What is your favorite Book ???

[chukjones]

Hello Everyone,
I like to read Novel book,Story book and Historical book. Some favorite
book of mine are All the King's Men,The Big Sleep,A Clockwork Orange,
A Passage to India,The Golden Notebook,Dark Reign,Secret Invasion,
The Final Night,The Doll's House,Ancient History Books,Books on the
Age of Discovery etc. Tell here about your favorite book.

 

[Poignard]

'The Irish R.M.' by Somerville & Ross.

 

[bikedaft]

undiscovered scotland by wh murray

 

[Halcyon Yachts]

South Sea Vagabonds, by John Wray.

An excellent story, an incredible adventure!

 

[JamesPitman]

London Fields by Marin Amis, striking prose, great fun.

 

[doug748]

Tell here about your favorite book.

Vanity Fair.

Funny, modern and written on the grand scale.

 

[narcer]

South-sea vagabonds - second that ! "Almost" unbelievable with his cargo of Bananas and trees which he towed behind the boat ??

For me of the classics : Trekka by Guzzwell, also Deep Water and Shoal by Robinson (he actually ate human flesh with the Sepik Head-hunters !

Also like Left for Dead - well written although a very bias point of view for obvious reasons.

 

[maxcreigs]

Reading is one of my favourite hobbies, I actually set a goal to read one book a week this year. I mostly read non-fiction books.These are some of my favourites.
How to get from where you are to where you want to be - Jack Canfield
Go it alone - Geoff Burch
A whole new mind - Daniel H. Pink

 

[polishingpeanuts]

South Sea Vagabonds by John Wray: Well worth the effort it takes to find a copy!

Soooo agree with the above about South Sea Vagabonds, John Wray has wrapped up the whole cruising around the islands perfectly.

Sure, its a bygone era but oh boy, those were the days! John would have fallen foul of a million of todays rules and regulations and reading between the lines of this classically direct book, those guys had a LOT of fun during those early years at sea.

I particularly liked how they had to plug an empty exhaust hole in the newly launched hull after realizing that it was the same size as a beer keg plug....and as John comments "Well, an opened cask just doesn't keep does it", cue ANOTHER party! Brilliant.

It is my favorite book at the moment having just been introduced to it by a Kiwi friend, here in New Zealand.

It is getting harder to find a copy these days and Amazon don't have any new copies but some marketplace dealers have good used ones. I wrote about the book, what it made me think about and where to find them here in a post called the South Sea Vagabonds on my little blog.

Go on, find a copy, I couldn't put it down and I am not a 'full' boatie!
Great thread!
Ian

 

[Spuddy]

Men at Arms trilogy by Evelyn Waugh. Comic, tragic, poignant.

 

[polishingpeanuts]

HMS Ulysses for a stark reminder of the resilience and resolve of British Servicemen

If you want a poignant war time seafaring read, try HMS Ulysses.

There is one harrowing point where a merchant vessel is on fire and endangering the whole fleet and the gunner is asked to fire upon his own side. The captain asks someone to find out what the captains name is and the gunner replies with the captains name as he fires the torpedoes......it was his father.

A stark reminder of the character, resilience and resolve of the seafaring men during the war.

You can read about it on Wikipedia

 

[KristiferColumbus]

South Sea Vagabonds, by John Wray.

An excellent story, an incredible adventure!

Am reading this following your recommendation & not bad.
I would go for Henry DeMonfried.....Secrets of the Red Sea or Hashish but Peter Tangvalds Sea Gypsy takes a lot of beating .......or Herman Melville......the list just goes on.

 

[KristiferColumbus]

Soooo agree with the above about South Sea Vagabonds, John Wray has wrapped up the whole cruising around the islands perfectly.

Sure, its a bygone era but oh boy, those were the days! John would have fallen foul of a million of todays rules and regulations and reading between the lines of this classically direct book, those guys had a LOT of fun during those early years at sea.

I particularly liked how they had to plug an empty exhaust hole in the newly launched hull after realizing that it was the same size as a beer keg plug....and as John comments "Well, an opened cask just doesn't keep does it", cue ANOTHER party! Brilliant.

It is my favorite book at the moment having just been introduced to it by a Kiwi friend, here in New Zealand.

It is getting harder to find a copy these days and Amazon don't have any new copies but some marketplace dealers have good used ones. I wrote about the book, what it made me think about and where to find them here in a post called the South Sea Vagabonds on my little blog.

Go on, find a copy, I couldn't put it down and I am not a 'full' boatie!
Great thread!
Ian

No problem......just put in a request at my local Library 50P.It's good but it's not that good.......Have you read Slocum?He beats that bloke hands down in my opinion.

 

[polishingpeanuts]

A little local colour.....

No problem......just put in a request at my local Library 50P.It's good but it's not that good.......Have you read Slocum?He beats that bloke hands down in my opinion.

Haven't read Slocum, will have a look in the library! I guess that South Sea Vagabonds struck a chord because we are in NZ amongst loads of 'boaties' and so the story seemed to capture a lot of local colour and the pioneer spirit of many of the Kiwis around here!

 

[Ehbendisdonc]

Narcer, thanks for the recommendation of South Sea Vagabonds. I'll keep an eye out for an affordable copy.

Peanuts - enjoy Slocum. You are in for a treat!

 

[Ron Dean]

"Trustee from the toolroom" by Nevil Shute (the Prince of storytellers').
Contains 2 or 3 chapters with a real good nautical theme.
Although at least 6 of his books have been adapted for film or TV, Trustee from the toolroom isn't one of them. I still rate it as his best book, followed closely by "No Highway".

 

[KristiferColumbus]

"Trustee from the toolroom" by Nevil Shute (the Prince of storytellers').
Contains 2 or 3 chapters with a real good nautical theme.
Although at least 6 of his books have been adapted for film or TV, Trustee from the toolroom isn't one of them. I still rate it as his best book, followed closely by "No Highway".

"An Engineer is a man who can do for five bob what any bloody fool can do for a quid."

 

[Seajet]

Nevil Shute and others

Delighted to see Nevil Shute mentioned, a quite brilliant author who seems a bit of a hidden treasure nowadays. My favourite is 'Requiem For A Wren' but they're all good. Nevil Shute Norway, his full name, set up 'Airspeed' aircraft manufacture at Portsmouth Airfield ( sadly now under PC World ), his aircraft such as the Oxford did sterling work in WWII.

He used to spend some rest time at the old windmill, Langstone village, the burgee symbol of Langstone S.C.

If we're mentioning favourite books, my other recommendations would include;

Slide Rule Nevil Shute - his autobiography, fascinating insight into airships too.

The Airmen Who Would Not Die Not to hand to state author, but follows on in a way from 'Slide Rule'. Convinced my ex to take up a new career in para-phsychology !

Captain Correli's Mandolin Louis De Bernieres

The Ghosts of KG40 Jack Oakey; deserves better recognition, the sort of book which stays with one, a remarkable story which takes true events as a starting point.

The Lonely Sea And The Sky Francis Chichester

Narrow Dog To Carcassone Terry Darlington

Test Pilots - The Story of British Test Flying 1903-1984 Don Middleton - very readable account, covering some remarkable feats, escapes & tragedies as well as history, doesn't require aircraft nuts.

All Jack Aubrey books Patrick O'Brian

Flying under Two Flags Gordon Levatt - autobiography of a WWII RAF Spitfire pilot, who then joined Isael in her desperate attempts to form an air force, scrounging and 'acquiring' all sorts of aircraft with some very hairy moments. The assembled force had ME109's & Spitfires fighting on the same side, and he had to fight RAF Spitfires ! A book worthy of much greater note.

Red Storm Rising Tom Clancy

My Lively lady Alec Rose

A Fighting Chance John Ridgeway & Chay Blythe

One Hundred Days Sandy Woodward

We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea Arthur Ransome

Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier

HMS Saracen Douglas Reeman - a cut above his usual, brilliant ending

The Set Of The Sails Alan Villiers

Two Years Before The Mast R.H.Dana

And no doubt many others I'll think of in a munute !

Of these I would most urge 'The Ghosts of KG40', as it's remarkable and doesn't seem well known.

 

[Norman_E]

A few of mine
Seven Pillars of Wisdom. T. E. Lawrence
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams (and his further books)
Short stories by Saki ( H. H.Munro ) including the Chronicles of Clovis.
The Lord of the Rings. J. J. R. Tolkien
Pretty well all of Tom Sharpe's books (Riotous Assembly, Indecent Exposure, Porterhouse Blue, Wilt, etc.)


I am currently cataloguing my library using Book Collector software, and what is noticeable is that I have a huge preponderance of railway titles and books of medieval history, of which my favourites are The Crecy War and The Agincourt War, both by Lt. Col. Alfred H. Burne. Between them they make an excellent and very readable military history of the Hundred Years War, though both are now sadly out of print.

 

[SAWDOC]

No problem......just put in a request at my local Library 50P.It's good but it's not that good.......Have you read Slocum?He beats that bloke hands down in my opinion.

Slocum's "Sailing Alone around the world" has inspired sailors and writers for a century. It deserves to be on any list of "most influential books of the 20th century". Great read and an easy read and extremely entertaining and a little like Shakespeare it is quoted endlessly so no doubt we have all read numerous short extracts!