F1 Fanatic

Looks like you really hit a soft spot here Steph! Some nice reads to be found.

Certainly the great books by Terry Pratchett are a must read! They did wonders for knowledge of obscure English words for me! And I keep discovering new jokes and paralells even after x times reading. Also very nice is the deep knowledge of real world mysticism and legends that lies beyond the surface.

I often have several books started at the same time. Currently they are The practical encyclopedia of Feng Shui (Gill Hale) for home improvement ideas, Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the sea of stories for relaxation and I have Japanese Gardens by Günter Nitschke open for its beautifull pictures.

Recently I re-read The ultimate hitchhiker’s guide and finished some books I got earlier in the year from Family/friends. The first,Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters is a mix of the Jane Austin original with Sea Monsters thrown in for extra “Fun”. Nice, but nothing really special to me (sister in law is really into this kind of thing). I will not include the Dutch books, although one called coffee from an Iranian who got to the Netherlands and started writing was very nice.

Another recent read is Stalin’s Ghost (my Father really digs espionage books), which has a frighteningly real feel to it (something to do with the place the Polish president flew to when his plane crashed last year).

A book my wife got for her birthday was Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. I recomend it, or many other of his books, if you like a something to think about. It does get a bit explicit in parts, be pre-warned.

I also have over a hundred older SF books I got from my parents when they last moved that I read again once in a while. And a lot of Dutch literature, some German and English classics, some Dick Francis books. And books from Jose Saramango and Rentes De Carvallo, but I read them in Dutch, not in portuguese :-)

One German book (or is it a play?) I really like (and recently read again after the “Arab spring” events) is Die Schule der Diktatoren by Erich Kästner. I got this from a Friend in Germany, years ago and still love to read it.
Another of my favourites is man and boy by Tony Parsons

Hm, almost an essay. Guess that is OK in a book club :-)

Oh, and I have another one for the historics and fact lovers here: Cod. A biography of the Fish that Changed the World about how the abundance of Cod in the coastal waters in the north of America influenced history. It also features old local recipies with cod from all over the world.

I have been reading Crusade books as of late. In recent months I read 2 books and currently reading my third book.

1) The First Crusade: A New History by Thomas Asbridge
- It was a very interesting and entertaining read that served as the perfect introduction to the Crusades. I am not a fan of the whole movement but it really offers an insight in politics, war tactics, and behavior during that time period as well as the contrast in cultures.

2) The Crusades: The War For The Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge
-I enjoyed the first book so much that I decided to buy his more recent book. Its kind of continuation of his first book but also provides some of the information of the First Crusade. I recommend both these books to anyone interested in Medieval history. The first book is mostly focused on the Christian view while the second book offers a view from both sides.

3) The Templars by Piers Paul Read
-I havent really enjoyed this book as much as the others but it still offers a good amount of information mostly focused on the politics involved with the military order.

Sorry to post books that are not even closely involved with Formula 1 but the first 2 books are the best I have ever read. Although I must admit that I dont read books that often.

Wow good responses!

As for favourite books:

On The Road – Jack Kerouac (pretty much anything by Kerouac)
And the hippos were boiled in their tanks – Jack Kerouac and William S Borroughs
The Catcher In the Rye – J D Salinger
Franny and Zooey – J D Salinger (love Salinger, so descriptive!)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S Thompson
Breakfast at Tiffanys – Truman Capote
The Curious Incident of the dog in the night time – Mark Haddon
Bird Song – Sebastian Faulks

I think you can pretty much tell from all of my choices apart from the last two that I love American fiction, particularly from the 1950s. I fricking love it.

I’ve got a few F1 books too, but mostly they are the season reviews, a few history books, and that huge Senna book with all the pull out things.

This afternoon, I began a book called “Why do Buses Come in Threes?”, which is full of strange mathematical quirks and patterns.

No doubt to be followed by a sequel, “Why do Lotuses Come in Twos?”

@PortuGoose

Never Let Me Go is indeed a great book. The Brother’s Karamazov is what I am planning on reading soon, I just haven’t gotten to it yet. Crime and Punishment was a great book that really led me to get The Brother’s Karamazov. For those who are interested I would recommend the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation.

I really liked The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, by Simon Singh. I haven’t read all of it yet, but it’s a fantastic book about codes and cyphers. A great read.

I can definitely suggest everyone to read Robert Enke’s biography – the story about the famous German football goalkeeper who committed suicide in November 2009. You don’t even need to be a football fan to find it fascinating. It is a story with no happy end for sure; however, it is very balanced, there are a lot of happy and funny moments, too. One can read about the sportsman’s desperate fight with his depression (and not only that) and discover (or remember) how cruel the professional sports can sometimes be. It was hard to put the book down. The book is called “A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke” and the English version will be released on September 29 (available on Amazon UK).

Talking about F1 related books, I love Alex Yoong’s biography (The Driver’s Line). There are a lot of books about the great F1 champions but not so many that tell how it looks like at the very back of the grid. It is an emotional story, too and could make you change your views on the so-called pay drivers in F1. It also gives an interesting insight on how F1 is perceived by Malaysians. And Alex Yoong was so kind to autograph the book, write a personal message and send it back to me from Malaysia to Latvia. Maximum respect!

I recently read David Coulthard’s autobiography (It Is What It Is), too. Definitely worth reading. And I have never been a fan of DC, rather the opposite!