Reply to: My next read.....

[DaveB]

I've just finished reading "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks. Couldn't put it down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasp_Factory

Very good book but to be honest I prefer his Science Fiction work as Ian M. Banks. Player of Games is a classic and Feersum Endjin is one of the most original books I've read in a long long time.

[Bitbucket]

I prefer Enid Blyton's "The Magic Faraway Tree".

Ive been reading Enid Blyton since I was 2

[AlfredJPruffock]

I've just finished reading "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks. Couldn't put it down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasp_Factory

Yes ; it has a superb ending.

[OwlHoot]

can anyone suggest a book based on imperial south east asia .. specifically Sinagapore and Malaysia?
Similar themes of imperial hypocrisy and decadence would be ideal...

Hmm, The Jacaranda Tree might be up your street.

I'd also recommend The Journeyer

[DaveB]

Here's a short novel;

"Once upon a time there was a lovely little sausage called `B--"

I preferred "Edmund: A Butlers Tale".

A giant rollercoaster of a novel in 400 sizzling chapters. A searing indictment of domestic servitude in the eighteenth century with some hot gypsies thrown in.

[DodgyAgent]

baldrick

Here's a short novel;

"Once upon a time there was a lovely little sausage called `B--"

[TheMonkey]

I've just finished reading "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks. Couldn't put it down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasp_Factory

[Board Game Geek]

Thanks fellas !

Some truly inspiring suggestions from you all (I didn't realise you were as passionate about books as you were about IT)

[AlfredJPruffock]

can anyone suggest a book based on imperial south east asia .. specifically Sinagapore and Malaysia?
Similar themes of imperial hypocrisy and decadence would be ideal...

Daniel Masons The Piano Tuner set in 1886 in Burma migh be of interest, the theme being the rotting of colonialism from within , is one very good read.

As I happen to have worked previosuly as a Piano Technican and tuner myself I stumbed across this book thinking it was a technical book on pianos which it is not.

As I am now in my sunset days as far as IT is concnered I shall be returning soon to my beloved Pianos.

The other book you might enjoy in this context is Burmese Days by George Orwell.



Daniel Mason's debut novel, The Piano Tuner, is the mesmerizing story of Edgar Drake, commissioned by the British War Office in 1886 to travel to hostile Burma to repair a rare Erard grand piano vital to the Crown's strategic interests.

Eccentric Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll has brokered peace with local warlords primarily through music, a free medical clinic, and the "powers" of common scientific instruments, much to the dismay of warmongering officers suspect of such unorthodox methods. Drake is an introspective, well-mannered soul who, once there, falls in love with Burma and stays long past the piano-fixing to aid Carroll's political agenda.

Drake's arduous journey to reach the outpost, however, takes far too long (nearly half the book) and the plotting is rather heavy-handed at times (one night, Drake learns of a mysterious "Man with One Story" who rarely speaks, and the very next morning the Man tells all to Drake).


The story is ambitious, the language florid and sure to please, but the dialogue and melodrama are sometimes tedious. While out on the town with Carroll's love interest, Khin Myo (who enchants Drake), Mason offers the townspersons' view of Drake:


It is only natural that a guest be treated with hospitality, the quiet man who has come to mend the singing elephant is shy, and walks with the posture of one who is unsure of the world, we too would keep him company to make him feel welcome, but we do not speak English.... They say he is one of the kind of men who has dreams, but tells no one.


Drake's complexity is thin; perhaps the beauty of Burma takes over any real need for introspection. Despite these quibbles, The Piano Tuner is a memorable achievement. --Michael Ferch

[Joe Black.]

I did actually try reading Eastons American Pyscho, but I didn't have the stomach for it.

[Mr Crosby]

can anyone suggest a book based on imperial south east asia .. specifically Sinagapore and Malaysia?
Similar themes of imperial hypocrisy and decadence would be ideal...

Margret, Margret...

[Dundeegeorge]

Oh, I dunno

I prefer Enid Blyton's "The Magic Faraway Tree".

I thought 'the Adventures of the Magical Wishing Chair' were better.

[Joe Black.]

I prefer Enid Blyton's "The Magic Faraway Tree".

[kramer]

can anyone suggest a book based on imperial south east asia .. specifically Sinagapore and Malaysia?
Similar themes of imperial hypocrisy and decadence would be ideal...

[AlfredJPruffock]

Aye BGG

If you enjoyed Eric Blairs 1984 etc then do have read of Down and Out in Paris and London also Keep the Aspidistra Flying by the same author.

Best book Ive read this year is the true tale of the Scots Anarchist Stuart Christie ...

Granny Made Me An Anarchist.

General Franco, The Angry Brigade, and ME

Stuart Christie

ISBN0-7432-5918-1

Published Scriber