Silver Travel Advisor's members' 100 Favourite Books
This thread has really tickled my fancy (so to speak). Maybe it was serendipity that led this book to fall into my hands today (yes, I did pay for it) during my customary tour of the charity shops;
“The Modern Library ~ the Best 200 novels in English since 1950” ~ (Picador 1988) by Carmen Callin & Colm Toiblin
This is not the first time this has been done (a book about books) and should be read with some detachment ( someone else telling you what you should read next), but it does give a very handy page-to-view synopsis of a notable work by a particular author – some obviously big and famous names and titles, but many not so. The appendix also includes titles of top biographies, autobiographies, poetry collections and award winners (about 50 of each).
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-modern-library/carmen-callil/colm-toibin/9781849016766
@yorkshirecat
Another vote here for The Goldfinch.
The painting was on display in Edinburgh a while back, with a very interesting talk from one of the Gallery curators
Thanks @greywolf
I’d love to write the first silvertravel guide to off planet travel.
@coolonespa, interesting fact from a Radio 4 interview, re post #30, apparently Douglas Adams got the inspiration for writing “Hitchikers Guide…” whilst on a backpacking holiday somewhere, as he lay down on the open ground at night, stargazing into the infinite, thinking…“I wonder what a travel guide to up there might be like…”
I also loved Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk. ’An elegy for a father lost, celebration of a hawk found – and in the finding also, a celebration of countryside…" Andrew Motion.
I recently immersed myself in the marshes of North Carolina (figuratively speaking) whilst reading Delia Owens’ “Where the Crawdads Sing”. Set in the 50s and 60s it is a mesmersing tale with a twist at the end.
One of my all-time favourites is Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch – the characters lived on in my mind long after I had finished the book. It is described as “a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity”.
GeminiJen wrote:
Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens. A brief History of Humankind
This is a really interesting book, so I’ll second that one.
This thread seems to have hit a lull so, a few suggestions from recent readings and re-readings, hopefully to get us going again….
Mary Beard: Women and Power. A Manifesto Updated
Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens. A brief History of Humankind
Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk
Barack Obama: The Audacity of Hope
Michael Wolff: Fire and Fury inside the Trump White House
After reading the last one, I had to to revisit Obama to pick myself up again 
@coolonespa re post #19 I’d certainly second anything by John Wyndham, though To Kill A Mockingbird never really floated my boat though we had to read it at school ( probably why) .
I’ve been reading all this thread and sort of compiling my own list, but I’ve gone through different reading passions in different phases of my life, so it’s sort of hard to join in, I will do though, soonly.
jaxb wrote:
axb
18:00 16-Dec-19
34Favourite authors: Jodi Picoult, Faye Kellerman, Donna Tartt, Lionel Shriver.
Most amazing big read was “the Mandibles” by Lionel Shriver
Not read Lionel Shriver’s ‘The Mandibles’, but will look out for it, @jaxb – but I found
‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’ a very good read, albeit a disturbing subject.
Ha, hs – well done Steve!