1FF Top 100 Books

[mistermagic]

Yeah, check this MM.

http://www.onefootballforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/urgent-notice-loss-of-posts.654/



Gonna need to play some catch up.

I suppose I could post TWO LISTS IN ONE DAY!

 

[Ginola14]

As You Like It by Shakespeare is mine. It's one of his comedies and is about Rosalind and her cousin fleeing to the forest of Arden to find safety. In there, they meet lots of different characters. And love. I adore this play and everything about it. The comedy, the puns, the characters, it's his second best play imo.....

 

[This Charming Mike]

None of mine feature there but I've read a couple of the books that do.

A Dance with Dragons is very much a book of too halves for me. The first half is slow and dull but it really picks up towards the end and gives me a lot of hope for the remaining two books in the ASOIAF series.

Cirque Du Freak is the first book in the Saga of Darren Shan, a set of books that effectively filled the gap between the releases of Harry Potter books 5 and 6 for me in my early teens.

 

[BCFC Jordan]

Luckily, I actually saved the post I made in this thread yesterday, as I was anticipating posting the list of my books that have appeared on the list up until this point in time.

The two Darren Shan books were mine. Haven't read either series for years now. Like Harry Potter, they were the books that got me to really enjoy reading when I was younger. I felt compelled to have them on my list, even if only in the bottom half.

Other books of mine that have been listed so far, are; Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Great Gatsby, The Importance of Being Earnest, Jane Eyre, David Jason: My Autobiography, World War Z and The Graveyard Book.

 

[Smally]

[QUOTE="Veggie Legs, post: 10303, member: 606]

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman was my pick too, I'm a little surprised no one else selected it. I'm pretty sure there was a long discussion of His Dark Materials the last time this feature was run about whether it's really suitable for children, but I don't remember what the consensus was. I enjoyed reading it at as a child and as an adult, I guess I missed out on some of the deeper themes the first time round, but I don't think that prevents it being good for children too.[/QUOTE]

I didn't send a list but this would have been considered. For me it's the strongest of the His Dark Materials trilogy. I reread the books last year but didn't enjoy them as much as I did when I was about 16. Still, good book.

Another I read last year was A Dance With Dragons. It got better the more you read, but I think the Daenerys chapters started to grate before the last couple (if I remember right, my memory is terrible)

Aldo read Restaurant At The End Of The Universe but barely remember any of it. I should probably read the Hitchikers Guide series again at some point

 

[mistermagic]

Books on 15 points (86-97):

• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie
  
• Disordered Minds by Minette Walters
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• Teach Yourself Christianity by John Young
• The Bible by The Illuminati
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (2 lists)
  
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2 lists)
  
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

 

[Smally]

Catching Fire is far and away the best of the Hunger Games trilogy. I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would, and probably should. Such a pity the next book was total shit compared to what preceded it

 

[Oaf]

Hm... think I may have been the only person to have voted Catching Fire, which yes, means I probably had it about 6th on my own list. I've never felt myself addicted to reading a book more than I was while reading that. Had the book read in about 5 days, which is incredible for me as I usually tend to draw them out a bit. Was just a whole lot of fun to read. I feel like The Hunger Games books (and films, for that matter) are better than they're often given credit for.

Well, not the third one. As Smally said, that was pretty rubbish. Well actually I thought it was ok until the last 100 pages or so.

 

[Smally]

You're probably right about Mockingjay Oaf. I just got the sense that the author had no idea how to end it the longer it went on. Rarely for me though, I enjoyed Mockingjay pt 1 the film much more than the book. The films have been pretty good considering who they're aimed at

 

[Stagat]

Jude the Obscure was mine. Only Hardy book I've read. Picked it up from a second hand bookshop. Not the typical travellers' read but I enjoyed it, if enjoyed is the right word. Quite dark, isn't it? Saw the film (Eccleston, Winslet) before I read it, on some hungover and depressed Sunday night. I recommend being in a happier place generally before seeing it.

 

[Son of Cod]

99% sure The Peculiar Memories Of Thomas Penman is SoC's choice from that lot - I read it a few years ago on his recommendation.

Correct! I've read this a second and third time since I recommended it before. I had remembered that you'd read it, though. To be honest, when I re-read it I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first time. However, that first time I read it it really struck a chord with me. It's on my list and so high up because it engrossed me so much the first time I read it. I was off work and smashed through it in a day, reading it from cover to cover. Something, I've only ever done with this book. As the title suggests the story is about Thomas Penman, an intelligent 15 year old misfit, starting to make sense of the world around him. It focuses on his family relationships, through which he unearths a huge family secret, and him falling in love for the first time. The story works so well as Robinson absolutely nails the thoughts and emotions of an pubescent teenager. It's hilarious and heartfelt throughout and it has a particularly poignant message at the end. If you need any convincing about whether or not to read this, then perhaps the fact that this book opens with a fairly detailed account of the main character's penchant for shitting in weird places and hiding it around his house might swing it either way for you.

Edit: Just realised I missed another of mine, The Shock of the New. Will have to write about that later.

Also mm, did I miss my #12 book? Or, was it not included? FHK Henrion - AGI Annuals. Or did someone else vote for it?!

 

[lordofthepies]

Narrow Road to the Deep South is mine. It won the most recent Booker prize and quite rightly so.

 

[mistermagic]

Books on 16 points (76-85):

• First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
• Henry IV (Part 1) by William Shakespeare
• Iliad by Homer
• Lanark by Alasdair Gray
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kasey
• Police by Jo Nesbo
• The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson
• The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer is Wrong by David Sally & Chris Anderson
• The Sculptress by Minette Walters
• The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Cambodia book looks interesting while the Cuckoo's Nest one is a must-read for me (althought would give Nesbo another shot someday) but the big surprise is the second installment of the LotR trilogy being out so soon.

 

[Oaf]

Two towers

That was the biggest drag of the 3 books for me... which is odd, because I consider the 2nd film to be my favourite.

 

[This Charming Mike]

Jo Nesbo's Police was mine and another book in his fantastic Harry Hole series, though this one kicks off minus a certain Oslo detective. Luckily for us readers, Nesbo is a clever writer and plotter. Over the years he has built up a superb cast of supporting characters to orbit Hole and this book really gives them a chance to shine. They are such brilliantly drawn characters, layered by a shared history that you do not even miss Hole that much at first. And that's not even mentioning a plot that kept me far too occupied to mourn his absence. Yet again, Nesbo succeeds in producing a multi-layered and intertwining story that made my head spin, while delivering a masterclass in suspenseful writing.

 

[mistermagic]

Jo Nesbo's Police was mine and another book in his fantastic Harry Hole series, though this one kicks off minus a certain Oslo detective. Luckily for us readers, Nesbo is a clever writer and plotter. Over the years he has built up a superb cast of supporting characters to orbit Hole and this book really gives them a chance to shine. They are such brilliantly drawn characters, layered by a shared history that you do not even miss Hole that much at first. And that's not even mentioning a plot that kept me far too occupied to mourn his absence. Yet again, Nesbo succeeds in producing a multi-layered and intertwining story that made my head spin, while delivering a masterclass in suspenseful writing.

You know what I disliked the most about Headhunters? That the translator was shit. I'm positive that reading Nesbo in Norwegian would have made for a much, much better novel as some of the translating was just poor. Bit like Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Some publishers should find quality scandi translators imo.

 

[This Charming Mike]

You know what I disliked the most about Headhunters? That the translator was shit. I'm positive that reading Nesbo in Norwegian would have made for a much, much better novel as some of the translating was just poor. Bit like Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Some publishers should find quality scandi translators imo.

Don Bartlett translated Headhunters didn't he? He did most of the Harry Hole books too. I honestly think you would enjoy those as they are more murder mystery-based than Headhunters.

 

[mistermagic]

Yep, that's him. It wasn't Larsson's translator bad but some of the sentences were just weird to read.

 

[Son of Cod]

The Shock of the New was one of mine further up the thread. This book accompanied the 1980 BBC TV series of the same name, charting the development of art since The Impressionists. I remember being told to read this and Ways of Seeing around the same time, when I was at college. The Shock of the New had a lasting impression, while I didn't particularly care much for Ways of Seeing. The Shock of the New presents a really clear and concise critical understanding of the course of modern art up until when the TV series was broadcast. Essential reading for any art student even today.

Books on 16 points (76-85):

• First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
• Henry IV (Part 1) by William Shakespeare
• Iliad by Homer
• Lanark by Alasdair Gray
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kasey
• Police by Jo Nesbo
• The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson
• The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer is Wrong by David Sally & Chris Anderson
• The Sculptress by Minette Walters
• The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Cambodia book looks interesting while the Cuckoo's Nest one is a must-read for me (althought would give Nesbo another shot someday) but the big surprise is the second installment of the LotR trilogy being out so soon.

First They Killed My Father wasn't one of mine, but it is a fantastic book. Harrowing to the point that I had to put it down a few times while I was reading. Great book and was the one that sparked a bit of interest in the Khmer Rouge, on a personal level. Before this book, I never really knew the extent of Pol Pot's regime.

Lanark is one of mine. It tells the story of two men at different stages in their lives (...that's like three of the books on my list that share this device now, I think?). Gradually, we learn how the two men are linked and what their fate will be. The prose and story line get progressively more difficult and challenging once the second man is introduced. He ends up in a weird town where there is no sunlight and contracts a disease before being swallowed up by the ground. While underground he is in hospital but escapes after learning a dark secret about the place and thus embarks on his ascent back to the weird town. This journey is the final part of the book and it's a trippy mind boggler in which Gray breaks down the fourth wall and meets the character at one point. I found this book opaque and ambiguous at times, which are traits I don't usually like in fiction, however it didn't hinder this at all. I would be interested to hear the opinions of others who have read this?

 

[lordofthepies]

Going back a few posts, The Open Veins of Latin America is mine. Essentially a history of colonialism in the region. It's been described as a 'Marxist rant' in some places, but I agree with pretty much every word.

 

[mistermagic]

Books on 17 points (67-75):

• Glue by Irvine Welsh
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• Northern Lights: Oxford Pt. 1 by Philip Pullman
• Stag Party: the Inside Story of Mansfield's Return to the Football League by Matt Halfpenny
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• The Shining by Stephen King

None of those were on 2 lists. We're nearing the 20-pt mark where books are gonna get on more and more lists so I'm just breathing before the workload kills me.
I've only read the Stieg Larsson one out of those books. It is the 3rd and last installment of the Larsson trilogy and to me, the best of the lot. This is where poor Lisbeth Salander, a genius hacker, learns that she has been wrongly institutionalized and that corruption in the Swedish Secret Service goes as high up as it can go. A superb and entertaining read.
I'll give The Shining a read. Pretty sure the book will scare me more than the film did. No offence, Jack.

 

[Cardsfan]

Books on 17 points (67-75):

• Glue by Irvine Welsh
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• Northern Lights: Oxford Pt. 1 by Philip Pullman
• Stag Party: the Inside Story of Mansfield's Return to the Football League by Matt Halfpenny
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• The Shining by Stephen King

None of those were on 2 lists. We're nearing the 20-pt mark where books are gonna get on more and more lists so I'm just breathing before the workload kills me.
I've only read the Stieg Larsson one out of those books. It is the 3rd and last installment of the Larsson trilogy and to me, the best of the lot. This is where poor Lisbeth Salander, a genius hacker, learns that she has been wrongly institutionalized and that corruption in the Swedish Secret Service goes as high up as it can go. A superb and entertaining read.
I'll give The Shining a read. Pretty sure the book will scare me more than the film did. No offence, Jack.

Shit you've just overtaken me

 

[Oaf]

I was the only person to put The Shining on my list, it seems. Bought a shitty second hand copy of it for like 90p off of play.com, but man, that was money well spent in the end! Was one of the first Stephen King books I've read, and still possibly the best of them. Jack Torrance is a far better character in the book than in the film... I once saw somebody say that in the film, he's an insane man losing a battle to retain his sanity... whereas in the book, he's a sane man who slowly descends into insanity. Which makes it a lot more interesting, to me.

 

[This Charming Mike]

I had The Girl who Kicked The Hornet's Nest on my list and you've summed it up perfectly MM. An intricate tale of crime and corruption within one of the world's most fascinating countries.

 

[Smally]

Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is also my favourite from the Millennium trilogy, which to me is surprising as I tend to prefer the middle part of a trilogy.

I've got Glue here at home but haven't read it yet. I'm going through all of Welsh's books at the moment so I should get onto this pretty soon

Northern Lights is good, really good in fact at introducing Lyra Belacqua's world and setting up the story for His Dark Materials. Preferred The Subtle Knife but a good book. Avoid the terrible film adaption The Golden Compass though, really not worth the effort

 

[mistermagic]

Told yers. (Cardsfan )

 

[Stagat]

First They Killed My Father wasn't one of mine, but it is a fantastic book. Harrowing to the point that I had to put it down a few times while I was reading. Great book and was the one that sparked a bit of interest in the Khmer Rouge, on a personal level. Before this book, I never really knew the extent of Pol Pot's regime.

Was mine. Read it having just been there and interested in all the history. There's a link for anyone unaware but interested what that was. The book is a personal account of a girl who survived it and by the title you can probably guess not much of her family did. Not much to add really, just a very good book.

• Stag Party: the Inside Story of Mansfield's Return to the Football League by Matt Halfpenny

This wasn't mine, but I'd like to know which other Stag sent in a list. We had Phil Stant's autobiography a couple of rounds ago. Wonder if that's it for Mansfield Town books in this?

 

[Son of Cod]

Glue was another of mine. I'm not sure if I would be into Irvine Welsh as much now if I picked one of this books up for the first time today, however I started reading his stuff at a relatively early age. Aged 15, I went to the library and borrowed Filth as an act of rebellion when my dad wouldn't let me watch Trainspotting. In your face, Dad. I think some of his work had a pretty big sway in what I began to take an interest in and the way I thought about certain things, so on a personal level I will always regard him as an important author. Anyway, Glue follows the lives of a group of four guys who grow up together at (...yep you've guessed it*) three different times in their lives. It's got all the usual shenanigans you'd expect in an Irvine Welsh book; drinking, sex, drugs, sports, violence, swearing, etc. However, while a lot of Welsh's main characters are somewhat nihilistic or doomed from the outset, those in Glue are underpinned by a beautiful tale of friendship. I always find myself rooting for these guys more than the leads out of Filth or Trainspotting (which were the two other Welsh books I considered here) because of this. For me though, the real strength of this book is how it uses its characters as a vehicle to touch quite heavily upon the social changes that happened in Britain from the 70s into the 00s, which is something that I don't think Welsh had explored as well as here until Skagboys came out not so long ago. This is Irvine Welsh at his best, in my opinion.

*That will only make sense if you have read my previous posts in this and the TFF thread.

 

[mistermagic]

This wasn't mine, but I'd like to know which other Stag sent in a list. We had Phil Stant's autobiography a couple of rounds ago. Wonder if that's it for Mansfield Town books in this?

Don't know if he joined the new board. His name on TFF was Northstandexile.

 

[Stagat]

Don't know if he joined the new board. His name on TFF was Northstandexile.

Ah, cheers. Dunno about his taste in books but I like his loyalty to the Stags.