Read Books

This list used be on the sidebar but became very long so I am publishing it here instead, with added comments:

- Templars (history of)
- An excellent study in the Templars history

A.A.M. Djelantik - Memoirs of a Balinese Prince
- Very good biography written by the Prince himself, illustrates the times of his days

Akio Morita w/ Edwin M. Reingold & Mitsuko Shimomura - Akio Morita and SONY, Made in Japan
- Mr. Moritas autobiography how SONY was established and built up. Very interesting in the beginning but becomes more of a leaderhsip manual in the end. Could be something of a put off for some readers.

Ali Hussain (compiled by) - Mysticism in Maldives, eyewitness accounts of supernatural encounters
- 8 short (ghost) stories. It also highlights common superstitions & traditions. Interesting read.

Anthony Horowitz - The power of five
- Supernatural stories

Aravind Adiga - Between the Assasinations
- Indian comedy

Arlene Hunt - Missing presumed dead
- Boring detective story

Arthur C. Clarke (w/ Gentry Lee) - Rama Revealed
Arthur C. Clarke (w/ Gentry Lee) - The Garden of Rama
Arthur C. Clarke (w/ Stephen Baxter) - Firstborn
Arthur C. Clarke - 2001: A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke - 2010: Odyssey Two
Arthur C. Clarke - 2061: Odyssey Three
Arthur C. Clarke - 3001: The Final Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's end
Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama
- Classic sci-fi at its best for those who like it

Ben Mayrich - Sex on the Moon
- The real story of the guy at NASA who stole moonrocks for his girlfriend and try to sell them on.

Brian Lumley - Vamphyri
- Horror sci-fi, hair raising read, not for the faint hearted
Brian Lumley - The House of Cthulhu
- Horror story of the extraterrestrial culture that had settled in Antarctica.

Charles Anderson, Dr. R. - Reef fishes of the Maldives
- Reference book. Suits Maldives and the hobbyist to look up different species.

Chris Beckett - Holy Machine
- Sci-fi about robots fitting into society and problems of humans adjusting to them as well as scenarios of religion vs pure science. Interesting read.

Chuck Wilson - So many Girls!
- Crappy guide book that is very self centered on the writer

Clare Gibson - The astronomy handbook
- Excellent fact book

Dacre Stoker - Dracula the Un-Dead
- Sequel to Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dan Brown - Angels and Demons
Dan Brown - The Da Vinci code
Dan Brown - The lost symbol
- Mystery and suspense

Dean Koontz - Odd hours
Dean Koontz - Your heart belongs to me
- Thrillers with suggested supernatural elements, entertaining

Douglas Preston w/ Mario Speza - The Monster of Florence
- True tale of the Italian murdering monster

Edgar Rice Burroughs - I am a barbarian
- Riveting story of the life of Caesar Nero from the vantage point of his private slave

Ellis K. Meacham - The East Indiaman (Storm över Ostindien)
Ellis K. Meacham - On the Company's service (Buckanjärerna från Bombay)
Ellis K. Meacham - For King and Company (För Kung och Kompani)
- Swashbuckling intrigue, romance, politics interweaved in historical events, very entertaining reading

Frank McLynn - The Burma Campaign
- The history of how Burma was won from Japanese. Incredible that they manage to do it when reading about the blunders they made.

Frederick de Klerk - Biography
- True story of the last white president of South Africa and how he handed over to Mandela

Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram
- Allegedly true but eventually a fictional story in India, good read

Hannu Rajaniemi - The Quantum thief (Kvanttivaras)
- Sci-fi from the very distant future about a man being jailbreaked out to do yet another heist in a moving city of Mars

Helmut Debelius - Indian Ocean reef guide
- Reference book, really good. What the author does not know of flora & fauna in the sea is not worth knowing.

Henning Mankell - Depths (Djupet)
- Story set in WWI in Sweden about a very disturbed mind
Henning Mankell - "The restless man" (Den orolige mannen)
- The latest and maybe the last Wallander detective novel where Kurt is unravelling an old spy mystery.

H.P. Lovecraft - The road to madness
- Collection of his stories including the famous "Mountains of madness"

Iain M. Banks - Matter
- Culture sci-fi series

Imogen Edwards-Jones - Hotel Babylon
- An inside story of what is going on behind the scene of big five star hotels and anecdotes of odd occurrences in them.
Imogen Edwards-Jones - Beach Babylon
- An inside story of what is going on behind the scene of resorts and anecdotes of odd occurrences in them (this is allegedly from Soneva Fushi in Maldives).
Imogen Edwards-Jones - Air Babylon
- Inside story of the UK flight industry, if it is to be believed it looks like the staff is either on uppers or downers or just plain drunk all the time.

Iris Chang - The rape of Nanking
- True story about the WWII events that went down in Nanking, not for the weak minded

James Lovegrove - The age of Odin
- Fantasy story of the Norse Gods in modern world slogging out the Ragnarök in Valhalla. Page turner.

James Patterson & Martin Dugard - The murder of King Tut
- Based on historical facts, read in one sitting
James Patterson - Private
- Private detective thriller set in the jet set circles of Hollywood, main character is a former Afghanistan veteran with baggage.
James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet - Witch & Wizard
James Patterson & Ned Rust - The Gift
James Patterson & Jill Dembowski - The Fire
- Teenage trilogy series of 2 teenage kids going through a hard time battling self proclaimed dictator The One who is the One. Lot of witching and bitching, I guess I am too old to read books for kids.

Jens Lapidus - Aldrig fucka upp (never fuck up)
Jens Lapidus - Snabba cash (Fast cash) (Also as a movie but it doesn't make right for the book)
Jens Lapidus - Livet deluxe (Life deluxe)
- A "noire" story in Swedish with gangsters, good cops, bad cops, detectives, corrupt politicians, drugs prostitutes, alcohol, parties, jailbirds, etc etc that makes a very grueling tale of criminality in Sweden. Good reading.

J.R.R. Tolkien - Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien - Silmarillion
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Children of Hurin
- Fairy tales for the grown up mind, can be read again and again and still be fascinating

Jeffrey Archer - A Twist in the Tale
- Short stories with unsuspected endings
Jeffrey Archer - Prison Diaries I - III
- A true story of the author's jail sentence (perjury)

Joan Druett - She Captains
- Fact book of female Captain's throughout history, good read

John Darwin - After Tamerlane
- Factual history book about empires that has risen and fallen throughout history

John Grisham - Theodore Boone
- Another lawyer yarn, quite entertaining

John Man - Attila the Hun
- History book about Attila himself

Jonathan Stroud - Bartimaeus trilogy
- Magicians and djinnis and other mystical creatures in modern day UK. Harry Potter sucks eggs compared to these novels.
Jonathan Stroud - The Ring of Solomon
- Another Bartimaeus novel set in ancient Israel of the ring that Solomon used to rule his and other countries surrounding his kingdom.
Jonathan Stroud - Heroes of the Valley
- Story of a village in a valley struggling against mystical foes.

Julian Sher & William Marsden - Angels Death (Inside the biker gangs crime empire)
- Investigative book about Hells Angels and other biker gangs mischief, mayhem and crime deeds. Gives a good picture of the bad boys and leaves no qualms about their guilt.

Ken Bruen - Cross
- Bad read, waste of money

Ken Follett - Night over water
- Thriller set in first days of WWII in UK & USA, entertaining read
Ken Follett - Pillars of the Earth
Ken Follett - World without end
- These books are series, a really entertaining read for abt 2000 pages of how life was in medieval England

Kevin Rushby - Children of Kali
- Travel book, sort of 2 parts, one about travel and another a study of the Thuggee's

Laurell K. Hamilton - The laughing corpse
- Modern day zombie & vampire story set in St. Louis

Kim Harrison - Where Demon's Dare
- Sort of witch and demon detective story, good mix of the genre

Lee Child - Nothing to lose
Lee Child - Gone tomorrow
- Jack Reacher thriller, read in one sitting

Lee Kuan Yew - Biography
- The story of the first president of Singapore and his struggles to build a country

M. Eversmann & D. Schilling - The battle of Mogadishu
- Fact book abt participating the war in Somalia, the movie Black Hawk Down was based on this book

Mala Sen - India's Bandit Queen
- The true story of Phoolan Devi about how she was married away at age of 11 and after the marriage failed she was kidnapped by dacoits and entered a life of banditry to lead her own gang and from there to surrender into a 11yrs jail term. The book ends at her pending trials but eventually she was released and entered politics and was then assassinated in 2001 by enemies from her past dacoit life. She has been put on a par with Calamity Jane but the most amazing thing is that this happened in the 1980's.

Massimo Manfredi - Alexander trilogy
Massimo Manfredi - Pharaoh
Massimo Manfredi - The last legion
Massimo Manfredi - The Tower
- Historical Mediterranean yarns spun into fiction, very entertaining

Michael Axworthy - Iran, Empire of the mind
- Insight in the whole human history of Iran, interesting

Michael Chabon - Gentlemen of the Road
- Very English read

Michael Scott - Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series:
- Magician
- Alchemyst
- Sorceress
- Necromancer
- Warlock
- Fairy tales for the grown ups, spell binding read

Mohammed A.J. Al-Fahim - From rags to riches
- Historical book of the Abu Dhabi development from a bedouin state to oil producing state. Pretty amazing considering the short time span starting from 1900's oil exploration in the region.

Mo Hayder - Pig Island
Mo Hayder - Ritual
Mo Hayder - Tokyo
- Detective stories in the occult, good reading

Naomi Novik - His Majesty's Dragon
- One of the series, but eventually gets very boring unless one is a serious Dragon buff

Natsuo Kirino - Grotesque
Natsuo Kirino - Out
Natsuo Kirino - Real World
- Japanese horror

Ozzy Osbourne - I am Ozzy
- Biography from early childhood into today. It is amazing what the man has produced despite his early drug and alcohol problems coupled with dyslexia. Thumbs up for Ozzy, a great artist of our times, and Sharon who saved him.

Patricia Cornwell - Book of the dead
- Detective story from the coroners perspective.

Paul Theroux - Dark Star Safari
- Travelogue of the authors overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town in 2000-2001. Intriguing & interesting, he does not spare anything or anyone with his blunt language.

Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist
- Spiritual book about finding your goal and realizing your dreams.

Peter F Hamilton - Fallen Dragon
Peter F Hamilton - Judas Unchained
Peter F Hamilton - Pandora's Star
Peter F Hamilton - The Nights Dawn trilogy
Peter F Hamilton - The Dreaming Void
Peter F Hamilton - The Temporal Void
Peter F Hamilton - The Evolutionary Void
Peter F. Hamilton - A second chance at Eden
Peter F. Hamilton - Misspent youth
- English sci-fi at its best

Peter Straub - Koko
- Horror genre

Princess Der Ling - Two Years in the Forbidden CIty
- Historical account about Princess Der Ling's life with the Dowager Empress of China

Qanta A. Ahmed, MD - In the land of invisible women
- Interesting travelogue of a western Muslim Doctor about her experience in Saudi Arabia and Islam during her 2 year stint working there.

Rajaa Alsanea - Girls of Riyadh
- Allegedly based on facts, good insight in the Arabic culture, touted as the middle eastern "Sex and the City", mindboggling how women manipulate their way as it is their only way to achieve anything in such restrictive society.

Reijo Mäki - Enkelipölyä (Angeldust)
Reijo Mäki - Moukanpeli (Rooke's game)
Reijo Mäki - Satakieli lauloi yöllä (The nighting gale sang in the night)
Reijo Mäki - Marraskuu on musta hauta (November is a black tomb)
Reijo Mäki - Sukkanauhakäärme (Stockingline snake)
Reijo Mäki - Jäätynyt enkeli (Frozen Angel)
Reijo Mäki - Kuoleman kapellimestari (The Maestro of death)
Reijo Mäki - Kaidan tien kulkijat (The walkers of the narrow road)
Reijo Mäki - Liian kaunis tyttö (Too beautiful girl)
Reijo Mäki - Rahan kääntöpiiri (The tropic of money)
Reijo Mäki - Kruunun vasikka (The Crown's snitch)
Reijo Mäki - Enkelit kanssasi (Angel's with you)
Reijo Mäki - Tatuoitu taivas *) (Tattooed sky)
Reijo Mäki - Pimeyden tango (Tango of darkness)
Reijo Mäki - Pahan suudelma (Kiss of evil)
Reijo Mäki - Keltainen leski (Yellow widow)
Reijo Mäki - Mullan maku (Taste of dirt)
Reijo Mäki - Aito turkki (Real fur)
Reijo Mäki - Kolmastoista Yö (Thirteenth night)
Reijo Mäki - Pitkä lounas (Long lunch)
Reijo Mäki - Black Jack
Reijo Mäki - Huhtikuun tytöt (Girls of April)
Reijo Mäki - Nuoruustango (Tango of Youth)
Reijo Mäki - Hard Luck Cafe'
Reijo Mäki - Uhkapelimerkki (Gambling chip)
Reijo Mäki - Valkovenäläinen (White Russian)
- Finnish detective stories, thrillers. *) Written in future sci-fi

Richard Grant - God's Middle Finger, Into the Lawless heart of the Sierra Madre
- Travelogue of a journey through the Sierra Madre in Mexico, guaranteed to put off any planned travel intentions of any faint hearted but spot on for those who seek dangerous thrills with local traffickers, drugs and alcohol.

Robert A Heinlein - Stranger in a strange land
- Old Sci-fi, good stuff

Robert Harris - Pompeii
- Story of the last days of Pompeii before the Vesuvius eruption, told from 4 different angles

Robert I Kiyosaki w/ Sharon L Lechter - Rich Dad, Poor Dad
- A "make yourself" book

S. Hussain Zaidi with Jane Borges - Mafia Queens of Mumbai, stories of women from the ganglands
- Eight anecdotes about women that influenced or were involved in the underworld of Mumbai, reality is more amazing than fantasy when you read about these characters.

Salar Abdoh - Opium
- Boring read with dead people turning up at every corner. Merely read it because it was happening in Iran.

Sam Bourne - The final reckoning
Sam Bourne - The last testament
- Kind of dry read, detective/ thriller

Sam Kean - The disappearing spoon
- Book about all the basic elements, their history how they were discovered and other political connotations for the metals and minerals, very interesting.

Sarah Macdonald - Holy Cow
- Travel book about India, very entertaining

Sirin Pathanothai - The Dragon's Pearl
- Her account about growing up in Chairman Mao's inner circle, very good read and interesting story (autobiography)

Stephen King - Pet Sematary
Stephen King - Tommyknockers
Stephen King - Woman's wrath
Stephen King and Peter Straub - The Talisman
Stephen King and Peter Straub - Black House
- Horror

Stephen Leather - Cold Kill
Stephen Leather - Dead Men
Stephen Leather - Live Fire
Stephen Leather - Nightfall (*
Stephen Leather - Pay Off
Stephen Leather - Private Dancer
Stephen Leather - Setup
Stephen Leather - Soft Target
Stephen Leather - Tango One
Stephen Leather - The Chinaman
Stephen Leather - The Double Tap
Stephen Leather - The Eyewitness
Stephen Leather - The Solitary Man
Stephen Leather - Rough Justice
Stephen Leather - Midnight (*
Stephen Leather - Bangkok Bob and the lost mormon
Stephen Leather - Nightmare (*
Stephen Leather - Fair Game
- Action, very good page turners with mostly featuring the ex SAS turned undercover police officer Dan Shepherd. Recent books marked with asterisk is a new genre with a supernatural/ occult elements in it, also very entertaining.

Susanna Clarke - Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange
- Excellent grown up fairy tale

Terry Breverton - Immortal words
- Sayings and proverbs for every occasion

Terry Darlington - Narrow dog to Carcassonne
- Travelogue of an Englishman sailing a narrow boat from UK to France. Very humorous one liners.

Tess Gerritsen - Keeping the Dead
Tess Gerritsen - The Mephisto Club
- Excellent detective stories

Tim Godfrey - Dive Maldives
- Dive site guide for whole of Maldives except Huvadhoo & Foammulah atolls that were closed for tourism at the time of writing the book. It gives good hints of diving & where to dive but the descriptions are a bit out of date, at least close to Male' due to landfilling & pollution

Tom Knox - The marks of Cain
- Thriller playing on the Basques, the Cagots, Jews, Nazis and religion. The elements are there but it quite doesn't clinch it.

Tony Ballantyne - Twisted Metal
- Sci-fi story of a planet with robots as the evolved life and a raging civil war, good read

Tuija Lehtinen - Mopo (Scooter)
- Yarn about teenagers antics on mopeds (in Finnish), several short stories collating into a big picture

Whitley Strieber - 2012
- Everybody taps in this theme, what will happen when the Mayan calendar ends?

Wilbur Smith - Assegai
Wilbur Smith - Shout at the devil
Wilbur Smith - Cry Wolf
- Africa adventures, 100% page turners

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