Books you read, and reread again and again

[Illaveago]

I have read Night Fighter by C.F Rawnsley and Robert Wright several times, Fly for Your Life by Robert Stanford Tuck and another book by J. A. Kent, the name of which I can't remember at the moment. He was looked upon as being mad by other pilots during the war as he deliberately flew into barrage balloons to test cutting devices. He was a Canadian Test Pilot who fought in the war,quite an interesting read.

 

[grumpyoldwoman]

I was going to buy it the other day, but I read some Amazon reviews. They basically said regurgitated tripe from a miserable old git...
Fair, or not?

Fair....up to a point. I think he's a funny miserable,personally,but that's only MY opinion.A couple of bits are very similar to Notes,but not enough to say that it's the same ''tripe'' in a new book.

 

[Profpointy]

Fair....up to a point. I think he's a funny miserable,personally,but that's only MY opinion.A couple of bits are very similar to Notes,but not enough to say that it's the same ''tripe'' in a new book.

His "shory history of nearly everything" was astonishingly good. Well-written as you'd expect, but less expectedly he had really done his homework to give proper unpatronising and thorough (as much as practical in a popsci book) explanations. Most of the subjects were ones Bryson would presumably have known little about so he had listened, learned and understood enough to explain to others a lot of hard stuff. He'd got access and time from some real experts too - so they thought him worth their time and trouble. On stuff I know about, (physics/astronomer - gentleman amateur level only) he was spot on.

Great book.

 

[Dayvo]

Bill Bryson's Down Under is one of the funniest books I've ever read.

It helps if you've been to Australia so as to be familiar with the people, country and culture etc., but irony and self-deprecating humour is the real essence to this book, IMO.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Great poetry.

 

[stephec]

I've not read any fiction for a long time, most of my books are autobiographies, history, sport, travel, etc.

The only things I can remember reading twice are Notes From a Small Island, and French Revolutions.

 

[User482]

I was going to buy it the other day, but I read some Amazon reviews. They basically said regurgitated tripe from a miserable old git...
Fair, or not?

I'm reading it at the moment: it lurches between gentle, observational humour (as per Notes From a Small Island) and grumpy spite, sometimes on the same page.

 

[biggs682]

The Park's big blue book is a regular read

 

[User482]

When I say "read" I mean "recite from memory". I've long-since passed the point where I need the book...

 

[Fnaar]

Without wishing to sound pretentious, Dubliners by James Joyce. I did it for A level, and it was made real by my dad (himself was a Dubliner) explaining some of the context and places. I have read it more than 10 times, and tackled it in Spanish too

 

[Toshiba Boy]

An Island to Oneself, Tom Neale.

Published in 1966, I was given a battered 2nd hand copy as a kid in the early 1970's and have re-read it every few years ever since.

 

[Profpointy]

Without wishing to sound pretentious, Dubliners by James Joyce. I did it for A level, and it was made real by my dad (himself was a Dubliner) explaining some of the context and places. I have read it more than 10 times, and tackled it in Spanish too

I enjoyed Dubliners. Quite an easy, and enjoyable, read compared to what followed. I've more or less read Ulysses too, but not sure it really floats my boat.

Now Finnegan's wake, that's a strange book. I'm not sure if it's pretentious tosh or totally genius; maybe it's both. I confess I only got a few pages in but I also found myself laughing out loud at the joy / silliness of it but it sort of made sense. I need to give it another go. For the avoidance of doubt I had not been smoking anything either !

 

[Fnaar]

I enjoyed Dubliners. Quite an easy, and enjoyable, read compared to what followed. I've more or less read Ulysses too, but not sure it really floats my boat.

Now Finnegan's wake, that's a strange book. I'm not sure if it's pretentious tosh or totally genius; maybe it's both. I confess I only got a few pages in but I also found myself laughing out loud at the joy / silliness of it but it sort of made sense. I need to give it another go. For the avoidance of doubt I had not been smoking anything either !

I have 2 copies of Ulysses, but have never finished it. Have read Portrait and Stephen Hero though.

 

[tyred]

I may well be alone in this but it wouldn't be the first time I have picked up a book and got a long way into it before getting that deja vu feeling. We have a lot of books.

I've bought books only to arrive home and realise I've already own a copy...

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I've read Lord of the Rings three times and am thinking of reading it again.