F1 Fanatic

I’ve been meaning to read some HG Wells. What would you recommend as a starting point?

I don’t read as much fiction as I should. I think Day of the Triffids was the last non-factual book I read, and I really enjoyed it.

Besides the steady drip of F1 book reviews you’ll have seen on the site I generally read a lot of historical and factual stuff. I’ve recently finished Robert Dallek’s Nixon/Kissinger, Jonathan Kay’s Among the Truthers and a book on 9/11 called “The Eleventh Day”. And a book on 19th-century European history I got out of the library which I’ve forgotten the name of!

But with the state of the F1 calendar over the next two months I’m not expecting to get much more reading done until November.

@keithcollantine I guess that’s the drawback of covering such a fast paced sport eh? HG Wells wise, you absolutely cannot go wrong with “The Time Machine.”

On the surface it might seem just another sci-fi based fantasy, but in reality, it’s an absolutely beautiful piece written based on a time traveller hoping that in the future, an enlightened race of humans would produce a utopian reality, but finds out that man’s greed and capitalism has triumphed and instead creates this almost dystopian reality – and the time traveller watches in horror as the future simply is a repeat of history. Absolutely world-class book. After Time Machine, I’d rate his “The Invisible Man” or “The War of the Worlds”

@Girts I have to admit fantasy isn’t my favorite genre. I’m not a fan of the magic stuff. The only reason I have contact with the Twilight series is to keep the girlfriend happy!

On the subject of Dickens, I personally rate “Great Expectations” and “A Tale of Two Cities” as better than “Oliver Twist,” but I have heard from friends that “Bleak House” takes those two in the nadgers without even breaking a sweat, though I have never read it myself.

I like historical fiction a lot. Not read too much fiction of late, but I could never ever recommend Colleen McCulough’s “The Masters of Rome” series highly enough (or “Sharpe” by Cornwell!).

I’ve managed to get addicted to Game of Thrones however recently though…

@matt90 I’m a Stephen King fan myself! Duma Key is probably my favorite of his, with Eye of the Dragon being a close second. Other than that, I’ve just finished reading Halo: Glasslands. It’s a good book to read if you’re into Halo as much as I am, but the ending was AWFUL (kind of like Halo 2, it didn’t end as much as it just stopped). I’m also into anything zombie related, such as Day by Day Armageddon.

And as far as non-fiction is concerned, “Go Like Hell” is about all i’ve read in the past couple of years. It’s hard to believe that so many great names took place in the Ford vs. Ferrari duel!

@keithcollantine Did you read “Empire” by Niall Ferguson? If not, give it a try, definitely a thought-provoking book.
I also recommend Churchill’s memoirs “My Early Life”, he is remarkably candid about his, well, moments that were not exactly honorable, like getting preferential treatment thanks to his family’s influence. I actually respect him a lot, although we would not agree on quite a few topics.

There are many books I really like, so purely by random I’d recommend “Mockingbird” by Walter Tevis, a book with real depth and a sad+powerful vision of future that might well come true. I also enjoyed “City” by Clifford Simac a lot, although that path seems to be closed to mankind with the decline of space program.

I’m an English teacher, so I read pretty much anything and everything that crosses my path. I’m a big fan of mystery fiction and early Matthew Reilly. Some of his later stuff – particularly the Jack West trilogy – have been rather poor, but his latestet one was okay. I’d certainly recommend Temple to anyone looking for a good page-turner. The basic premise is that a professor of languages gets recruited to help a secret government project track down a mythical Incan idol in the jungles of Peru. Their only clue is a manuscript written by a Spanish monk who committed treason during the conquest of South America, which acts as a map for the expedition to follow. The story bounces back and forth between the two timelines, with the events of one often affecting the outcomes of the other. It’s quite violent and bloody in places, and it’s never going to be accepted as high literature, but it’s very cleverly-executed and a lot of fun at times.

I’m in bed sick with a cold, and it’s supposed to rain all weekend. I’ll happily take suggestions.