Everything a man needs to know about life can be found between the covers of a good book. If you’re jetting off somewhere nice this summer, (unless you’ve got kids) you are going have plenty of time on your hands when you are by the pool, sitting under a tree in the park or lying on the beach. Whether you’re in the mood for a detective novel, scintillating novel, self-help manual or the latest in literary fiction, these book are perfect for a day at the beach or well, your commute home.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the efforts of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. Since the time of its publication, the novel has received critical acclaim for its complexity, social commentary and lack of sensationalism, and remains a staple of the spy fiction genre.
Even better than Bond, it was later made into a seven-part iniseries starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley in 1979, and a film in 2011 featuring Gary Oldman.
Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite by Paul Arden
Logic and common sense have a habit of leading us to the same conclusions. If you are going to make your mark on the world you have to start thinking differently. To think differently you have to think illogically. Whatever You Think Think The Opposite looks at life the wrong way in a bid to explain the benefits of making wrong decisions. It’s brilliant. This book explains the benefits of making bad decisions. It shows how risk is your security in life. And why unreason is better than reason. It’s about having the confidence to roll the dice. Great cover design, too.
The Bonfire Of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe
The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City and centres on three main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish assistant district attorney Larry Kramer, and British expatriate journalist Peter Fallow. The novel was originally conceived as a serial in the style of Charles Dickens writings; it ran in 27 installments in Rolling Stone starting in 1984. Wolfe heavily revised it before it was published in book form. The novel was a bestseller and a phenomenal success, even in comparison with Wolfe’s other books. It has often been called the quintessential novel of the 1980s.
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Written in 1915 as he convalesced, The Thirty Nine Steps was the first of what John Buchan called his `shockers’, or adventure stories. Set in the months preceding the outbreak of the first world war, the novel introduces us to Buchan’s enduring hero, Richard Hannay. The book has never been out of print and has inspired many film and television adaptations: Alfred Hitchcock’s liberty-taking 1935 version, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, a female character absent from the novel; a 1959 colour remake; a 1978 version, with Robert Powell as Hannay, that sticks rather more faithfully to Buchan’s text than Hitchcock; and finally a 2008 British television version, starring Rupert Penry-Jones.
Down And Out In Paris And London by George Orwell
Orwell’s semi-autobiographical account of being a penniless writer transports us to the unseen corners of ’30s London and Paris. The story follows Orwell as he begins to economise by cutting out wine and cigarettes, and then, inevitably, food. These dark, eerie accounts present a vivid portrait of a life on the edge. And it’s mostly miserable there. According to a review on iTunes: “He painstakingly documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor – sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses, working as a dishwasher in the vile ‘Hôtel X’, living alongside tramps, surviving on scraps and cigarette butts – in an unforgettable account of what being down and out is really like.” Magic.
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first to feature detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted for film twice, once in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles, California. According to FHM.com it has: “Brief snatches of dialogue. A detective who speaks in short sentences. More metaphors than a lorryload of poetry books. The Big Sleep is the definitive detective novel, featuring drinking, blackmail and murder in equal measure. Plus, in Philip Marlowe, it boasts one of literature’s greatest lawmen.” The story is noted for its complexity, with many characters double-crossing one another and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative. The title is a euphemism for death; it refers to a rumination in the final pages of the book about “sleeping the big sleep”. In 1999, the book was voted ninety-sixth of Le Monde‘s “100 Books of the Century”. That low?
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman , a handsome serial killer and Manhattan businessman. The Observer notes that while “some countries [deem it] so potentially disturbing that it can only be sold shrink-wrapped”, “critics rave about it” and “academics revel in its transgressive and postmodern qualities.”
A film adaptation starring Christian Bale was released in 2000 to generally favorable reviews. In 2008, it was confirmed that producers David Johnson and Jesse Singer were developing a musical adaptation of the novel to appear on Broadway. The musical premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London in December 2013. American Psycho is a biting, wry comedy examining the elements that make a man a monster.
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) is a memoir by Laurie Lee, a British poet. It is a sequel to Cider with Rosie which detailed his life in post First World War Gloucestershire. The author leaves the security of his Cotswold village in Gloucestershire to start a new life, at the same time embarking on an epic journey by foot.
It is 1934, and as a young man Lee walks to London from his Cotswolds home. He is to live by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. When this work draws to a finish, and having picked up the phrase in Spanish for ‘Will you please give me a glass of water?’, he decides to go to Spain. He scrapes together a living by playing his violin outside the street cafés, and sleeps at night in his blanket under an open sky or in cheap, rough posadas. For a year he tramps through Spain, from Vigo in the north to the south coast, where he is trapped by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
Experiencing a Spain ranging from the utterly squalid to the utterly beautiful, Lee creates a story which evocatively captures the spirit and atmosphere of the towns and countryside he passes through in his own distinctive semi-poetic style. He is warmly welcomed by the Spaniards he meets and enjoys a generous hospitality even from the poorest villagers he encounters along the way.
Live At the Brixton Academy: A Riotous Life In The Music Business by Simon Parkes
In 1982, aged twenty-three, Simon Parkes paid £1 for a virtually derelict building in Brixton. Over the next fifteen years he turned it into Britain’s most iconic music venue. And now he’s telling his story: full of fond – and wild – reminiscences of the famous musicians who played at the venue, including Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Lou Reed, The Ramones, New Order, the Beastie Boys and The Smiths.
According to Google Books: “This is about one man’s burning desire for success against the odds, his passion for live music and the excitement of those wilderness years, a far cry from the corporate world that controls the scene today. From rock-star debauchery and mixing it up with Brixton gangsters to putting on the first legal raves in the UK and countless backroom business deals, this is the story of how to succeed in business with no experience and fulfill your teenage fantasies.”
Thinking about It Only Makes It Worse by David Mitchell
Why is every film or tv programme a sequel or a remake? Why are people so f***ing hung up about swearing? Why do the asterisks in that sentence make it ok? Why do so many people want to stop other people doing things, and how can they be stopped from stopping them?
These and many other questions trouble David Mitchell. Join him on a tour of the absurdities of modern life – from Ryanair to Richard III, Downton Abbey to phone etiquette, UKIP to hotdogs made of cats. Funny, provocative and shot through with refreshing amounts of common sense, Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse celebrates and commiserates on the state of things in our not entirely glorious modern world.
The Guide 