My Top 20 Recommended Reads.

My Top 20 Novels

After my wife and my family, novels are my favourite thing in the world. Here are the top twenty novels I have read. I'm sure I will realise soon after writing this that I have missed at least one of my favourites out. All of these are well worth a purchase. 

#20 - 'Into The Wild', Jon Krakauer, 1996. 

People have very mixed opinions about Christopher McCandless (the person this novel is about). I think that he was a fascinating person and I enjoyed every page I read about his life. 



#19 - 'Invisible Monsters', Chuck Palahniuk, 1999.

Palahniuk is a master of grossing the reader out. This novel is fast paced and keeps you hooked from the first page with its unusual story line. I loved the characters he created and you find yourself empathising with the most unlikely of people. 



#18 - 'Half Of A Yellow Sun', Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2007. 

This novel tackles a serious issue in a very approachable way. The gradual downfall of the main characters is painful to read. It looks at a part of history that has largely gone unseen by the majority of the public. 



#17 - 'Things Unspoken', Anitra Sheen, 1999. 

I am a big fan of memoirs and this is one of the best ones I have read. The language used is very simple but incredibly effective at drawing our emotions to all the things that are left unsaid. I think many people would relate to the dysfunctional family at its heart.



#16 - 'The Year Of The Flood', Margaret Atwood, 2009. 

Probably my favourite dystopian novel that I have read by Atwood. It is the kind of novel that could be enjoyed on many different levels. I like the different sects portrayed in the novel as well as the array of colourful characters. 



#15 - 'Disgrace', J.M. Coetzee, 1999. 

The life that Coetzee portrays in this novel is brutal. The language is gritty and when violence is portrayed it feels very real. It starts off with someone making their own mistakes and gradually strips them of the control they had over their own life. 



#14 - 'The Catcher In The Rye', J.D. Salinger, 1951. 

The first novel in my list that is truly considered a 'classic' by most readers. I read this as a teenager which I think is probably the best time for anyone to read it due to the themes being presented. Saying that, it feels relevant regardless of your age. 



#13 - 'The Story Of My Experiments With Truth', Gandhi, 1929. 

Gandhi, in my mind, was simply one of the greatest people to have ever lived. This book charts his amazing life from early childhood right up through his political career. You can learn so much about how we should live from how he lived. 



#12 - 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', George Orwell, 1949. 

For most people this is the definitive dystopian novel. It has stood the test of time amazingly and remains even more relevant today than it ever was. 



#11 - 'Once', Morris Gleitzman, 2005.

By far the best children's novel I have ever read. It is based on the life of an amazing person and has a very well written, emotional ending. The impact of the novel hasn't been affected by the fact it's written for children at all. 



#10 - 'Island', Aldous Huxley, 1962. 

For me, this works as a sort of companion novel to 'Brave New World'. It is probably the greatest utopian novel I have ever read. Huxley has a way of presenting you with a world that makes you question everything about your own world. 



#9 - 'The Great Gatsby', F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925. 

One of those classic novels that really lives up to its hype and is as good as everyone says it is. Many of the characters have a mysteriousness about them and it has often been described as a novel that has no truly admirable characters. 



#8 - 'Crime And Punishment', Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1866. 

This novel starts brilliantly and doesn't let up until the end. The murder scene is probably the greatest I have ever read. There is so much to take from this masterpiece. I feel that this is by far Dostoyevsky's standout work. 



#7 - 'Women', Charles Bukowski, 1978. 

A truly brilliant novel that I read as quickly as I read all his other stories. The simple prose used manages to be sad, funny and beautiful all at the same time. It is one of the very few books to make me laugh out loud as I read it. 



#6 - 'Freedom', Jonathan Franzen, 2010.

An epic novel of family life. I think almost everyone would be able to relate to at least one of the characters. Gives a brilliant study on the way our family impacts on the person we become as we grow up. 



#5 - 'The Time Traveler's Wife', Audrey Niffenegger, 2003. 

You quickly believe in the relationship portrayed despite its ridiculous premise. It took a little while to get into due to its mixed up structure but it soon hooked me completely. It is so much more than the awful film that was based on it. 



#4 - 'Birdsong', Sebastian Faulks, 1993. 

This is the best romantic novel I have ever read. The characters manage to remain somewhat enigmatic throughout but the relationship itself is portrayed beautifully. The prose has a dreamlike quality to it and every scene is presented just as it should be. 



#3 - 'The Road', Cormac McCarthy, 2006. 

The relationship between the man in the novel and his son of one of the most believable I have ever read. The film based on the book is actually almost as good as the book itself and well worth a watch (largely due to the performance of Viggo Mortensen). 



#2 - 'Brave New World', Aldous Huxley, 1932. 

In my opinion this is the truest dystopian novel of them all. I read it when I was a teenager and it answered all the questions that 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' hadn't. 



#1 - 'Ham On Rye', Charles Bukowski, 1982.

Simply put, the greatest novel I have ever read. Every page is brilliant and it has more quotable lines than anything else I've experienced. This was the novel that introduced me to Bukowski and I have loved every single novel I've read by him since.

The Little Stranger, The Thirteenth Tale And Other Ghost Stories.

The Little Stranger, The Thirteenth Tale And Other Ghost Stories. 

I recently finished reading 'The Little Stranger' by Sarah Waters and consider it one of the best novels I have recently read. It is a ghost story set in the 40's. It is the best kind of ghost story because it is subtle, unsettling and stays with you after you have finished it. Shortly after finishing this novel I also watched 'The Thirteenth Tale' on BBC Two. This had much a similar effect on me and was also very well worked. In some ways the two are very similar. They have many of the cliches you might expect in ghost stories. The dilapidated mansion, people acting strangely, a disturbing story from the past etc. However, if the story is told well enough then the cliches do little to hamper the enjoyment of it. 

I am a bit biased because I have always enjoyed ghost stories. One of my favourite collections of short stories is 'The Mammoth Book Of Modern Ghost Stories'. As cheesy as the name is it is full of lots of the classics that many of those ghostly cliches come from. It seems to me to be one genre of story-telling that hasn't really changed much through the years. The best short story in this collection is probably the first one in the book which is 'Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad' by M.R. James. There has also been two BBC adaptions of this story, both of which I think are quite good.

My favourite ghost stories, however, are the ones that you hear word of mouth about peoples own supposed ghostly experiences. I've heard many of them; some genuinely creepy and some...a bit shit. I've also heard many urban legends repeated that people will often insist happened to their cousins friend or some other tenuous link. One of my favourites of these is the story about the clown in the corner of the room that I'm sure many of you have heard. If you haven't, look it up. 

  

England's World Cup Group.

England's World Cup Group

So England have been drawn in what some are calling a 'group of death' with Italy, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. The cynicism of England fans abounded with even more immediacy than usual after this news. 

I do actually agree with cynical fans that we probably won't progress because I think Italy and Uruguay will prove too much for us. Let's face it, in 2010 we barely progressed from a group with the United States, Slovenia and Algeria...and I don't really think we have improved much (if at all) since then. However, I think there are positives to take from being put in a group like this. If we had been put into an average group like last time we would probably see a repeat of what happened then; a bunch of boring, sub-par games that resulted in us barely progressing before taking a hammering in the knockout stages. 

If you are going to progress in the World Cup then you are going to eventually be facing world class competition, that's what makes it exciting. We may as well face those quality teams now because avoiding them would just be delaying the inevitable. Furthermore, it gives us the opportunity to watch some football of a high standard early on. Even if we lose, surely this is better than painfully sitting through the ninety minute drudgery of another 0-0 draw with Algeria? Also, we aren't actually in next years group of death, that privilege is reserved for Germany, Portugal, Ghana and USA. 

If we progress from a group of this quality then we have shown that maybe we can compete with some of the decent teams in the competition. If we don't progress then let's just hope the matches are more exciting than last time. Either way, enjoy it, it is the World Cup after all!

Football, it's a beautiful game.

Picture Of Satan Discovered.

The Daily Mail Have Done It Again

Another brilliantly awful article based on one nutters odd interpretation of an image. Basically, some couple discovered a picture of Henry VIII and realized that when they turned it upside down it was, in fact, a terrifying portrait of Satan himself. Do you want to see this terrifying picture of the Dark Lord (not Voldermort)? Do you? Are you sure you can handle it? Okay, here it is...



Yep, that's supposed to be Satan. I guess you can vaguely see the outline of a demonic face if you squint your eyes and use your imagination...a lot. 

So, a couple of things. Firstly, I reckon if I turned a few pictures upside down I could find something that looks as vaguely like Satan as this does. Secondly, how is this news? A better news story would probably have been 'Mad Couple Claim To Be Seeing Visions Of Satan'. If that is Satan, why does he look like he's got cocktail sticks poking out of his eyes?

On the plus side, it's nice to see a story in the Daily Mail that isn't trying to convince stupid people that all immigrants are evil scroungers and the Royal Family are actually really down to earth. 

Click here to see the brilliant journalism in question.  

Russell Brand And Tom From McFly Go Viral.

Russell Brand And Tom From McFly Go Viral

The two video clips that have probably been most shared on my Facebook recently are this one, involving Russell Brand almost making Jeremy Paxman look stupid, and this one, involving Tom from McFly announcing his baby news to the world. 

First of all, lets talk about the Russell Brand clip. I am a complete convert to Russell Brand. I used to have a negative view of him until I watched a few interviews and saw that he is actually one of the most interesting celebrities currently in the media. In this clip, I feel that Russell does a brilliant job of eloquently verbalizing his general views on the current political status of our country as well as other things. I have heard a few people say that he is punching above his weight with the issues he talks about and that he doesn't have all his facts straight. Although there might be some truth to this, at least his fame and wealth haven't just turned him into some vapid, soulless celebrity that does nothing but smile for the cameras. We are all entitled to an opinion and I admire Russell for having the courage to share his positive and thought provoking ideas through the mass media. 

Secondly, we have Tom from Mcfly announcing his baby news to the world via the medium of pumpkin carving. This reminded me a bit of when he did that wedding speech/song video that also went viral. He seems a nice guy but am I the only one who finds it all a bit sickly sweet? Actually, if I'm honest, I'm just jealous that he has once again made the women of the world fall in love with him for his smooth sentimentality. Damn you Tom, you lovable bastard. 

My Least Popular Opinions.

Some Of My Least Popular Opinions

There are certain things that everyone seems to agree on. People can even get annoyed if you convey contrary opinions to these things. Here are a few of my opinions that have made people gasp with disbelief when shared among my peers. 

#1 - I think 'Finding Nemo' is the most overrated Disney film ever. 

I agree that 'Lion King' is a masterpiece. I agree that the emotional sequence in 'Up' is amazing. However, I don't see why so many people put 'Finding Nemo' in their top Disney films list. It has no emotional pull whatsoever and it's not funny. Furthermore, I can't stand the character of 'Dory'. When I tell people this they always insist on quoting her to prove me wrong. This only cements my opinion. 

 

#2 - I don't like any Will Ferrell film (that I can think of). 

Yep, this shocks people more than the 'Finding Nemo' thing. This includes 'Anchorman' and 'Step Brothers', both of which I find pretty bad. It's not to say I don't like Will Ferrell because I have seen sketches and interviews in which I think he comes across as quite amusing. How movies however, I just don't think any of them are very funny. 



#3 - I don't think Freddie Mercury was an amazing songwriter. 

You know when a Queen song comes on in a pub or a bar and people start singing every line with a look that shows they think they are practically quoting Shakespeare? Am I the only one cringing? Thought so. I do like the fact he's called Freddie though.



#4 - I quite like big money football transfers. 

Normally, I hate the worship of money but for some reason I do enjoy following the ridiculous amounts of money spent in the transfer windows. Maybe this is just so I can be contrary to the people who insist on lecturing you about how 'football is only about the money these days' when they find out you like football. Almost as boring as people who go on about how 'football is for wimps, real men watch rugby'.



#5 - My favourite 'Fruit Pastilles', 'Wine Gums' and 'Jelly Babies' are the orange ones. 

People think I'm being generous when I let them have all the purple or red ones. Little do they know... 



Who else has an unpopular opinion?