[SachinVD]

Originally Posted by mayankk

You're off to a good start. This gets pretty engaging in the first 50 pages.
And I would suggest you try the rest of his original works after this.

Hi Mayankk,

I have already read many of his books. Not that I have just started reading. Just had a lean phase when I could not dedicate time for reading. Was a great fan of Ludlum earlier. Read Arther Hailey, Dan Brown amongst others. Recently read few books by Ayn Rand and liked them. Saw this thread and found it interesting. Now I don't have to go through reviews on the net to decide my next read. It's all here on T-BHP.

[Maverick5490]

After a recent visit to the 'Taj Mahal' I am very interested to know the 'True' story and more intricate details about the magnificent monument, any recommendations for this?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Maverick5490

After a recent visit to the 'Taj Mahal' I am very interested to know the 'True' story and more intricate details about the magnificent monument, any recommendations for this?

I suggest the entire series...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Moghul

[Rajeevraj]

Jeffery Archers 6th book in the Clifton Chronicles Series is out today-"Cometh the Hour". There is one more book after this to complete the series.

Don't remember where the story left off. Need to go back and read the previous book. So many parts is confusing. Guess it is a marketing ploy. A guaranteed income plan for the publishers

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by ampere

If you have not listened, here is must get list for you:
- All the PG Wodehouse series narrated by Martin Jarvis (One of the best guys in the game)
- All the Gerald Durrell Series Narrated by Nigel Davenport
- A must have is Three men in a boat narrated by Martin Jarvis.
The humor is so good that you will would love to get lost in traffic all over again!

Agreed! Though I guess a fair number from my generation - me included - have some kind of in-built resistance to non-paper based reading! If you have enjoyed the above you might like to add James Herriot's and John Mortimer's works to the list. The former was a Yorkshire vet. who made a large fortune after retirement through his heart-warming & often hilarious books about a vet (himself) in the Yorkshire Dales. John Mortimer was a former practising barrister at the Old Bailey - but again, he too made his name and fortune writing hilarious accounts of his hero, Rumpole, also an Old Bailey barrister who was fond of claret and quoting Tennyson & Shakespeare at the judge!

Among American writers I have found Ring Lardner, Judith Viorst, Robert Benchley & Mark Twain, the old master, to be safe bets as humorists.
Cheers,
Shashanka

P.S. - I do not find any mention of paranormalia in this thread - any followers of Charles Fort (Fortean Times), John Keel, Linda Howe?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by ampere

This is where you buy audio books: http://www.audible.com/

(Audible is an Amazon company)

These are the ones you have to buy:
- Three Men in a Boat (Narrated by Martin Jarvis) Link

Just got done with 'Three Men in a Boat' Audible. Quite enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation. Signed up and got a free month credit.

In 2 minds on the membership though, the gold one is $15 with one credit per month. Since I expect to continue buying books on Kindle, thinking if it will be financially worth. Have time until the expiry of the free month to decide. Wish they had given 2 or 3 credits for the free month. Would have made it easier to decide.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

In 2 minds on the membership though, the gold one is $15 with one credit per month. Since I expect to continue buying books on Kindle, thinking if it will be financially worth. Have time until the expiry of the free month to decide. Wish they had given 2 or 3 credits for the free month. Would have made it easier to decide.

They both run independently! One is for your road and while take your evening walks. While the other is for reading. Some aspects which require illustrations cant be heard. I have a platinum membership for more than 5 years now. And needless to say, near zero back log!

Kindle books, I buy only when I need. listening is more periodic for me than reading.

EDIT Start with Gold. See if its not enough and then switch.

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

An old book. But Arthur Hailey's ' Final Diagnosis' is a hospital, medical masterpiece.

There's one more medical thriller from Arthur Hailey - 'Strong Medicine'. It is a sort of comeback book for him....

Hailey's books are riveting. Tbhpians should definitely read Wheels. It is set in Detroit and gives an inside view of a car factory.

[TKMCE]

Arthur Hailey's books are master pieces. Before you know it you realise you have got a good overview of the industry in question. Strong Medicine is about the pharmaceutical industry while Final Diagnosis is about the operations in a hospital, in particular the relatively less known less glamorous for many , but neverthless the very critical discipline of Pathology.

My first reads of Hailey as a youngster were "Runway Zero Eight" his first book based on his successful teleplay and then "Airport", both of which I enjoyed a lot. They were so gripping and so well researched and it influenced in no small measure the choice of my eventual career. Among others, I also loved Money Changers and Hotel. However the last two of his works I frankly did not enjoy so much. The Evening News and The Detective, seemed to my imagination almost like someone had ghost written it for Hailey . But I guess he was changing with the times to make the plots more acceptable for the younger generation

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by SachinVD

I am trying to develop the habit of reading atleast a few pages everyday. Currently reading Forsyth's "The Devil's Alternative". It is set during the cold war times. The confrontations and negotiations between the US and the erstwhile USSR. Quite gripping. Forsyth is good as usual.

Hello Sachin,

Great habit to start - no better friend than a good book! Forsyth's cold war thrillers are, as you said, quite gripping. If you like a more cerebral cocktail, why not try some of Le Carre's later cold-war books - The Honorable Schoolboy and Smiley's People among others. It looks as if the spy genre has run out of steam after the break up of the Iron Curtain. Or perhaps it has not attracted outstanding talent yet.

Other great reads (among the usual suspects in the field) I have found are the works of Eric Ambler, Graham Green, Raymond Chandler (no, no, dont be misled - he is one American author who stands apart from the usual thriller hacks & has woven great tales around the grimy darkness of 50's & 60's San Francisco).

Happy reading - and tell me about any new finds you come across. And not necessarily restricted to thrillers alone. There are some non-fiction fields which are totally engrossing - once bitten, forever hooked, as they say!

[JMaruru]

How about some recommendations on non-fiction!

Are there any good reads around travel in our country?

[KD007]

Completed the series of "Aryavarta Chronicles" by Krishna Udayshankar. It is a 3 book series - Govinda, Kaurava and Kurushetra.

The premise is simple yet intriguing - if we remove all supernatural and preternatural from Mahabharata and take each characters as human beings will they have done the same thing as what we know of Mahabharata. Answer is yes, but she brings in logic and reasoning behind the actions

A must read for any fan of Mahabharata.

[RocketRaccoon]

Just started with Stephen King's Different Seasons. Though this novel is a collection of four novellas, I only intend to read Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption. Somehow I fancy books which are subsequently used for film screenplays. Next on the line is Harvard Business Review's Must Read Guides.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

How about some recommendations on non-fiction!

Are there any good reads around travel in our country?

A couple of my favourites are given below , but both are somewhat dated.

The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by American author Paul Theroux has a few chapters on train travel in India. But this was written in the mid 1970s. The book may not be to everyone's tastes but I found it quite enjoyable. I am waiting to read the sequel where Theroux recreated the journey in 2006 in his book Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Another work which I found enjoyable was Chasing the Monsoon by Australian born British journalist Alxander Frater. Again this is is set in the late 1980s but is brilliantly written and well worth a read. The same author has an earlier work Beyond the Blue Horizon which may be out of print now but is a classic work on Air Travel. Frater has recreated the old Imperial Airways journey from UK to Australia, but like the original route, some of the chapters cover India during those old horror days of the 1970s and 1980s where a non computerised Indian Airlines was the only option for domestic air travel. The book has details of an interview which the author did with J R D Tata.

And although a work of fiction , if you are into travel, how can one not forget Jules Verne's memorable 1873 work Around the World in Eighty Days. The adventures of Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout took them accross India from Bombay to Calcutta by rail.

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

A couple of my favourites are given below , but both are somewhat dated.

Thanks for the recommendations!

Have you read 'Around India in 80 Trains' by Monisha Rajesh?
The book has been written around 2012.