a review for the 50 shades ,i see a lot of them remaindered,tho i've never been tempted.to invest.

I read the book because the Kate Bush song and Dave Allen made me curious, thinking it was one of those banal love stories about a nurse that end up being married to the doctor. I was wronger than I'd ever been. That book still haunts me, as much as some of Ligotti's books do.

 

[m0rl0ck]

Still Life with Woodpecker
Breakfast of Champions
Farewell to Arms
The Jungle (Upton Sinclair iirc)
The Zen Teachings of Huang Po (Blofeld translation)
The Winter of Our Discontent
The Tao Te Ching (Mitchell translation)

 

[Hell Razor5543]

There are lots of books I would recommend, but one I suggest anybody thinking about going into the military first read "The Longest Kill" by Sgt Craig Harrison. It is NOT a pleasant read. I lent it to my Mother, and she said that, if half of what is written there is true, he was badly treated by the Army (for example, after some of the things he saw there was minimal support ("Are you OK", "I'm fine", and that was it).

Everything written just by Sir Terry Pratchett is brilliant. He also wrote "Good Omens" with Neil Gaiman, which is so funny that, the first time I read it, I was laughing so hard I had to visit the toilet four time in an hour! "Nation" is an emotional rollercoaster. When normal "Mau" 'goes to sleep' and "Grey Mau" is working it tears the heartstrings from your soul, uses them to re-string a harp, and then plays the saddest lament you will ever hear.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Already said, but another vote for The Hobbit. Fact is it's the best example of fantasy IMHO.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

It's been on my bucket list the longest of everything else and at the age of 70+, I've only got three things left. One of which is seeing a total solar eclipse of the sun which if I make it will happen right here in Mazatlan in a couple of years. Another is a personal item, the third is to read from start to finish, "War and Peace".

 

[Stigbob]

Another is a personal item, the third is to read from start to finish, "War and Peace".

It really is overrated, the literary equivalent of Hutton orbital.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

It really is overrated, the literary equivalent of Hutton orbital.

Supposing that's true, and it's quite possibly so; Having been to Hutton Orbital (twice), I reckon I could scratch it off my list. Thanks, now there's only two remaining.

 

[Stigbob]

Supposing that's true, and it's quite possibly so; Having been to Hutton Orbital (twice), I reckon I could scratch it off my list. Thanks, now there's only two remaining.

An eclipse is much better.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

An eclipse is much better.

One of the reason's my wife and I retired to Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico; Beside's the fact that she was born here and has family here. Is the fact that on April 8, 2024 Mazatlan will be almost smack dab in the middle of the path of a total solar eclipse.

 

[Stigbob]

One of the reason's my wife and I retired to Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico; Beside's the fact that she was born here and has family here. Is the fact that on April 8, 2024 Mazatlan will be almost smack dab in the middle of the path of a total solar eclipse.

Sounds good.

I lived in Belize in central America for a bit, the skies were absolutely amazing. The place I am now is supposedly a black skies area but its not much better than the outskirts of London the plough and Venus are about all you get plus the milky way on a really good night but just as a vague splodge. Just too much light pollution.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

A lot of what I would have said is already been added.

So I will go with this:
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie.

Superb series of books and the other books in the world are equally excellent.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

Sounds good.

I lived in Belize in central America for a bit, the skies were absolutely amazing. The place I am now is supposedly a black skies area but its not much better than the outskirts of London the plough and Venus are about all you get plus the milky way on a really good night but just as a vague splodge. Just too much light pollution.

Agreed, light pollution is the biggest downfall to budding amateur backyard astronomy. Hence my reason after more than 60 years as an amateur astronomer, settle on only the moon, in which one is enjoyed mostly at night and the other during the day.

 

[Rampant]

In the "important" category:

Gates of Fire, Stephen Pressfield
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
Fingerprints of the Gods, Graham Hancock

In the "entertainment" category"
Anything by Jack Vance
Anything by Roger Zelazny
The Imago Sequence, Laird Barron

I'll second the Graham Hancock entry - and add his earlier published "Heaven's Mirror". Quite a bit of crossover between the 2 books, but Heaven's Mirror delves into a fair bit more actual detail and physical measurements that laid a lot of groundwork for Fingerprints, that then isn't visible in the later book.