Welcome to the home Strategic Literary Cool Wall - a list of books recommended by staff, clients and friends. We are particularly grateful to the Isle of Man Group on LinkedIn for all their recommendations and lively discussion.
We’ve included links to Amazon so you can get more information on the recommended books below, but don’t forget your local bookshop. I’m sure what they haven’t got in stock they can always put on order.
Feel free to roam amongst the stacks at your leisure, and see what takes your fancy, and if you’d like to add your recommendations or comments to the list just drop me a line: james ( at ) homestrategic.com
The Literary Cool Wall - Categories:
1. Murder, mystery, mayhem & chaos
2. Humour
3. Travel
4. Modern Classics
5. Business
6. Stuff that didn’t fit in any other category
*Excludes Speedos and all other forms of ‘budgie smugglers’. No exceptions, no, not even if you’re an Olympic swimmer!
1. MURDER, MYSTERY, MAYHEM & CHAOS
“Something Might Happen” by Julie Myerson
An absolutely absorbing story. It wraps around your heart stealthily without you knowing, right up to the very end. It has a murder and a romance, but these are quite secondary to the haunting otherness of the place and above all the ordinarily unacknowledged feeling of safety in routine, which shatters so profoundly and unexpectedly. Wonderfully, unpretentiously written, yet so accurately, that even Livvy the baby is vividly realised! (Amazon Review by Myrtle “featherandquill”)
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
I have read them at least 4 times. The combination of philosophy, Quantum Physics, plot and literary history cannot be beaten. For they are simply magical.
‘Hannibal’ by Thomas Harris
Dr Lecter in Florence, what a stroke of genius - beauty and the beast. Seven years have passed since Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped from custody, seven years since FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling interviewed him in a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. The doctor is still at large, but Starling has never forgotten her encounters with Dr. Lecter, and the metallic rasp of his seldom-used voice still sounds in her dreams… (Amazon Review)
Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
Well if you want a bizarre read, it has to be Men Who Stare at Goats. Gets 10/10 on my weird-o-meter hands down. The film of the book is billed as ‘crazy, funny’ etc. Should be ‘weirdest ever book turned to film’!! I stuck with it to the end, but there never is a jump from ‘did they really do this or is it made up’?
The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime Adventures 1) by Jasper Fforde
Rather in the fashion in which Stephen Sondheim exploded the world of fairytale in Into the Woods, Fforde here brings all the apparatus of the tough crime thriller to bear on the nursery rhyme. Minor baronet Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III has been found dead–and in pieces–beneath a wall in a less salubrious area of town. The perpetrator would appear to be his ex-wife, but she has shot herself. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his colleague Mary Mary are assigned to the case, and soon find themselves knee-deep in money-laundering, bullion smuggling and major problems with beanstalks. (Amazon Review)
Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen
A bizarre series of killings in Florida lead a one-time journalist onto the trail of a former colleague. The columnist is conducting a vendetta against tourists spoiling the beauty of the area. His headquarters are somewhere in the Everglades, his gang are a mixed-up bunch. (Amazon Review)
A Painted House by John Grisham
A clear departures from John Grisham’s Court Room /Lawyer Thrillers, A Painted House is a gem of a read. And in my opinion undeniably one of his best! But then I think that of all Grisham Books.
The hero, Luke Chandler is only seven years old, but can he tell a story. . Snippets of his life during the cotton-picking season in the early fifties in Arkansas are not soon forgotten. Luke introduces us to the field hands who arrive to help pick the cotton that is waist high. ‘The Mexicans’ and ‘The Hill Folk’, bring a lot of tension, (not to mention a murder) to this hard working family of Farmers. (Amazon Review)
‘The Stand’ by Stephen King
Government scientists create a lethal strain of superflu, which due to an accident in the secret lab where it was created, escapes into the world and kills 99% of the global population. Those who left alive have to learn how to survive in a world, which bears no relation to the one they knew. (Amazon Review)
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
John Grisham’s first work of non-fiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. (Amazon Review)
Cross Country by James Paterson
This is the easiest book I have ever read, non stop action, short chapters and a really interesting story, even a bit graphic at times.
2. HUMOUR
The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell
It is the story of Raymond Marks an 11-year-old boy growing up in the north of England in the 1980’s. Brilliantly funny the basis of the book is a series of letters Raymond writes to his hero, Smiths front man Morrisey, as he recounts the bizarre, hilarious and sometimes disturbing stories of his life.
Friends Like These by Danny Wallace
Danny Wallace is about to turn thirty and his life has become a cliché. Recently married and living in a smart new area of town, he’s swapped pints down the pub for lattes and brunch. For the first time in his life, he’s feeling, well …grown-up. But something’s not right. Something’s missing. Until he finds an old address book containing just twelve names. His best mates as a kid. Where are they now? Who are they now? And how are they coping with being grown-up too? And so begins a journey from A-Z, tracking down and meeting his old gang. (Amazon Review)
Warp by Richard Falk
Henri’s night of passion is at risk from invisible gnomes…Mr Bollard can’t find anyone to spank …Sarah’s performing breasts are failing to impress …the Devil’s dog has just eaten his supper …and God has a confession to make. These are just a few of the hilarious characters you will meet in Richard Falk’s book, where experimental literary techniques meet ‘Viz-style’ humour in a blizzard of political incorrectness. No taboo is left unexplored as the genre of cyclical trompe l’oeil adult comedy is born (please do not slip on the afterbirth). This title contains strong language and adult humour. (Amazon Review)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their émigré engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western wealth. But the sisters’ campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of Europe’s darkest history and sends them back to roots they’d much rather forget… (Amazon Review)
Join Me by Danny Wallace
It’s all about living for the moment in this quirky, seemingly pointless yet addictive narrative. Finding himself with too much time on his hands after quitting his BBC job, Danny revels in “sitting around in his pants” and generally taking a break from the responsibilities of working life. Danny attends the funeral of his great uncle Gallus and finds out that he had set up a commune of like-minded people to escape Swiss small town small-mindedness in the 1940s. Intrigued by this idea, on his return to London Danny places a cryptic advert in the classified ads paper Loot and gets some surprising results. (Amazon Review)
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next) by Jasper Fforde
‘What Fforde is pulling is a variation on the classic Monty Python gambit: the incongruous juxtaposition of low comedy and high erudition - this scam has not been pulled off with such off-hand finesse and manic verve since the Pythons shut up shop. ‘The Eyre Affair’ is a silly book for smart people: postmodernism played as raw, howling farce’ (Independent Review)
Are you Dave Gorman by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace
The award-winning Are You Dave Gorman? Is the oddly touching story of how Perrier Award nominee Dave Gorman went in search of all the world’s other Dave Gormans. (Amazon Review)
101 Uses for a Dead Cat by Simon Bond
Two-million-selling book, published in 20 countries, was a huge cartoon bestseller when it was first published in 1981. Twenty five years have now elapsed and it’s still in print. Hilarious and irreverent ….. unless of course you are a cat lover. (Amazon Review)
3. TRAVEL
“Journey to the Edge of the World” by Billy Connolly
In the summer of 2008 Billy Connolly set sail on a ten-week journey from ocean to ocean: from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by way of the North West Passage – a fabled route deep within the Arctic Circle that has thwarted explorers and fortune-hunters for centuries. (Amazon Review)
“Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
What would possess a gifted young man recently graduated from college to literally walk away from his life? Noted outdoor writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer tackles that question in his reporting on Chris McCandless, whose emaciated body was found in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. (Amazon Review)
Oh! The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss
In this classic Seussian tale, the good doctor primes his readers against all the little mishaps and misadventures that can befall even the best of us — from bang-ups and hang-ups to lurches and slumps — encouraging us to take life in our stride! (Amazon Review)
Rick Stein Far Eastern Odyssey by Rick Stein
Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey is an epic culinary journey along rivers, through jungles and around coastlines. Along the way, Rick visits traditional family-run restaurants, street vendors, floating markets, night markets, fishing villages, and the local cinnamon and rice farmers to learn about the authentic food of the Far East, and to sample the delicious spectrum of exotic flavours. (Amazon Review)
White Waters and Black by Gordon MacCreagh
“An amazing description of one of the worst-prepared expeditions into the depths of Amazonia”
“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
I would say it’s a feel good book, a really easy read that isn’t to deep and is very enjoyable. It gives you a good positive feeling after reading it. “The Alchemist”, is a story about how we should not avoid our destinies, and urges people to follow their dreams and find meaningful happiness, fulfilment, and the ultimate purpose of creation.”(It’s not deep honest!)
Kalki by Gore Vidal
Investigative journalist and aviatrix Teddy, who narrates Gore Vidal’s metaphysical thriller, has moulded herself on flying ace Amelia Earhart. Although she’s aware that’s a bit anachronistic, it qualifies her to pilot Kalki, Vietnam vet and incarnate of Vishnu, round Kathmandu in a story that soars from New Orleans to Washington, Paris to New Delhi - ever above and outside of this world. (Amazon Review)
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee
I had forgotten what a work of genius it is. The narrative voices are so compelling and haunting. It may be the only book she ever wrote but what a book.
Messiah by Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal’s satirical fantasy, with a new introduction by the author. From his long-time hiding-place in provincial Egypt, Eugene Luther tells the story of John Cave, a former Californian undertaker, his rise to power and the subsequent global impact of his new religion. (Amazon Review)
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Grotesquely beautiful (if that’s possible?), haunting, tragic and evocative.
‘Earthly Powers’ by Anthony Burgess
Haven’t read it for a long, long time but he paints on such a wide canvas, with his fiction so melded with 20th century history it was difficult to know what was true and what wasn’t.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Streetwise George and his big, childlike friend Lennie are drifters, searching for work in the fields and valleys of California. They have nothing except the clothes on their back, and a hope that one day they’ll find a place of their own and live the American dream. But dreams come at a price. Gentle giant Lennie doesn’t know his own strength, and when they find work at a ranch he gets into trouble with the boss’s daughter-in-law. Trouble so bad that even his protector George may not be able to save him. (Amazon Review)
Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The terrible spectacle of the beast, the fog of the moor, the discovery of a body: this classic horror story pits detective against dog. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the wild Devon moorland with the footprints of a giant hound nearby, the blame is placed on a family curse. It is left to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to solve the mystery of the legend of the phantom hound before Sir Charles’ heir comes to an equally gruesome end. THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES gripped readers when it was first serialised and has continued to hold its place in the popular imagination. (Amazon Review)
1984 by George Orwell
Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Nineteen Eight-Four is George Orwell’s terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime. (Amazon Review)
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Introducing James Bond: charming, sophisticated, handsome; chillingly ruthless and very deadly. This, the first of Fleming’s tales of agent 007, finds Bond on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called simply ‘Le Chiffre’ - by ruining him at the baccarat table and forcing his Soviet spymasters to ‘retire’ him. It seems that lady luck is taken with James - Le Chiffre has hit a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules, and Bond’s attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster and an unexpected saviour. (Amazon Review)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One Hundred Years of Solitude has received universal recognition. The novel has been awarded Italy’s Chianciano Award, France’s Prix de Meilleur Livre Etranger, Venezuela’s Romulo Gallegos Prize, and the Books Abroad/ Neustadt International Prize for Literature. García Márquez also received an honorary LL.D. from Columbia University in New York City. These awards set the stage for García Márquez’s 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature. (Wikipedia Review)
5. BUSINESS
The Business by Iain Banks
Well worth a read. It may be dated, in parts, but the grand sweep of Banks ideas & imagination grounded in modern times is compelling. And, yes, it is about international business but written in such a way that it will keep you gripped until the end.
Leading Change by John Kotter
In Leading Change, John Kotter examines the efforts of more than 100 companies to remake themselves into better competitors. Every businessman should read this. (Amazon Review)
The Relational Model for Database Management by Ted Codd
Every computing person should read this, some of the math is a bit scary tho’. (Client Review)
The Cluetrain Manifesto by Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger and Rick Levine
First published in 2000 the authors show how the Internet is turning business upside down. They proclaim that, thanks to conversations taking place on Web sites and message boards, and in e-mail and chat rooms, employees and customers alike have found voices that undermine the traditional command-and-control hierarchy that organizes most corporate marketing groups. “Markets are conversations”, the authors write, and those conversations are “getting smarter and faster than most companies”. (Amazon Review)
Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
Scoble, a video blogger for Microsoft, and technology guru Israel have put together a bible for business bloggers. Drawn from their own experiences, as well as from numerous comments posted to their blog (http://redcouch.typepad.com/), they have produced a book with the conversational style of blogs. Starting with a brief history of –Word–of–Mouth– products such as the ICQ global instant messaging service and web browser Firefox, and placing blogging firmly in this context, they state that blogs are –Word–of–Mouth on Steroids. (Amazon Review)
Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani
An excellent read by the former mayor of New York, including the excellent broken windows theory. In this book, Giuliani describes vividly the chaos and horror of the twin towers catastrophe, and explains how the rules of management he enforced as Mayor enabled him to gain control of the emergency. These are also the rules, Giuliani makes clear, that anyone in a leadership position - from the head of a large corporation to the owner of a corner shop - can use to inspire others and achieve concrete results. (Amazon Review)
The Heart of Success by Rob Parsons
Excellent book (despite a lawyer author ooh!) on leadership, so good I bought my whole management team a copy about 8 years ago.
Jack’s father was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of his time - the only problem was that the old man had no time, no friends, and died early. The prospect of following in the family tradition seems less than appealing to Jack but on the first day of his MBA he meets a retired professor who offers him a class that wasn’t exactly on the curriculum: How to make it in business without losing in life. Over a series of memorable evenings the professor shares with Jack seven laws to turn his life around. (Amazon Review)
‘Time to Think’ by Nancy Kline
When I first picked this up I thought “What? A whole book just about thinking?” but it really is worth reading and re-reading. I must also mention ‘Brain rules’ by John Medina if you are even only slightly interested in the human brain and how it works. Written in an easy, fun style I just love it.
“Dumbing Us Down” by John Gatto
This radical treatise on public education has been a best-seller for 10 years! Thirty years of award-winning teaching in New York City’s public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders as cogs in the industrial machine. (Amazon Review)
6. STUFF THAT DIDN’T FIT IN ANY OTHER CATEGORY
SUM by David Eagleman
It’s a collection of 40 theories on the afterlife. At just a couple of pages a pop each theory really gets you thinking. It’s a brilliant little book for a short reprieve from the daily grind and truly imaginative.
“The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett
“‘A historical saga of such breadth and density… Follett succeeds brilliantly in combining hugeness and detail to create a novel imbued with the rawness, violence and blind faith of the era’ Sunday Express”
Richard’s Bicycle Book by Richard Ballantine
First published in 1972, fortuitously appeared at a time when cycling was experiencing a resurgence in popularity due in part to the oil shortages of the world oil crisis and the appearance of lightweight road bicycles. The book was a cornucopia of cycling-related information; it not only contained an overview of the history of the bicycle, explanations of differing bicycle designs and types and various bicycle accessories, guides to basic bicycle maintenance and fitting among others, but was heavily laced with the author’s own views and humour to boot. It became exceedingly popular. (Wikipedia Review)
My Booky Wook by Russell Brand
Russell Brand grew up in Essex. His father left when he was three months old, he was bulimic at 12 and left school at 16 to study at the Italia Conti stage school. There, he began drinking heavily and taking drugs. He regularly visited prostitutes in Soho, began cutting himself, took drugs on stage during his stand-up shows, and even set himself on fire while on crack cocaine. He has been arrested 11 times and fired from 3 different jobs – including from XFM and MTV – and he claims to have slept with over 2,000 women. In 2003 Russell was told that he would be in prison, in a metal hospital or dead within six months unless he went in to rehab. He has now been clean for three years. (Amazon Review)
Forgotten Legion Chronicles by Ben Kane
A great debut title, is this the start of something exceptional? I hope so. This book more than many of the other new authors in the genre seems to have something different, a blend of the action of Scarrow, the pace and power of Anthony Riches and his own unique element a bit of mystery and myth that sets it apart.
(Amazon Review By R. J. Carter “parmenion-books” )
Centered Riding by Sally Swift
For the horsey folks amongst us. Sally Swift’s “Centered Riding” is a classic equestrian text and has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide. Its publication 21 years ago caused a revolution in riding by demonstrating how good use of the body can make a world of difference to both rider and horse. (Amazon Review)
‘The Defence of the Realm - the Authorised History of MI5′ by Christopher Andrew
Absolutely fascinating read but potentially very bad for everyone’s health. Astrophysicists have tried (and failed) to calculate its mass and have hypothesised that if a copy of this book were inadvertently dropped into a volcano or seismic fault line, it would cause the earth to shift on its axis, triggering the end of the world, as we know it.
David Tennant a Year in the Spotlight by Sue Williams
It’s almost impossible to cover everything that was written about David Tennant during 2008 but the vast majority is included on these pages including a section on all his theatre reviews during the year so prepare for an amazing journey of a very unique year in the life of a charismatic and talented but down to earth and modest man.
‘Illusions - The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah’ by Richard Bach
It is a mystical adventure story about two barnstorming pilots who meet in a field in mid-west America. This book can be interpreted as an entertaining story about miracles, or as a quizzical look at the way many of us could live. (Amazon Review)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
An inspirational story of a Seagull who goes against convention in search of a higher purpose. All about following your dreams and daring to be different.
The Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself in Long Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretly while Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa’s apartheid regime. (Amazon Review)
The Bible
‘It has all the answers’
A Collaboration with Nature by Andy Goldsworthy
Illustrates outdoor sculptures created with a range of natural materials, including snow, ice, leaves, rock, clay, stones, feathers, and twigs. (Amazon Review)
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
If you don’t know him (Larry McMurtry), he is a marvelous contemporary American novelist and Lonesome Dove is a master work. It tells the story of a group of men in the 1870s Texas led by two aging Texas lawman. The story tracks an epic 3,000 mile journey to Montana driving 3000 head of cattle through some very unforgiving territory. Yes, it is a cowboy story, but to ignore it because of that would be a travesty. It really is a tale of a group of very different characters and their relationship to each other and the wilderness in which they live.
