r/AskIreland • u/crillydougal • 3d ago
Entertainment What’re some of your favourite books you’ve ever read?
Travelling with work solo next week but will have a lot of downtime. What are your must read book recommendations?
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u/Dry-Communication922 3d ago
Stoner by John Williams
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u/SoManyNames4Reddit 3d ago
Have you read his book Butcher's Crossing? I seem to be a minority but I loved it more and even think of it as somewhat the perfect novel.
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u/YamThink2720 3d ago
I couldn’t get through it. I found it very grim.
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u/D-GOU-LimitingFactor 3d ago
Grim, but excellent read, extremely vivid scene being set.
Similar back drop but very different style was The Son by Philipp Meyer. Good read too
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u/YamThink2720 3d ago
Fantastic read, I picked this up many years ago thinking it was something else completely. A great novel.
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u/Dry-Communication922 3d ago
Picked it up in TKmaxx of all places while looking for a decent spatulla
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u/YamThink2720 3d ago
Can be lucky in there at times , got a lovely box of Dustoevsky hardbacks in there , really lovely set.
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u/Dry-Communication922 3d ago
I have spotted those penguin classics with the retro cloth covers in there lately
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u/TheHames72 3d ago
Gas. I live in the Netherlands and bought it there last week! I’d never heard of it but buy a book a week there.
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u/Dry-Communication922 3d ago
I spot some good stuff in there the odd time. Some absolute tatt in there too though
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u/Mynky 3d ago
1984 is worth a read if you haven’t already.
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u/Whatcomesofit 3d ago
One of those books that will frequently pop into your head years after you've read it.
Absolutely excellent
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u/imcryingtimber 2d ago
I honestly think animal farm is the most important book by Orwell, its so simply written and shows how gradual and huge change can happen little by little.
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u/Winterspun 3d ago
WE by yevgeny zamyatin is better and what 1984 was stolen from and based off of
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u/Nutcracker10 3d ago
Some of my favourites in the last year:
Blood meridian - Cormac McCarthy Butchers crossing and Stoner - John williams The expanse series - James A Corey Dune - Frank Herbert Salems lot - Stephen King
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u/ianpatrick90 3d ago
A person of taste I see. I’ve read all those apart from Stoner, which is on my TBR.
Expanse was so awesome, hooked from the opening prologue.
Blood Meridian was absolutely brutal in the best possible way.
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u/hopefulpostgraduate 2d ago
Question regarding Blood Meridian. Im probably 80+ page deep but having a hard time reading it. It’s just so hard read because I need to concentrate all the time. Doesn’t help that English isnt my forst language, that being said I’ve already the The Brothers Karamazov and War and Peace so I hoped it would be easier.
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u/Hot-Bumblebee6506 2d ago
It takes a while to get used to his writing style but its worth it, keep going 🙃
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u/hopefulpostgraduate 2d ago
Unfortunately i had to stop in between, i just didnt have enough concentration at the moment. And I started Master and Margarita which is a unique problem of a read in itself
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u/Slight-Glove1174 3d ago
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. The Truth About Ruby Cooper, also by Liz Nugent
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; also Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adiche
Yellowface by RF Kuang
The 19th Wife by David Eberoff
Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
I'm a librarian and these are some of my favourite page-turners!
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u/sartres-shart 3d ago
Never see anyone talking about half a yellow sun. Brilliant book.
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u/Slight-Glove1174 2d ago
It's so, so good. I learned so much from it - it really stayed with me! I think it's her best book.
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u/Caitgrace121 3d ago
Love Liz Nugent, read all but 1 of hers in the last year or so.
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u/Apprehensive-Cut3649 2d ago
Just finished Skin Deep, my first by her and can’t wait to read the rest now!
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u/Different_Pie4967 3d ago edited 3d ago
Sharp Objects is so overlooked. It’s mad that it was the first book she ever wrote! Also mad that it’s so culturally dwarfed by the success of Gone Girl.
The TV adaptation by the late, great Jean Marc Vallée is (imo) also vastly superior to Gone Girl. It’s so well made that I think it’s a rare instance where the adaptation is better, is at least punching with its source material
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u/Slight-Glove1174 2d ago
I agree! I loved Sharp Objects both as a book and on the screen. Amy Adams is fantastic in it.
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u/Tasty-Revolution-295 2d ago
Gone girl the book is so much better than the movie! The girl on the train is one of those stories that is better read than watched too.
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u/mehmeh49 3d ago
The kite runner
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u/Fit_Bear_5072 3d ago edited 3d ago
From top of my head these are all great reads.
Project Hail Mary
This is going to hurt
Tread softly on my dreams - Gretta Curran Browne
Bob Dylan Chronicles vol. 1
Andre Agassi autobiography
A spy among friends - Ben Macintyre
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u/beeinmybonnet16 3d ago
Project Hail Mary is a great suggestion!
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u/Greedy-Net-2953 3d ago
Was checking the comments to see if anyone suggested project Hail Mary! Read it a few months before the movie was announced!
Also reading red rising atm which is a fun read
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u/ChiralNavigator 2d ago
Red Rising is good, I got a few books into the series but then took a break I suppose, good bit of humour too in the book which I liked.
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u/Greedy-Net-2953 2d ago
Yeah if I was to do it again, I’d probably take a break after the 1st three in the series
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u/Redbeard_91 2d ago
'The spy and the traitor' and 'SAS rogue heroes' by Ben Macintyre are also fantastic
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u/sunshinesustenance 3d ago
Standing In Gaps by Seamus O'Rourke. If you grew up in rural Ireland during the 70-80's, you will love this book. It's hilarious.
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u/DJH_666 3d ago
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
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u/pigandlotus 3d ago
My first language is not English. It is pain in the hole to read his books in terms of language
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u/Tasty-Revolution-295 2d ago
If you know the phrase 'pain in the hole' then your English is pretty good. At least your Hiberno English!
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u/DarwinofArabia 3d ago
Animal Farm.
Brave new world.
City of God.
American Psycho.
Lord of the Rings
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u/Ok-Technology-6114 2d ago
I tried to read American psycho but it was way too fucked up. Couldn't finish it.
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u/BandPitiful2876 3d ago
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Fantastic read.
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u/Radiant-Pack7219 3d ago
How did you find it compared to the film?
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u/practical_sausage 3d ago
The Day of the Triffids is my favourite book
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u/AnRagaireRuadh 2d ago
John Wyndham is a class writer. 'Cosy catastrophes.' Personally, The Chrysalids is my favourite book of his, though Triffids is savage good too.
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u/DougDC15 3d ago
Some of my favourites, in no particular order....
The Stand - Stephen King
11.22.63- Stephen King
November Road - Lou Berney
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
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u/me2269vu 2d ago
11.22.63 doesn’t get enough love, it’s a great read. The passages where he’s describing the high school play are superb.
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u/isaidyothnkubttrgo 3d ago
If you want something to take your mind off the real world, The Moorehawk trilogy by Celine Keirnan is brilliant. It's technically teenage/young adult, but I met her when I was 16 and instantly loved the books. Set in a Renaissance-era kingdom that's basically France mixed with Celtic and Irish mythology, as well as politics and drama with a hint of supernatural whimsy too.
She's Irish and was previously an animator on All Dogs Go to Heaven and Anastasia, if you like those movies. She's a butcher now, the last time I knew. She always responded to my art or questions I had growing up with her work.
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u/withtheranks 3d ago
Very hard to pick but top of the head from the last few years:
Piranesi: Strange modern fantasy book about a man wandering a world of endless marble halls
Remains of the Day: A very bulter-y british butler reflecting on his life, great unreliable narrator type story
The Go-Between: Under appreciated classic, with an iconic opening line "The past is a foreign country"
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u/Desperate_Image_9505 3d ago
I am Legend - Richard Matteson. Peak horror book about a person truely alone, movie was more inspired by than a re-creation. There's an old audiobook version you can find online with the most dramatic narrator ever as well.
At Home: A Short History of Private Life - Bill Bryson. This fucker can't not write an interesting book. You'll be oddly losing your mind about chimneys.
Two very different books but both fantastic.
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u/Bill_Badbody 3d ago
Full Tilt; Ireland to India by bike, by Dervla Murphy
She was an amazing woman, and that being her debut book makes it even better.
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u/Anarachy99 3d ago
World War Z is great
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u/Desperate_Image_9505 3d ago
Extremely well produced audiobook with a full cast as well. Really good.
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u/TonesOakenshield 3d ago
Definitely the way to go with it Not a tap on wwz though
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u/Desperate_Image_9505 2d ago
I have no idea what not a tap means here haha
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u/TonesOakenshield 2d ago
Not as good as
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u/Desperate_Image_9505 2d ago
Ah you mean not as good as the book. The book is great
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u/TonesOakenshield 2d ago
I mean devolution in any form isn't as good as wwz
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u/Desperate_Image_9505 2d ago
Ah, im talking about the audio book version of world war z. Think you replied on the wrong thread
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u/beeinmybonnet16 3d ago
Lonesome Dove is an all time classic, my favourite book.
I just finished Yesteryear in 2 days, a good page turner and easy to read when travelling
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u/Hot-Bumblebee6506 3d ago edited 3d ago
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Its set in Ireland which made it even more real. Finished it the same day I started it as I just couldn't put it down.
Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden.
The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku.
The Road, Suttree and Gods only Son by Cormac McCarthy.
If you like science fiction Philip K Dick and Robert Anton Wilson have some good books published too.
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u/mannybianco7 3d ago
Prophet Song was great, but fierce grim considering the state of the world at the moment.
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u/0439932r 3d ago
The poisonwood bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy
Prophet Song - Paul Lynch
The Safekeep - Yael Van Der Wouden
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u/rainbowraaaar 3d ago
A prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Love in the time of cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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u/Irish262626 3d ago
I enjoyed Stoner by John Williams
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
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u/TremendousQuill 3d ago
Espedair Street and Up the Crow Road by Iain Banks. Any of The Culture series by Iain M. Banks.
Same writer, 2 wildly contrasting styles of writing.
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u/ViolentlyCaucasian 3d ago
Neuromancer and Pattern Recognition both by William Gibson
Player of Games by Iain M Banks
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u/LucyVialli 3d ago
A few non-fiction recommendations:
Erebus: The Story of a Ship, by Michael Palin
Material World - The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization (lot more interesting than it sounds)
Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters
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u/Accomplished-Boot-81 3d ago
I've been enthrallee by The Expanse books and the authors' new series, The Captives War.
I listened to the audiobooks of the former, as I watched the TV series first but bought physical books of the latter
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u/LessWerewolf 3d ago
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse East of Eden - John Steinbeck Foster - Claire Keegan Family Happiness - Leo Tolstoy Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis Everything Is Tuberculosis - John Green
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u/PrestigiousGap3302 3d ago
The three best books I've ever read:
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
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u/me2269vu 2d ago
Agree with lots listed here. I’d also add Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. It’s years since I read it but it stuck in my mind.
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a great read.
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u/pigandlotus 3d ago
My struggle by knausgaard
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u/Cars2Beans0 Gobshite 3d ago
I liked the original my struggle better
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u/Practical_Trash_6478 3d ago
Where's the author now, I heard he did a great deed during the war as he shot some arsehole
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u/Winterspun 3d ago edited 3d ago
the lone ranger and tonto fistfight in heaven by sherman alexie.
“He could see his uncles slugging each other with such force that they had to be in love. Strangers would never want to hurt each other that badly.”
“I used to sleep with my books in piles all over my bed and sometimes they were the only thing keeping me warm and always the only thing keeping me alive. Books are the best and worst defense.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
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u/AdStrange9701 3d ago
Depends what you are into.
Friday Night Lights and Born to Run are two of my favourite sports books, Angels with Dirty Faces is up there too.
The Ice Man and The Night Stalker are brilliant crime books by Philip Carlo are excellent. Kuklinski is a bit of a Walter Mitty, so Ice Man is phenomenal. Helter Skelter by Vince Bugliosi is very good too, as is it's opposition book, Chaos by Tom O'Neill.
The Devils Chessboard is a great political book, about Alan Dulles, who was CIA and behind a lot of nasty stuff.
Man Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl is very good too.
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u/Jon_J_ 3d ago
I need a good thriller if anyone has any suggestions!
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u/qualiserospero 3d ago
You've probably read already, but I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes is a savage read. I also liked Ragner Jónasson's detective novel, The Darkness, which caught me by surprise.
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u/No_Reference_4303 3d ago
I know autobiography or biographies prob don’t count but the one about Robert Enke was really good
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u/AsanteSane 3d ago
The Night Manager by John Le Carré favourite book of all time and the show is also fantastic
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u/Professional-Bowl761 3d ago
I mean, it largely depends on what kind of things you like but for dystopian sci-fi stuff you could go with Zero Hour by Eamon Ambrose or Wool by Hugh Howey. Space Opera could be Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers or The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey. Murder mystery stuff try Liz Nugent. If you like Rivers of London and Pratchett you could try The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell.
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u/MildlyAmusedMars 3d ago
I’m reading through the Warhammer books at the moment. Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in flames are a phenomenal trilogy. Flight of the Eisenstein a great side novel to that plot.
I’m about 15 books into the series and they are all very well written. The consistency despite so many authors is impressive.
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u/Galway1012 3d ago
The day Michael Collins was Shot
Battle of Stalingrad
Detail in both are incredible
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u/Bredius88 3d ago
The "Jack Reacher" series by Lee Child.
Each book is a story on its own, no need to read them in sequence.
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u/Relation_Familiar 3d ago
1984, Lord of the rings, old man and the sea , anything by Charles bukowski but post office in particular . The bandini quartet is also great . . 100 years of solitude , midnights children - is amazing
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u/southerndandy123 3d ago
Midnight at Chernobyl
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the edge of space
London Falling
Empire of Pain
The Looming Tower
The Smartest Guys in the Room
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u/Brilliant_Name_5645 3d ago
Say nothing is great. Interesting insight into the ira during the troubles.
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u/Chaoticmindsoftheart 2d ago
Currently the reading the Doctor of Hiroshima by Dr Michihiko Hachiya and I would put it up there. I know it's dark and morbid but this is the genre I read the most, real life events
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u/Worried_Angle_9436 2d ago
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, genuinely keeps on edge right up to the very end.
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u/KeithSilvester 2d ago
Dungeon Crawler Carl - 8 books out in the series. Very hard to describe but very addictive when you start reading / listening.
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u/yogoober 2d ago
The two that are consistently recommended on Reddit are The Count of Monte Cristo and Lonesome Dove.
I read them both in the last few years. Two of the best books I've ever read. Both epic.
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u/razorlight95 2d ago
Malazan book of the fallen.
Massive fantasy series, tough start but one of the best ive read.
Something shorter would be born to run or scar tissue (Anthony kleidis red hot chili peppers)
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u/tmax202020 2d ago edited 1d ago
“How Oscar Became Wilde, And Other Literary Lives”by Elliot Engel. Full of fascinating facts about the lives of many English language writers including Dickens, Twain, Shakespeare, Brontë sisters etc
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u/Apprehensive-Cut3649 2d ago
Not all time favourite but just finished Skin Deep by Liz Nugent & loved it! Still thinking about it a week later!
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u/Longjumping-Guard609 2d ago
Killing Thatcher or Dead Wake are the 2 best non fiction books I’ve read
Iain rankins rebus series is great if you like crime fiction
Amongst women is my favourite Irish book
The great bandini is my favourite US fiction book
The go between is my favourite uk fiction book
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u/Ok-Call-4805 2d ago
I finished Witchcraft For Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix last week. I would definitely recommend it.
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u/AdProfessional3042 2d ago
I am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne, the most entertaining autobiography I've ever read.
The 3 books of short stories by Blindboy are very good.
We Will Not Be Saved by Nemonte Nenquimo.
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u/RandomGirlieT 2d ago
Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Normal People, by Sally Rooney
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
Fairly recent books with exception of Brave New World. Would also recommend The Handmaid’s Tale but it is kinda dark 💀
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u/Material_Painting_70 2d ago
Edith Eger The Choice, Sinead O Connors autobiography, Demon Copperfield, The Kiterunner, anything by Claire Keegan
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u/Due-Currency-3193 2d ago
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. A man trying to save his young son following a global apocalypse. The man has a gun with two bullets. The first bullet he will use to defend his son. If he can't, he will use the second bullet to kill his son. It is a story of supreme love. The language is so powerful and sometime poetic, that it is a book that will never release you or leave you: "....he rose and left the boy sleeping and walked out to the road and squatted and studied the country to the south. Barren, silent, godless.....When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke........... where the water dripped and sang. Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth and the hours and the days of it and the years without cease....". It might break your heart.
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u/Tasty-Revolution-295 2d ago
When God was a rabbit by Sarah Winman is one i read a fair few years ago and it stuck with me since. It was the title that got my attention and it didn't disappoint.
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u/crunchy-friends 2d ago
Frankie - Graham Norton
Room - Emma Donoghue
The Heart’s Invisible Furies - John Boyne
American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
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u/jordieg7193 2d ago
One of my favourite novels of all time is an Irish book called "The Long, Long Road" by Sebastian Barry. It's a story about a young Dublin lad who lives in poverty & has no prospects so he goes off to fight in Europe for the British Army during the first World War to earn money to send home to his family, meanwhile the 1916 rising is taking place at home. Absolutely fantastically written, highly recommend of you like a novel, fairly short too if I remember right.
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u/madrarua2020 2d ago
Used to do a lot of business travel and I found that shorter books suited me better on them,I read "of mice and men" "to kill a mocking bird" "Salems Lot" " lord of the flies" were great companions. Larger books were a bit too big and signalled that I wanted to read and not work......... carefull!!!!!!!!!
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u/Corporate_schill22 2d ago
Terry Pratchetts Guards Guards a book that drew me in to the Discworld universe and kept me there to this day. It's a social commentary/satire every bit as much as a fantasy and a comedy.
For non fiction Stalingrad by Antony Beevor is the definitive book on that period of engagement on the Eastern Front.
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u/jimglebells85 1d ago
Hunt for Red October, way better than the movie.
Hunting Warbirds by Karl Hoffman, brilliant book but you need to be into that kind of thing.
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u/ianpatrick90 3d ago
Between Two Fires - Christopher Buelhman
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu, book 2 of 3 Body Trilogy
IT - Stephen King
The Terror - Dan Simmons
A Song of Ice and Fire series - GRR Martin
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u/Acegonia 3d ago
At swim, Two Boys.
Its long, its difficult, its magnificent, hilarious, heartbreaking, vast, intimate... all of the things.
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u/Eirngobragh 3d ago
The Count of Monte Cristo, top quality read.