Hi everybody,
I'm new here and quite new to books as well to be honest, simply because I couldn't read without it annoying me but a couple of years ago I become a single dad to my children and decided I needed to fill my life with some hobbies because I become quite restricted in what I could do and while searching I come across Audible as most probably know an audiobook site and at first I was listening to the likes of Karl Pilkington,Richard Dawkins and Darwin stuff but I soon become bored so I decided to try a bit of fiction but with not much enthusiasm but after persisting for months with a giant book World without end by Ken Follett about half way through I become obsessed and couldn't wait to go to bed to listen I literally got lost within the world and it gave me a whole new perspective on books. I still struggle reading I just can't get lost within the story but audiobook wise I close my eyes a wander to a whole new world.
Anyway the point of me joining this forum is because I want to interact with others but secondly I've become seriously stuck I have very strict principals when choosing a book so I'm hoping some members here who have more experience with books will be able to advise me better because lately I keep picking the wrong books and missing out and hopefully in the future when I get hang of the forums a bit maybe I can help somebody back.
Anyway firstly ill say some of the books I've listened too and then I'll add what I'm looking for and hopefully somebody can offer me some recommendations I just have such a difficult time choosing it takes me weeks to decide on one book sometimes and I'm missing out on listening.
Books I liked:
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (my favourite book)
World without end by Ken Follett (my second favourite)
The pillars of the earth by Ken Follet
The angels game by Zafon again
The prisoner of heaven by Zafon
Marina by Zafon
Winter of the world,fall of giants by Ken Follet
All souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Vampirates was decent too by Justin Somper
So there's obviously a pattern of Ken Follet and Carlos Ruiz Zafon mainly through there.
Books I didn't like:
The name of the rose by Umberto Eco
The Historian
Vampire acadamy (a little to teenagerish)
Angels and demons by Dan Brown
Now as I said I'm quite picky but for me to enjoy it I need it to be:
Fiction
Historical (more of a preference but I love the renaissance times or Victorian England era, I enjoy Tudor but I've overdone that so would rather avoid it if possible)
First person view, simply because I like my imagination drifting off as if I'm in and involved in the story I don't really like narration books)
I prefer real historical characters involved but not centre of attention I like it from a normal persons perspective but for instance say Machiavelli makes a cameo appearance etc
I love books where they give a great picture of the setting and characters, shadow of the wind is a perfect example I can close my eyes and see Barcelona and the characters or what I imagine they look like at any time in my head where as with the name of the rose I can't because it was written in a narrative format so I only experience the one character.
I also like the idea from Ken Follet trilogy of fall of giants where it spans over a lifetime is I like things to move over years rather than days and I also like the way he uses 4 family's as a main focus and jumps from them during the story and I believe Edward Rutherford does the same but unfortunately on Paris is available on audio format it doesn't really appeal because of bad reviews I wanted to listen to Sarum.
I also like books with vampires etc but not to serious and not to childish either I enjoyed the all souls trilogy it had a good blend to appeal to adults and teenagers and I enjoyed the time travel part a lot to and the mysteriousness of the book throughout the storyline so I'm open to books like that too and I was looking at Outlander by Diana Gabidon but have heard it is heavily influenced by sexual content so not really my idea of a good book I don't mind a little but I don't want it every few pages.
Anyway I apologise for the essay and also I realise I'm just jumping on the forum asking for help and I also realise with all the stipulations it's probably near on impossible for anybody to recommend much but I'm just really on the lookout for good books with hopefully a couple of them Stipulations in. So I thank anybody in advance if anybody can recommend anything and I hope I can advise others and help where ever possible on the forums because I'm looking to hopefully be quite active. Thanks for anyone reading if you got this far lol.
So Hi and hope to interact with more of you soon.