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Books you've read the most number of times

Started by MikeShaft, November 01, 2017, 01:31:00 AM

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holyzombiejesus

Quote from: Janie Jones on November 15, 2017, 08:31:35 PM
Yes this would be in my top 5 most re-read and I think a lot of people love it as we do but it seems to get overlooked in favour of the Gatsbys and the Catchers and the Mockingbirds in lists of seminal and hugely popular American literature that most people read as young adults. It's laugh-out-loud funny, sexy, wise and mystical and anyone who doesn't cry when the Pirate's dogs see a vision of St Francis has a cold fish's heart like the Italian bootlegger who is endlessly cuckolded and swindled throughout the book.

This was covered in a Radio 4 book programme. Some bloke (Just checked - Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell) chose it as his favourite book and the two women who had to read it, absolutely loathed it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03w0562   (it's talked about near the end, about 19m in)

Serge

Quote from: gilbertharding on November 16, 2017, 12:02:35 PMLord of the Rings (like everyone else)

Not like me, I hated the bloody thing! In fact, it was grimly making my way through the endless battle scenes in that which convinced me that if I wasn't enjoying a book, I should just stop reading it. Unless it's really bad (and short), in which case I'll see it through to the end so I can endlessly take the piss out of it.

Dex Sawash

Quote from: Serge on November 17, 2017, 09:23:47 PM
Not like me, I hated the bloody thing! In fact, it was grimly making my way through the endless battle scenes in that which convinced me that if I wasn't enjoying a book, I should just stop reading it. Unless it's really bad (and short), in which case I'll see it through to the end so I can endlessly take the piss out of it.

So much pointless walking. Use the damned wizard you goofs.

bgmnts

Bart Simpsons Guide to Life when i were a wee nipper.

It still holds up.

Gulftastic

'Wiseguy' by Nicholas Pileggi (the book on which Goodfellas is based. In the days of dial up, I used to keep it next to my PC to fill in those long waiting periods.


Serge

It amuses me that Wiseguys is still in print in two different editions, one with its original title, and one rebranded Goodfellas, with a picture from the film on the cover. There they sit on the shelf in our shop, next to each other. I wonder how many people have accidentally ended up buying both?

nedthemumbler

Any other fans of the Borribles books, by Michael de Larrabeiti, out there?  Incredibly important to my growing mind, but probably not well-known enough to deserve their own thread.

I absolutely devoured and loved them as a young teen, and doubtless would do still at approaching thirty, if I dug my 3 book compendium out.  Everything about them and their world and adventures just hit my sweet spot of personal taste - witty, uncouth, violent, anti-authority, stuffed with places in South and maybe East London that seemed incredibly cool to me in Chesterfield, or at my Grans in Woking ( a personal tutor with a frankly silly amount of books) where I first discovered them, amongst many other literary treasures.

If you think it is just a 'naughty' pastiche of the Wombles, think again.  The first book in particular has an incredibly gripping story, that comments on capitalism and greed; hypocracy and personal liberty; cunning and resourcefulness; friendship and loyalty in dire circumstances; and of course makes sure each bad guy gets a unique, inventive demise, so graphically described as to thrill the gory teenage boy in you.

Googling Michael de Larrabeiti shows him to be an influence on the 'New Weird' literary movement, which includes China Meiville and Jeff VanderMeer, apparantely...

Sorry second Edit, but only now, via Wiki, have I learnt that Dewdrop was a reference to Steptoe!  Never guessed...  Eeeee the magic of the internet ey.