The Big Read - Your Recommendation for PHers?

The Big Read - Your Recommendation for PHers?

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Discussion

beano500

Original Poster:

20,854 posts

282 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
So we've had tha British Broadly Company toting around this idea of the "Best Books".

Personally it's spurred me to look out for a few books, "Catcher in the Rye", "Rebecca", Pullman's books which I might like to read. Meanwhile it's impossible for me to say whether any one of "HitchHiker", "Mockingbird" or "Catch-22" is "better".

But what would you recommend for the PHers shortlist?

Would you include "The Highway Code" or "Roadcraft"?
Should the list have Clarkson?
Or would you go for "On the Road" or "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"?

What books should a PHer consider when torn away from driving or gassing?

pss1

339 posts

265 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Nineteen Eighty-Four... oh

Bonce

4,339 posts

286 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
My three votes (for PH related books) go to

- Russell Bulgin's collection of reviews that was produced after his death.
- Roadcraft
- The Gran Turismo 3 bible

Graham.J

5,420 posts

266 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Clarkson - Born To Be Riled

jigs

1,840 posts

257 months

Monday 17th November 2003
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What about SHpub's 'The Bible'?

dragstar

3,924 posts

257 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
the koran, then read its opposite

..the bush manifesto

rich 36

13,739 posts

273 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Do'nt know the author, 'the dice man'

toppstuff

13,698 posts

254 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Read Alexei Sayle's " Barcelona plates".

Short story about a bloke who hires a fiat uno and goes a bit mental around Europe.

Very funny. A bit weird. Great stuff.

beano500

Original Poster:

20,854 posts

282 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
rich 36 said:
Do'nt know the author, 'the dice man'


Luke Rhinehart?

I don't know much about this one, is it a good read?

Like the Alexei Sayle idea too!

(Keep 'em coming, I might be lucky enough to be taken on holiday to a tropical island next month and will want some really good stuff for the plane)

toppstuff

13,698 posts

254 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Here are other books I have enjoyed:

"Propellerhead" by Antony Woodward.

Its about a bloke who learns to fly a microlight, going shares with some mates to buy an aircraft and fly it around the english countryside, while also chasing a girl in the office he fancies.

Its bit like Jeremy Clarkson and Nick Hornby combined. Funny book..

Best of all though is "First Light" by Geoffrey Wellum. This is the best book I have read in years.

Its a real description of what it was like to fly Spitfires against the Germans in the battle of Britain, written by the pilot himself. What makes it special, is that is much more than the usual "tally ho" stuff, as it gives you an idea what those guys
(still very young) were actually like. Its funny, exciting, scary and humble.

I guarantee that it will impress. Makes you want to meet the man, shake his hand, and say thanks.



>> Edited by toppstuff on Monday 17th November 14:16

Venom

1,858 posts

266 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Lance Armstrong - It's Not About The Bike. Inspiring read. Normally I don't go in for autobiographies but this guy really went through it all with cancer.
It outlines the kind of stuff he went through emotionally and physically and I have to admit I'm not a cycling fan but it's given me an enormous amount of respect for the man.

toppstuff

13,698 posts

254 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Venom said:
Lance Armstrong - It's Not About The Bike. Inspiring read. Normally I don't go in for autobiographies but this guy really went through it all with cancer.
It outlines the kind of stuff he went through emotionally and physically and I have to admit I'm not a cycling fan but it's given me an enormous amount of respect for the man.


Agree ! Good book. Makes you wish you had that much self discipline ...

trooper1212

9,457 posts

259 months

Monday 17th November 2003
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Flat out, Flat broke - Perry Mcarthy is quite a good read.

253 - Geoff Ryman is my favourite book though and it kinda fits in with the PH theme, being about transport and born of the internet.
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0006550789/qid=1069079024/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/202-7090333-9089429

tvrdrool

68 posts

258 months

Monday 17th November 2003
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I like to read car magazines and Haynes manuals, and as both myself and my wife drive Fords, I buy Escort for me & Fiesta magazine for her. I don't know my wiper from my windscreen.... but I undertake all my own and wifes servicing from reading these beauty's.

jv_as

129 posts

262 months

Monday 17th November 2003
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Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong.

The best read that I have had until now is a book by Sebastian Faulks called Birdsong. I can highly recommend this book. I have infact actually read it three times and enjoyed it even more on the third reading.

rob.e

2,861 posts

285 months

Monday 17th November 2003
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Beano - Catch22, Hitchiker and Mockingbird are up there as my favorite books. Just read also "On the road" by Jack Kerouac which was good. "Catcher" is on my list of books to read..

eric mc

122,855 posts

272 months

Monday 17th November 2003
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"The Right Stuff" - by Tom Wolfe.

Great insight into rhe psychology of test pilots and astronauts and a modern American classic.

BruceV8

3,325 posts

254 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
I've read, & still own copies of, Hitchiker, 1984, Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Birdsong. They are all among my very favourites. How about:

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque;
Lolita - Vladimir Nabakov;
Lord of the Flies - William Golding;
Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton;
Brighton Rock - or almost anything by Graham Greene;
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovoch - or almost anything by Solzhenitsyn;
The Grapes of Wrath - or almost anything by Steinbeck;

or for something more modern:

A Star Called Henry - Roddy Doyle;
White Teeth - Zadie Smith.

All great, IMHO!

Ffirg 005

2,013 posts

258 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a great read - apart from Lord of the Rings this is the only book I've read twice.
also...
The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks
Feersum Endjinn by Ian M Banks
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peak

madant69

847 posts

254 months

Monday 17th November 2003
quotequote all
Fatherland and Timeline.

Fantastic!!