Recommend me books for menfolks ? please.

[Toddy]

I take great care to ensure that the books/reading material are genuinely something I know they'll like.
I've been doing this list thing for over a decade now, and I can truthfully say that I haven't done too badly on it

They all have Kindle/Sony reader/ Apple things, but a book's a book's a book, iimmc.

The only rooms in our homes that don't have books are the loos and bathrooms…..if you're in there long enough to sit and read a book, I'm going to feed you something to spare you the discomfort :evilgrin: besides, those are not decent places to keep anything that belongs on a bookcase, and I don't care 'how' clean they're kept. Mine are bleached and I still don't want books in them.
Okay, that's a personal beef there I suppose, and everyone's different and entitled to their own opinions and customs.


Sorry that your book buying folks haven't been more careful Tengu You could just keep an Amazon wish list and point them towards it ?

M

 

[Goatboy]

I take it the near mandatory Broons/Oor Wullie are firmly ensconced on your list?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Anything by Robert Macfarlane may fit the bill. He combines sensitivity to environment, the wild world we all love and a style of writing the envy of many a poet. Your menfolk will surely know of some of the places he mentions and the the ones they don't will still ring chimes of familiar, similar places and experiences.

Totally agree but having read the brief I gained the feeling the short list needed to be given of something other than bourgeois escapism so I refrained.

Had I not it would have been "Field Notes From The Edge" by Paul Evans.

 

[Dave]

Bill Brysons A walk in the woods is one they must have read?

Must have read tolkein? Aside from the obvious ones, Wracking brain, for others..

The morality play by Barry Unsworth. Perfect little novel.

Made into a good movie as well in 2003, called 'The Reckoning'

On the medievel theme, how about Umberto Eco? Foucaults pendulum? [bit heavy]

Empire of the sun, by JG Ballard. Classic.

 

[Toddy]

I take it the near mandatory Broons/Oor Wullie are firmly ensconced on your list?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

They are both verbotten these days. They underwent some kind of metamorphosis into something totally nasty and not the coothie versions that they were. Like Asterix turned into an american comic or Japanese weird thing.
Shame.

M

 

[ged]

..."Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden is absolutely riveting but of course it's set in Ethiopia...

A good read indeed, you mean Somalia though.

Ouch! You're right of course. :sulkoff:

 

[mousey]

The last book I've bought was the natural navigator by Tristan gooley.

 

[British Red]

Another great one which is a total smile spreading page turner is

The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Rod Bradbury

Story of an old man condemned to an old peoples home climbs out the window and goes on the adventure of a lifetime

I really enjoyed that one - slightly "Forrest Gump" in tone and content - innocently stumbling through history!

 

[mrcharly]

Track down a copy of My Side of the Mountain (the film is pretty good, too).

 

[bobnewboy]

I really enjoyed the original Cadfael chronicles series, by Ellis Peters. I dont know if that would really fit in with your requirements, but a great read

 

[Toddy]

They are indeed, and I thoroughly enjoyed them too More to my taste than their's though.
I happily re-read a book; it's almost like familiar conversation with an old friend Might dig my copies out again.

M

 

[Toddy]

The last book I've bought was the natural navigator by Tristan gooley.

That was one of last year's selection of books

M

 

[Dave]

The Wooden Books, Gift Books, are little gems packed full of interesting info.

Im trying to find a place, like the book depository, where i can buy 6 or 7 titles, then get reduced shipping on them. i'll update if i do.
http://woodenbooks.com/browse/index.php

 

[Magentus]

Mary, I would heartily recommend 'In the Heart of the Sea' by Nathanial Philbrick; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Sea-E...449571118&sr=8-1&keywords=nathaniel+philbrick

It's the true and incredible story that inspired Moby Dick (but is a lot easier to read!). I couldn't put it down.

I'd echo Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods', anything by William Gibson (especially the contemporary trilogy 'Pattern Recognition', 'Spook Country' and 'Zero History'). He has an amazing way of connecting dots in todays world and has me looking up all sorts of info he seeds throughout the story.

Anything by Robin Hobb if they like fantasy - She is a superb writer and her characters come alive.

'Ash, a Secret History' by Mary Gentle is absolutely brilliant -
For the beautiful young woman Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. She has fought her way to the command of a mercenary company, and on her unlikely shoulders lies the destiny of a Europe threatened by the depredations of an Infidel army more terrible than any nightmare.
Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 2000

Mary Gentle is a reenactor and an expert swordswomen too. The historical detail is perfect, as is the realisation of her alternative past. Can't recommend it enough.

'Nation' by Terry Pratchett. Excellent stand alone book.

So many more but it looks like you already have enough on your plate!

 

[mousey]

One book I remember reading when younger was "Shrimpy" - one of the smallest vessel globe circumnavigations

Another I read quite recently was "Rough Passage" by Tom Mclean auto biography, SAS, setting up a training business in NW Scotland and at one time holding the record for crossing the Atlantic in the smallest sailing vessel and solo rowing of the Atlantic.

 

[boatman]

Welsh setting but if they haven't read it, I bought a Mountain by Thomas Firbank is one of the greats from the past. Likewise R F Delderfield and J B Priestley's novels. Retro being the new new.

 

[ged]

Oh, I forgot - if I could only keep one of the thousands of books on my shelves, it would be

"Emergency Navigation: Improvised and No-Instrument Methods for the Prudent Mariner" by David Burch.

This was originally a two-volume set, but that's out of print and this single volume replaces it.

My copy of the original sort of fell to pieces after I'd thumbed through it for well nigh twenty years, so I bought this one as well.

 

[Klenchblaize]

 

[Stevie777]

They are both verbotten these days. They underwent some kind of metamorphosis into something totally nasty and not the coothie versions that they were. Like Asterix turned into an american comic or Japanese weird thing.
Shame.

M

What!!!! ...Are you telling us Oor Wullie has gone rogue.? Hen Broon i had my suspicions, but surely not Wullie as well. What in the world..

 

[bilmo-p5]

Mrs Bilmo tells me there's a lot of adult colouring books about these days.