Your favorite book

In preperation for my next trip, can anyone recommend a good book? I like to read a good novel. Last trip I read "I Know This Much Is True" by Wally Lamb. It's a rather long book, but I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it!

Scouting for boys

Red Carpets and other banana skins...the auto-biograohy of actor Rupett Everett
This book has really surprised me as Rupett has turned out to be a superb writer and it's a rollicking good read...certainly an easy read and an extremely amusing account of an actor's life.

I was a bit reluctant to take this book on as I knew Rupett when he was much younger around London and I found him an unbelievably insufferable snob...typical upper class twit that one would put up with because he was handsome and could be amusing at times but ..oh what a hustler...if someone gravitated within eyeframe that looked slightly higher up the social rung (easy in my case)..he would be off in mid-sentence.

Rupett aknowledges all of this and more in his tale and how he missed on so many opportunities because of it..such as jetting off to Italy specifically to attend a friends party to meet Franco Zefferelli and then rudely dimissing Franco who approached him as "some interior decorating queen"...this is a great read as Roops (our name for him) lays himself bare and is pretty tough on himself.

I reckon he probably has a great future as a writer...I believe he's now working in a re-make of "St Trinians" and will be starring as the Headmistress...should be fun.

Highly recommended.

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon - not what you would think of as a first choice read when you discover the book is written about a 15 year old autistic boy. However, highly recommended as it is written expertly as if the writer is the boy and is a sort of coming of age murder mystery. Loved it.

"The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel - another one you may not immediately think of as an interesting subject for the beach - boy is shipwrecked and spends time in a lifeboat with a bengal tiger. Tense and thoughtful and, as I recall, a twist at the end as you discover what actually .....

"The Funny Thing is ..." by Ellen Degeneres - surprise, it's funny.

"His Dark Materials" - Philip Pullman, if you like fantasy books this series of three books is good.

"The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" - Brady Udall - a very funny (and heartwrenching) book that makes you wonder just how many knockbacks it takes before you give up on life and the world altogether. Read it!

[Smiles]

If only one novel to take, I would recommend 'Look Homeward Angel' by Thomas Wolfe.
A long read, heavy but not turgid, an over-the-top descriptive tour de force if there ever was one. Great for a holiday read.

Right now I'm reading 'A History of Warfare' by John Keegan. If you like history and enjoy simply opening a book at any page and being able tro jump right in (cannot do with novels), then this would be a fine choice for a vacation read.

Cheers ...

Re A History of Warfare...Are the Hydra wars and the Niddy Wars covered, Smiles?

If these are not still in print, check Amazon.

Never trust a Naked Bus Driver--Jack Douglas Short stories. Problem: So funny you will probable finish it in a day.
Shut Up & Eat Your Snowshoes--Jack Douglas About a family surviving in the wilds of Canada.
May This House be Safe From Tigers--Alexander King
Mine Enemy Grows Older--Alexander King
The Phantom of the Open Hearth--Jean Shephard More humor--some were done on television.

If you like mysteries: Koko or The Blue Rose--Peter Straub

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books.

(Tip: Most hotels have collection of left books in the lobby.)

BTW: Is the book store still going in Day-Night?

"The Moons a balloon" by David Niven - very funny and a great way to pass the time on a long flight.

If you like historical naval novels (in the mode of Captain Hornblower) - anything by Alexander Kent - his "hero" is Richard Bolitho and there are a series of books from midshipman to admiral