Listmania!
I don't read much but I liked these
Cloud AtlasCloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Buy new: £0.01 / Used from: £0.01
A great yarn trawling thru time and connectivity and back again. Easy yet compulsive and surreal in spades. The tennuous connections are strong enough (but tennuous).
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 25th Anniversary EditionZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 25th Anniversary Edition by Robert M. Pirsig
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.50
This book changes lives - it's powerful introductory chapters, its ghosts, the child of the hero towed around this american adventure - but is it right? What is Quality anyhow??
His Dark Materials Gift Set: "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", "The Amber Spyglass": His Dark MaterialsHis Dark Materials Gift Set: "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", "The Amber Spyglass": His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Buy used from: £20.00
This Trilogy is almost as good as Lord of the Rings and deals in the same fantastic realms. A deeper, darker read that stretches the imagination. Part SciFi, part Fairie tale.
Back from the Brink: The AutobiographyBack from the Brink: The Autobiography by Paul McGrath
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £5.90
You don't have to be a football fan to read this. Being Autobiographical Paul's more scathing about his lapses than a biographer might be. A scary childhood & adult life plagued by alcohol\drug abuse.
2001: A Space Odyssey2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £1.62
Another life forming, perspective changing tale. Okay - so you've seen the film but this is a different, more comprehensive medium. A good companion read is "Lost Worlds" ISBN-10: 0283986115
The God of Small ThingsThe God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Buy new: £5.59 / Used from: £0.01
A backwards whodunnit where who, what, where and when are almost obvious but certainty and how arrive obliquely. Steamy monsoon Tao twin adventure.
Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of ThermopylaeGates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.27
A lighter read but still gripping and set in a genuine historical framework. Epic and heroic. Here come the Rooster - he ain't gonna die!!
On the Road (Penguin Modern Classics)On the Road (Penguin Modern Classics) by Jack Kerouac
Buy new: £6.24 / Used from: £2.50
A classic 'must read' with zig-zagging drives across america set in the post war years in the only time when this lifestyle could be lived - and lived it was, to the full. Almost autobiographical??
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of ChinaWild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £2.98
A great read because it's a journey through recent chinese history that ends up in my time. One woman's experience encompasses so many enforced transformations.
Eye Mind: Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor ElevatorsEye Mind: Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators by Paul Drummond
Buy new: £7.99 / Used from: £26.08
Unbeleivable trip thru early psychedelia, busts, peyote, music, psychiatry & its aftermath. Discover the Elevators thru their story rather than the CDs. How to snatch obscurity from the jaws of fame!
The Shadow of the WindThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Buy new: £5.00 / Used from: £0.01
Brilliant. Something must have been lost in translation (but I can't imagine what) but I'm sure much has been gained in translation too. A multi layered, consistent tale of love, death & lost books!
The Time Traveler's WifeThe Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Buy used from: £4.95
An unforgetable journey through modern times with, possibly, some distant present day ancestors of Doctor Who (I'm sorta kidding).
The Book ThiefThe Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Buy new: £3.86 / Used from: £3.30
Terrific evocative fiction dealing with a child's life in Nazi Germany but without being depressing. Hope & optimism are here as well as pain & repression.
Mr. NiceMr. Nice by Howard Marks
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £0.01
Picked this up in an Airport on the way to a holiday in Tunisia. It was the perfect read for foreign climes. Suitcases full of cash disappearing left, right and centre.
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)Naked Lunch: The Restored Text (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) by William S. Burroughs
Buy new: £3.03 / Used from: £3.11
A classic journey thru hallucinatory paranoias. Entertaining in the most edgy of ways. Frank and honest with no punches pulled.
Chronicles: Volume OneChronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
Buy new: £2.92 / Used from: £1.05
Written by Dylan so this book speaks to you in his voice and imagery. It tells you lots about his formative years while telling you very little - insights that add to the mystique. Napolean in rags.
A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Modern Classics)A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Modern Classics) by Anthony Burgess
Buy new: £3.58 / Used from: £2.29
I thought this style unique. The more widely read may disagree. Great story stylised to accentuate the alienation of the anti-hero - both from the reader and his society.
PompeiiPompeii by Robert Harris
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £0.01
An easy read that's engaging and pretty educational. More fiction set in reality, the story of Vesuvius erupting thru the eyes of a roman aquafer.
RickyRicky by Ricky Tomlinson
Buy new: £0.98 / Used from: £0.01
A far more interesting story than just some TV B list celeb. Ricky has certainly lived and there were chunks of his life that surprised and shocked me.
Iggy Pop - Open Up and Bleed: The BiographyIggy Pop - Open Up and Bleed: The Biography by Paul Trynka
Buy new: £13.29 / Used from: £3.95
Ig and Angst and all that goes with it, Screwed up, screwed around and just plain screwed at times. Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll - whadya expect?
The Wind-up Bird ChronicleThe Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £3.48
A haunting trip thru japanese subculture with recollections from places and events set in reality - but no reality I've ever seen
The Antipope (Brentford Trilogy)The Antipope (Brentford Trilogy) by Robert Rankin
Buy new: £2.44 / Used from: £0.01
I got into Rankin thru Raiders of the Lost Car Park but this is a great comic. Places and characters you almost know but can't possibly be (can they?)
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts (The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy)The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts (The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) by Douglas Adams
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £0.26
If you get one then you gotta get the lot so all in one volume's good. Easy reading, entertaining, does what it says on the tin - Don't panic! A must for astral surfers.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) by Hunter S. Thompson
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £2.70
A comic but scary insight into a world of excess which has less reality in it than Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. Drug tales wrapped in a tortilla of biography and paranoia.
The Dice ManThe Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart
Buy new: £5.54 / Used from: £0.78
Who'd really live their life like this? Would I? Should I give it a go tomorrow? If I throw an even number I will, if not I'll carry on as usual. Strange comic dark behavioural addiction.