Srini Ramakrishnan [04/04/08 16:49 +0530]:
http://cheeni.net/books/
That's our book collection as of a few months ago, my wife and I
intersect about 20% of the time. I wonder if you can make that out
from this combined list.
Well, almost all the works of Louis L'Amour, lots of Sir Walter Scott / RL
Stevenson / Kipling (favorites from the last several years), almost all the
Pratchetts (except Strata, which I didnt like too much), the entire
collection of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels (including "21 - the
final unfinished voyage"), ditto some earlier naval stuff - CS Forester's
Horatio Hornblower series, and a few of "Alexander Kent"'s Richard Bolitho
novels [pulp variants of hornblower / obrian - readable enough], lots and
lots of PG Wodehouse, a bunch of Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise (both
collected comic strip, and some full length novels) ..
and back again to scifi - almost all of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan
novels, quite a few Keith Laumer (Retief / Bolo / Imperium), some old
favorite heinleins (stranger in a strange land, starship troopers etc all
the way to his "sex every second page, a new combination every third sex
scene, spread across multiple dimensions and timelines" stuff), David
Weber's Honor Harrington books (which
oh yeah - back to westerns - some surprisingly readable "adult westerns" -
mostly written by a syndicate of authors, some very good - Longarm. Oh
yeah, and the perennial standby of pulp westerns - JT Edson (though I got
rid of most of them several years back.. I used to buy this lot second
hand, for less than 20 rupees a book)
Some more mysteries - the entire Brother Cadfael series (10th century
benedictine monk and ex crusader, who is also a doctor and a detective) -
by "Ellis Peters" (aka Edith Pargeter, whose books should be fairly visible
in the british council library if not anywhere else. She's no agatha
christie but the books are quite readable because the history is accurate..
and BBC has these books made into a miniseries "Cadfael", starring Sir
Derek Jacobi.. that lot is quite watchable)
Oh yeah, there's Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series too - brit supersoldier
who rises from the ranks sometime around the maratha wars, kills tipu
sultan etc etc .. and then finds himself in just about every battle in the
peninsular wars (salamanca, badajoz, all the way to waterloo). ITV
dramatized this lot with Sean Penn, reasonably watchable. And readable -
historical accuracy mixed with blood and gore enough for a slasher movie.
Lots of odds and ends .. don marquis' archy and mehitabel [all small
letters, deliberate, that], sinclair lewis' "arrowsmith", the heart of
darkness, etc etc]. Oh yeah, and lots of amar chitra kathas / tinkles (a
collection built up over 10 years, almost every issue of both). That was
the way it was in its heyday - till assorted hordes of younger cousins
descended on me and borrowed them - much against my will then I must say ..
and then lost them over the years. Grr. I dont think I have even 5% of
that collection left.. just when I have a 3 year old daughter who should
start on this lot. Now got to buy the lot, I guess.
Though the bulk of my collection is stuff that's accurate and has a great
storyline [which is why I gave away my JT Edson collection, and havent read
David Weber for quite a while now.. way too much detail and way too little
storyline]
srs
