el grupo libros ..... the story so far

the data so far is: -

cdh
top 10
Lord of the rings JRR Tolkien
Magician guess who
pillars of the earth Ken follett
captain corelli's mandolin Louis de berniers
Fear & loathing in las vegas Hunter s thompson
perfume Patrick suskind
his dark materials trilogy Phillip Pullman
the wasp factory Iain Banks
the histories Heroditus
breakfast of champions Kurt Vonnegut Jnr.

top 20
at swim-two-birds
birdsnog
winnie The pooh
dune
the ragged trousered philanthropists
the snow leopard
clan of the cave bear
lake wobegon days
lanark
trainspotting

top 30+
the amazing adventures of cavalier & clay
worthy of mention..............
the good soldier svejk
the metamorphosis & collected short stories
the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
the grapes of wrath
the god of small things
1984
on broadway
i claudius
lolita
Ali & nino
the life of Pi


rjm
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas - still the single funniest book I have ever read
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - favourite all time novel
Dubliners - James Joyce -sublime and haunting.
The Secret history - Donna Tart Unputdownable
The Great Gatsby -Scott Fitzgerald
Heart of Darkness - Conrad - second favourite novel
The Caine Mutiny -Herman Wouk - fabulous - I want to remake the film
Dune - Frank Herbert - Loved it - one of the best SciFi books ever. It has everything. Read it in Goa on miles of sand. Wow
The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailor - Yup
Creation - Gore Vidal Not a book I would have picked off the shelf. Rather a direction from the Anthony Burgess top 100 novels
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - The first book is marvellous - the 3rd book less so but its still breathtaking. Should have won the BBc top novel. And No LOTR isn't here. I've read it 4 times but the film highlights the books flaws. It should be here but even I'm fed up with it winning everything
The French Leiutenats Woman - John Fowles - It was between this or the Maggot
Love & War in the Apenines Eric Newby - not strictly a novel but may as well be. Got it from Radio 4 a good read. Can't think I'd ever have picked it up otherwise
Hawksmoor - Peter Ackroyd - Like all the best books I've been back to reread it again and again.
The Stand - Stephen King - this could have been a biblically fantastic book. It is a fantastic book.
The Cornish Trilogy - Robertson Davies - 3 novels - I confess to not having read the third but I loved it. Unpreposessing
Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - There is just something about this book.
Artemis Fowl - A little to close to Terry Pratchet but an absolute romp. Come to think of it the first 5 Pratchett books were excellent
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee Only read it last year. Its beautiful
New Confessions - William Boyd
Despatches - Michael Herr - God I love this book - not really a novel but my 3rd fave
And also rans...................
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
Bridehead Revisited - Evely Waugh
The Cruel Sea - Nicholas Monserrat "Snorkers Old Boy!"
Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - infuriating that it takes 150 pages to go anywhere but haunting and elegaic
Rendevous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke - David you'd hate this one. its SciFi - nothing happens but its wonderful
Diary of a Madman - Gogol
Diary of a country Doctor -Mikail Bulgakov


njb

Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky
The Iron Dream Norman Spinrad
Kim Kipling
The Happy Prince Wilde
Paingod Harlan Ellison
Neuromancer William Gibson
White Teeth Zadie Smith
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter Thompson
Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Conan Doyle
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe
Maus Art Spiegelman
Schinder's Ark Thomas Keneally
My Last Breath Luis Bunuel
Alexander the Great Robin Lane Fox
Into the Heart of Borneo Redmond O'Hanlon
From the Holy Mountain William Dalrymple
The Code of the Woosters P G Wodehouse
My American Century Studs Terkel
To Be or Not to Bop Dizzy Gillespie

I am sure that a different day would furnish a different list. Hunter
Thompson, RIP, is obviously on my mind today for example, but a big
shout out to all my homies for helping me to remember "To Be or Not to
Bop" which I have loved and lost.

dsa

The great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
A secret History - Donna Tarte
Fugitive pieces - Ann Michaels. Not a cheerful book but beautifully written- Starting in Holocaust Poland and following on to life afterwards in Canada.
Gone with the wind - Margaret Mitchell - great story and great characters set against the American Civil war.
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
Songlines - Bruce Chatwin. part story of the Aboriginal life and philosophy and part exploration into the nomadic nature of the human condition - sounds heavy and
it is in places but no the less fascinating.
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Moon and Sixpence - Somerset Maughan - Boy with slight disability and his journey through life. Not as depressing as it sounds
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
New confessions - William Boyd
Daniel Martin - John Fowles. I too was spoilt for choice with Fowles.
Lord of the rings - Tolkein - First time a film has nearly lived up to the book as well.
To kill a mocking bird - Harper Lee - only book that I have read twice.
Brother of the more famous Jack - Barbara Trapido - gentle observed humour. I must read it again to remind myself of how good it was.
Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - Solgenitzen - I know the spelling is wrong but I couldn't find the book. As it says on the tin this is the life in a day of a man in a Soviet Gulag.
For whom the bell tolls - Hemmingway. Life though the Spanish civil war - I could also have chosen The old man and the sea but this one has more body to it.
Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving - Very funny and black at times. not as weird as he gets later so about at the limit of my tolerance for strange.
The Passion - Jeanette Winterson - Magical/strange tale set in Venice and I think in the 16th century.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressel
Sons and Lovers - DH. Lawrence - Partly because I studied it for A level and partly because I liked Lawrence when I was more impressionable.
God - this was a hard thing to do as I sure I've forgotten loads and given others undo weight because of the impact they had on me - which is after all what is important.
Not quite making the cut were
The woman in white - Wilkie Collins
1984 - George Orwell.
Stone diaries - Carol Shields (her latest and last book is very good "unless")
Frankie and Stankie" by Barbara Trapido
"Astonishing splashes of colour" by Clare Morrall
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
Eating Wolves
by Alexis Scott


recomendations
meeting 6 (to come.....@ Nick's)
rjm berlin
cdh the 13.5 .lives of captain bluebear
njb xxxx
dsa xxxxxx
CL

Meeting 5
rjm Brideshead revisited
cdh Birds without wings
njb written lives
dsa the kite runner / the discovery of slowness

Meeting4
rjm 'Northern Lights' by Phillip Pullman
cdh the blind man of seville
njb deadwater
dsa the path less travelled

Meeting3
rjm master & commander
cdh the da vinci code
dsa the 5 people you meet in heaven

Meeting2
rjm the birthday boys
cdh no1 ladies detective agency
dsa Family Matters - Rhohinter Mistry

Meeting1
rjm - servants of the people - andrew rawnsley
cdh ali & nino
dsa The Curious Incident of the dog in night time
cdh clan of the cave bear




films
here are my fave films
AND IN ORDER! (smartarse that I am) (of my preference, that is)
top 10
Harvey
Apocalypse Now
the jerk
The Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Shichinin no samurai
Pulp Fiction
Donnie Darko
The Sixth Sense
All Quiet on the Western Front

also rans
The Shawshank Redemption
The Graduate
Reservoir Dogs
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Trainspotting
Gladiator
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Taxi Driver
buena vista social club
Léon
Alien
A Clockwork Orange
the life of brian
High Noon
Blade Runner
Das Boot
The Deer Hunter
Young Frankenstein
Kind Hearts and Coronets
This Is Spinal Tap