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Recommendations based on King Ratby James Clavell
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Tai-Pan
by James Clavell
Epic tale of struggle for power and control in Hong Kong during the 19th century.
The novel begins following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong. Although the island is largely uninhabited and the terrain unfriendly, it has a large natural ... (Wikipedia)
Noble House
by James Clavell
Epic tale of business deals, struggles for power, and the constant battle for control of Hong Kong.
Noble House is set in 1963. The tai-pan , Ian Dunross, struggles to rescue Struan's from the precarious financial position left by his predecessor. To this end, he seeks partnership with an American ... (Wikipedia)
Gai-Jin
by James Clavell
A tale of political intrigue, cultural clashes, and forbidden love in 19th century Japan.
The story opens with a fictional rendition of the Namamugi Incident . On September 14, 1862, Phillip Tyrer, John Canterbury, Angelique Richaud, and Malcolm Struan are riding on the Tōkaidō , when ... (Wikipedia)
The Day of the Jackal
by Frederick Forsyth
An assassin attempts to kill the president of France in a thrilling race against time.
The book begins in 1962 with the (historical) failed attempt on de Gaulle 's life plotted by, among others, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry in the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart : ... (Wikipedia)
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
A fantastical, satirical examination of Soviet life, intersecting with the supernatural.
The novel has two settings. The first is Moscow during the 1930s, where Satan appears at Patriarch's Ponds as Professor Woland . He is accompanied by Koroviev, a grotesquely-dressed valet; Behemoth , ... (Wikipedia)
The Thin Red Line
by James Jones
A group of soldiers fight for survival and sanity in the brutal Guadalcanal campaign during World War II.
"When compared to the fact that he might very well be dead by this time tomorrow, whether he was courageous or not today was pointless, empty. When compared to the fact that he might be dead ... (Goodreads)
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
A soldier's harrowing experience of the horrors of war.
The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer, who belongs to a group of German soldiers on the Western Front during World War I . The patriotic speeches of his teacher Kantorek had led the whole class to ... (Wikipedia)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A single day in a Soviet prison camp, detailing the hardships and struggle of the inmates.
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov has been sentenced to a camp in the Soviet gulag system. He was accused of becoming a spy after being captured briefly by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II ... (Wikipedia)
Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts
An Australian convict escapes to India and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to a 19-year imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions , and shops. In July 1980, he ... (Wikipedia)
The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco
A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.
In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)
Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett
Epic historical fiction recounting the tumultuous events of World War I and its aftermath.
The novel begins with the thirteen-year-old Billy Williams, nicknamed 'Billy With Jesus', going to work his first day in the coal mine underneath the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen in 1911. Three ... (Wikipedia)
The Bourne Identity
by Robert Ludlum
An amnesiac assassin must uncover his past and true identity in a deadly search for the truth.
The preface of the novel consists of two real-life newspaper articles from 1975 about terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known as " Carlos the Jackal ." The story opens with gunfire on a boat in the ... (Wikipedia)
Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
Epic tale of two former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.
It is the late 1870s. , Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, two famous retired Texas Rangers , run the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small Texas border ... (Wikipedia)
The Fist of God
by Frederick Forsyth
A gripping thriller set during the Gulf War, following a group of soldiers and spies as they race to uncover a secret weapon before it's too late.
Dr. Gerald Bull designs a supergun codenamed Project Babylon for Iraq . He believes that it is for launching satellites into space and assumes it could serve no military purpose for a few reasons: ... (Wikipedia)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
A shipwrecked sailor's struggle to survive on an isolated island, and his eventual redemption.
Crusoe (the family name corrupted from the German name "Kreutznaer") set sail from Kingston upon Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a ... (Wikipedia)
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
Exploration of the timeless struggle between good and evil, set against a backdrop of a family saga.
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas ... (Goodreads)
Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
Exploring the possibilities of a galactic empire in a future driven by science and technology.
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future – to a dark age ... (Goodreads)
'Salem's Lot
by Stephen King
A small town is terrorized by a vampire, forcing its citizens to fight for survival.
Ben Mears, a writer who spent part of his childhood in Jerusalem's Lot , Maine , has returned after 25 years. He quickly becomes friends with high-school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a ... (Wikipedia)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
A multigenerational saga tracing the journey of an African American family in the U.S.
Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte —a young man taken from the Gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slave—and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Kunta, a Mandinka ... (Wikipedia)
City of Thieves
by David Benioff
Two young men embark on a perilous mission in the besieged Leningrad of WWII.
The story is introduced as the recollections of the narrator's grandfather Lev Beniov, a contemporary Russian Jewish émigré. It is set in the first week of 1942, with the 17-years-old Lev trying to ... (Wikipedia)
Birds of Prey
by Wilbur Smith
A thrilling adventure of a young woman's quest for revenge against those who wronged her. Set in the African wilderness.
In 1667 Holland is at war with England . Sir Francis Courteney and his son Hal attack ships of the Dutch East India Company off the coast of Africa. They are betrayed and Sir Francis is executed. Hal ... (Wikipedia)
The Winds of War
by Herman Wouk
The story of a family caught in the middle of World War II and their struggles to survive.
Like no other masterpiece of historical fiction, Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II is the great novel of America's Greatest Generation. , Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Afghan
by Frederick Forsyth
A retired SAS officer is recruited to track down a Taliban leader responsible for a deadly attack on a US army base in Afghanistan.
A chilling story of modern terrorism from the grandmaster of international intrigue., T he Day of the Jackal,, The Dogs of War,, The Odessa File,-the books of Frederick Forsyth have helped define the ... (Goodreads)
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
A group of rabbits embark on a treacherous journey to find a new home.
In the Sandleford warren , ,[b], Fiver, a young runt rabbit who is a seer , receives a frightening vision of his warren's imminent destruction. , When he and his brother Hazel fail to convince their ... (Wikipedia)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
by Douglas Adams
Quirky sci-fi adventure following a group of time travelers seeking to save the future.
Arthur Dent , Ford Prefect , Trillian , and Zaphod Beeblebrox leave the planet Magrathea on the Heart of Gold . A Vogon ship attacks them, and Arthur's attempt to have the ship's computer make him a ... (Wikipedia)
The Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Intergalactic odyssey exploring the meaning of life and the human condition.
Malachi Constant is the richest man in a future North America. He possesses extraordinary luck that he attributes to divine favor which he has used to build upon his father's fortune. He becomes the ... (Wikipedia)
World Without End
by Ken Follett
Epic tale of love and war, tracing the lives of two families over centuries.
The novel begins in the fictional city of Kingsbridge, England in the year 1327 . Four children - Merthin, Caris, Gwenda, and Merthin's brother Ralph - head into the woods on All Hallows Day . ... (Wikipedia)
Berlin Game
by Len Deighton
A British spy in Cold War Berlin must uncover a traitor in his own agency. Full of twists and turns, it's a classic espionage thriller.
The time is the early 1980s. A highly placed agent in East Germany codenamed "Brahms Four" wants to come to the West. Brahms Four is one of Britain's most reliable, most valuable agents behind the ... (Wikipedia)
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
A humorous and heart-wrenching journey of life, love and literature.
This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields—a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a ... (Goodreads)
Red Storm Rising
by Tom Clancy
An all-out war between NATO and the Soviet Union, as seen through the eyes of the soldiers.
Militants from Azerbaijan destroy an oil production refinery in Nizhnevartovsk , threatening to cripple the Soviet Union's economy due to oil shortages. After much deliberation, the Soviet Politburo ... (Wikipedia)
