DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

I have a beach holiday coming up soon, so to prevent me being physically attacked by my wife within the first 24hr's following me making the usual comment of " I'm bored" ..... I have decided to plan ahead & take some good books .

But, what to read ?

Anyone recomend some good reading material, preferably paperback so not to upset Jet2 & their daft weight limits

James

assuming you are after some automotive related reading - definitely recommend Mark Donohue The Unfair Advantage - a sort of technical autobiography of his racing. A really good read. I first read it about 7 or so years ago and another book has just been published on him which arrived yesterday.

Ian

automotive & fiction etc

I read a few great books whilst in India, my 'top 2' would have to be

Therapy - David Lodge

Snow falling on Cedars - David Guterson

Some fiction suggestions:

"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" - Mohsin Hamid

"The Five People you meet in Heaven" - Mitch Albom

"Paula Spencer" - Roddy Doyle (or anything else he's written)

"Remainder" - Tom McCarthy

"The Return" - Victor Hislop

"Life of Pi" - Yann Martel

Fiction
An old one (but just found it on having a loft clearout) - The Player of Games - Iain M Banks - SciFi
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - could be a bit depressing on a holiday though!

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Corking idea for a thread! My ideas below are all nice easy reads, which is all I ever want on holiday...

Fiction:
"This Book Will Save Your Life", A.M. Homes. Really easy read, enjoyable, makes you think, and a little bit odd. I liked it!

"The Day of the Jackal" by Frederick Forsyth - one of the great classics - really good read, totally gripping.

Automotive:

"A Passion For Porsches" by Denis Jenkinson, really enjoyable read and not a technical book (so good for a spanner monkey like me)

"Backfire" by Alan Clark, collection of his car stories - all good fun

Also, if I could suggest two non-fiction titles then I'd say "Bit of a Blur" which is the biog of Alex James who was bass player in Blur. Good fun read. Made me realise how much time I have wasted being sober...

And finally, one of the best books I've ever read on a holiday was "The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe - a cracking account of the then new acid scene in the States and all that went with it - Hells Angels, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters etc.. A superb book.

Anyway, that's it for me! I could go on and on, but those above are faves. Have a good time!

Larry buys a new paperback (or 2) everytime he gets on a plane to the usa so we now have quite a (growing) collection, if your passing this way at all then your welcome to any of them.

thanks for the offer Helen, but work is so busy at the moment I'm unlikely to be leaving the house between now & my hols

sjm wrote: Automotive:

"A Passion For Porsches" by Denis Jenkinson, really enjoyable read and not a technical book (so good for a spanner monkey like me)

"Backfire" by Alan Clark, collection of his car stories - all good fun

I've got both those already & agree that they are great books Both Denis & Alan had an attitude to their cars I admire

cradle to cradle is an amazing book, more about manufacture but its a real eye-opener and under a tenner on amazon

I'll try to limit myself to just 3, otherwise I'll be here all day (I like me books ya'see ). I'll stick to the utter classics in my collection, any of the below you can't go wrong with:

1 - Watchmen by Alan Moore : Providing you've not watched the film which may taint the read.

2 - The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist : A trilogy, The Magician, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon. Think the best bits of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Dark Materials series.

3 - Enders Game by Orson Scott Card : One of my favourite Sci-Fi novels. Has it all....

Just my 2p - you may read them all and think - what a pile of s**t

forgotten soldier, enlisting in the german army and going off to stalingrad

Hi
there seems to be a fair bit of poncey jibberish listed above , if you want a good read you could try , "Howard Hughes the untold story" , you could not make it up what a guy, or "It is bliss here, letters home 1939-45" Myles Hildyard, this is real accidental hero stuff and a wonderful read about a chap who just got on with what he was presented with, or maybe "I flew for the Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoke , a young man who joined up to fight for his country its an incredible account of the shortening odds of a pilot fighting the enemy, his superiors, and a lack of resources. Bill.

Some people would say it is fiction, others not but one of the best books I have read would have to be Papillon.

A very good read indeed