"Call me by your name" & other good books

The Life of Pi - Yann Martel was a nice read. Love a book that has you thinking!

When it comes to books I'd recommend, my list is boring as I am a lover of literature, so I tend to re-read books which I've read as a teen at school.

Lord of The Flies - William Golding is definitely up there in my favorite books of all time. It was symbolic, haunting, and scariest of all - the truth. It's a complex allegorical novel which uses the setting of a group of lost, innocent young men to explain human nature, civilization and the breakdown of society - the end of truth, authority and peace.

Nineteen-Eighty-Four - George Orwell which I am sure most of you guys would've read is also another fave of mine. I've read this at least 4 times, and the more I read it the more I appreciate it. It's one of those books that shows, in an extreme sense, the devastating effects power can have on mankind - abuse of all the negative traits of man, especially fear, for the sake of absolute control.


I've made a vow that this winter period I'd be reading all the classics which I never had the opportunity of reading, so I'm almost finished with Les Miserables, and then going to read War and Peace (Yes, you heard me).

Not sure if you picked up my trend, but most of my books are political-based :blushing: I'm also a horror fanatic, so most books by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Thomas Harris, etc are up my alley! LOL!

PS. I've got A Thousand Splendid Suns on my bookshelf, but never managed reading it as I keep putting it off. Maybe I should give it a try when am done with this book :thinking:

Casanova said:

The Life of Pi - Yann Martel was a nice read. Love a book that has you thinking!


Well I had taken Life of Pi of the bookshop shelf once or twice and put it back... then I read bloop2's recommendation, went and got it and loved it!

PS. I've got A Thousand Splendid Suns on my bookshelf, but never managed reading it as I keep putting it off. Maybe I should give it a try when am done with this book :thinking:

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Yes I think maybe you should

Stephen King - yes to the earlier stuff, I don't really like the more recent stuff. Tricky to pick out favs but ones I re-read most are 4 Past Midnight.. Langoliers/Library Policeman and The Sun Dog. And novelwise Needful Things, Insomnia, The Regulators and its "twin".. Desperation.

Have you read any Clive Barker? for pure horror try the short stories in the Books Of Blood collections Vols 1 - 6... the tagline is " We are all books of blood - whenever we are opened we are red". And for fantasy/horror go for the excellent Weaveworld

http://www.gayheaven.org/showpost.php?p=161236&postcount=7

I found a pic:



In places it's a disturbing gore-fest ... titles such as : The Book Of Blood ; The Midnight Meat Train ; Pig Blood Blues ; Sex, Death & Starshine ; The Skins Of The Fathers ; Babel's Children ;The Inhuman Condition ; How Spoilers Bleed and In The Flesh

Here is book that I love so much. I buy the Indonesian edition. It quite old so I guess all of you already read it. If not, buy and read it.




"Readers of this terrifying page-turner are in the hands of a master storyteller. Be prepared to stay up all night." - James Ellroy

"A relentlessly suspenseful, soul-chilling thriller that hooks you instantly."
-Tess Gerritsen

In the most brutal killing crusade Philadelphia has seen in years, a series of young Catholic women are found dead, their bodies mutilated and their hands bolted together. Each clutches a rosary in her lifeless grasp.

Veteran cop, Kevin Byrne and his rookie partner, Jessica Balzano set out to hunt down the elusive killer, who leads them deeper and deeper into the abyss of a madman's depravity.

Suspects appear before them like bad dreams - and vanish just as quickly. While the body count rises, Easter is fast approaching: the day of resurrection and of the last rosary to be counted . . .

And here's the latest one that I read. Buy the Indonesian edition. I like to read it slowly to feel the thriller. Besides I need to save it until I buy the 3'rd book of Hush Hush saga. Silence



"Packs a solid emotional wallop . . . the bestselling Montanari has another hit on his hands . . . The Skin Gods is perfect for anyone who enjoys a well-crafted thriller." - Booklist

From the dust jacket:

With the breakneck pacing and intricate plotting of his most recent novel, The Rosary Girls, Richard Montanari established himself as one of the most exciting suspense writers working today. Now he proves himself a virtuoso with The Skin Gods, an explosive new thriller featuring Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano.

It is the steaming heart of summer in the City of Brotherly Love. Back on the force after taking a bullet during the arrest of a sadistic murderer, Detective Kevin Byrne warily returns to police headquarters. He cannot shake the memory of the Rosary Killer’s innocent victims–or his growing sense that the evil has not been vanquished. And when he and his partner, Detective Jessica Balzano, are called in on a bizarre case, Byrne’s gravest suspicions are confirmed.

A madman, dubbed The Actor by the homicide unit, is meticulously re-creating Hollywood’s most famous–and most gruesome–death scenes. The first murder is caught on film, spliced into a rented VHS edition of the Hitchcock black-and-white masterpiece "Psycho." But in place of Janet Leigh is a real-life woman, and this time, the blood is red, and the knife is real. Soon, more thrilling classics are turned into terrifying snuff films and placed on video store shelves for an unsuspecting public to find.

The key to this horrific puzzle could lie with any of The Skin Gods’ supporting cast: the A-list Hollywood director, the ruthless executive assistant, the convicted mass murderer–or perhaps someone else who has made a sinister art of gruesome violence.

Hot on the psychopath’s trail, Balzano and Byrne descend into the mouth of madness and beyond, deep into the depraved underworld of S&M clubs and the porn industry, where the worship of flesh leads to malevolent evil. Before the final credits roll, the investigators will discover that none of The Actor’s victims are as innocent as they appear to be, and that the clue the police need to prevent future murders might be found in Detective Byrne’s own dark past.

Have just finished reading Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh

Amazing insight into the life of a gay gypsy boy and how he escaped from a horrendous family life... Uplifting

Fantastic, a great read

Time to start a re-read of the excellent Brookmyre novels

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson

Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with Dr. Gonzo, in a souped-up convertible dubbed the "Great Red Shark." In the boot, they hide "two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicoloured uppers, downers, screamers, laughers plus a quart of tequila, the same of rum, a case of Budweiser & a pint of raw ether" which they manage to consume during their short tour.
On an assignment from a sports magazine to cover a crazy no holds barred free-for-all biker's race in the Nevada desert--they move through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They of course never find it or write the story, but they do commit sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help."

I was blown away recently by Damon Galgut's sensitive, poetic gay-themed novel, 'In A Strange Room; Three Journeys,' which follows the title character, a South African, traveling across the continent and meeting with longing, unrequited love, tension, and anxiety.

Few days ago I read really cool book. "Hold me fast. Love me slow. Tales from the Century Ballroom" written by Robert Fulghum. It was after long time when I read some book in one day from the beginning to the end.

So having been thoroughly absorbed by this huge saga I get finally to the 7th part - Book 5 Pt 2 thinking that the end of the story is nigh and all will end. Then, after some 5200 + pages it turns out he's still got more to write and now I must wait for "The Winds of Winter" and then "A Dream of Spring". :duh::duh::duh:

slimjim said:

So having been thoroughly absorbed by this huge saga I get finally to the 7th part - Book 5 Pt 2 thinking that the end of the story is nigh and all will end. Then, after some 5200 + pages it turns out he's still got more to write and now I must wait for "The Winds of Winter" and then "A Dream of Spring". :duh::duh::duh:

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I'm reading 'A Storm of Swords' at the moment.. only on about page 300 and want to finish before the season 3 TV series premier.

I admit I decided to read the third book after watching seasons 1 + 2, but not having read the corresponding books.

Well worth the read.:thumbs up:

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you - Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters."

Slaughterhouse-Five is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is also as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy - and humor

Another Vonnegut classic... Cats Cradle is a dark inventive science fiction satire that preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon - and, worse still, surviving it.

Time to re-read Brookmyre, starting with this cracker of a debut.

A clever plot, smart dialogue and wickedly funny in a dark satirical way...kicking of with a thoroughly unpleasant murder.:thumbs up::thumbs up::thumbs up:

some of my great reads are (some of 'em contemporary titles):
einstein's dreams by alan lightman
scent from a strange mountain by robert olen butler
the goldfinch donna tartt
paddy clarke ha ha roddy doyle
gitangali rabindranath tagore
collection of poetry by pablo neruda

I loved all the Tale of Ice and Fire books and dying to read the last two books if only George RR Martin would move his arse!!

Two other books I loved were

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Selfish and Perverse by Bob Smith. Both of them are 'mainstream books' with gay protagonists and are brilliant!