h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Now reading Gone Girl, by Gillien Flynn... having heard mention of the book for the first time, on the radio, the other night, when they were talking about the moovie of the book...

I'm back at Sadler's Wells with Veronica and her chums ...

Mol

I'm sad that there are only 12 Flashman books, because I've read them all and there will never be any more.

I'm now reading Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James. It's a murder mystery set about a year after Pride and Prejudice. I'm having a little trouble getting used to the sisters being referred to by their married names; they may call her Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy, but she'll always be Lizzie Bennett to me.

Nothing. I'm out of holiday reading, and need to pick something up at the airport as it's a long flight from Sydney to Manchester.

I'm still ploughing my way through Lorna Hill. Finished No Castanets and Masquerade today and now I'm on Jane Leaves. Don't have the full set so only a couple more to go.

But, as a reward for reading 100 not terribly good books before I dispose of them, I have tonight ordered my holiday reading: Raising Steam, and Mrs Bradshaw's railway guide

Well, it was almost as cheap to buy Mrs Bradshaw and get free delivery, as it would have been to buy Raising Steam on its own and pay the postage

This time in two weeks ...

Mol

Finished Does Anything Eat Wasps? My bathroom book is now Why Don't Penguins Feet Freeze?

I'm reading Poppet, by Mo Hayder

It's set in a mental hospital, is a ghost killing all the patients? OOOOoooooOoooo

John McPake and the Sea Beggars by Stuart Campbell

A curious novel, half set in the day to day life of John McPake but interspersed by a narrative being told by one of his internal voices.
The 'imagined' story is based on Breughel's painting, The Hunters in the Snow. It was a hard read at times but compelling. As with all books I really enjoyed, the ending was as good as you'd want.

A while ago I bought a set of 'modern classic' novels. I'm reading one now, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. A reviewer describes it as 'A flawless comic novel'. Their sense of humour must be very different from mine. I've been amused a few times, but it has never made me 'laugh out loud' as the reviewer claims to. In fact, a lot of the time I want to give one character a good slap! I suppose one problem is that the book was written in the 1950s and the attitudes and behaviour of the characters seem odd/dated 60 years later.

"The Gods of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs;

"A Narrative of the expedition of Hernand De Soto into Florida" published at Evora in 1557 by "A Gentleman of Elvas" [pseud.]

Cheerful Dragon; I've tried, again and again, to read books by Kingsley Amis, and have always given up... (one of the only authors/set of books, where I just can't actually read them...) I've no idea why, perhaps they're, just, well, you know, actually not very good Currently reading the Girl with the Dragon tattoo, which has been something I have ment to read for like ever...

2legs, I won't go so far as to say Amis's work isn't good. This is the first novel by him I've ever read. What I will say is that I'm not keen on his style, and the book isn't as funny as we're led to believe. (Note to self: never believe a reviewer who says a book is funny. Their sense of humour may be different from yours.)

I've read the Millennium Trilogy, as it's known. They're OK, typical 'airport fiction', if you like. The thing I really didn't like about them is Larsson's use of surnames instead of first names. It's OK with 'villains', but it stops you getting close to the characters, IMO. Maybe they use surnames a lot in Sweden.

yeh; the surname thing is confusing! asides anything, I keep getting the various players/characters a bit mixed up in my head... which is kinda nnoying.... Its making me homesick for Sweden though; they're drinking coffee constantly, in a typical Swedish way I'm just sort of jumping all ver the place with books, at the moment, not read very much, the last few months, and trying to rectify that... may try delve into some Sci fi or fantasty, for a change, soon, as I can't have read anything like that in years and years Also trying to get my head round teh kindle app on my android phone... that might open up a slightly wider h choice of books for me to read.... if I can get it working right

The last couple of so-called 'humour' books I tried reading, I think I had to give up on; just not funny, to my warped sense of funny, I guess... err, can't remember what authors they were, just kinda random choices where the blurb was clearly written more apealingly than the actual contents of the book

Sometimes the blurb is the only thing worth reading in the whole book. I think some films are exactly the same, showing the only scene worth your time spent watching.


I spent the afternoon on the plane home and so read most of "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" by Robert Sloan. I have no idea how it will end, but is a curiosity, blending a sort of Antiquarian bookstore with modern geekery. I'm glad to say that there is no violence, blood (so far) or vampires. I'm looking forward to finishing it later today.

The most annoying one, often, though, is where the blurb bares absolutely no resembalance to the storey/book itself as if they've just pulled out some generic written blurb, or one from another book, changed a name or two, and thought 'that will do'... Actually, I really need to find a nice long t trilogy or upwards, of novels, so I don't have to make choices about what to read next, for a while I'm lazy like that, and ddo simular, often just reading everythign I can get hold of, by a given author I've just come across.... Sadly some of my favorates don't seem to be turning out many novels thesedays... Thomas Hardy hasn't done anything in years...

Have you read the Aubrey/Maturin series of naval books by Patrick O'Brian? This is one of the series of books I have all of and have re read many times. (There was a film more recently which wasn't too bad in accuracy, although a lot shorter)



Here's a link to book one.

http://tinyurl.com/kwx6v3u

Don't get me started on series of books. Here's a few I own some/most/all of:

Aubrey/Maturin as suggested by Lanzababy
Bolitho by Alexander Kent. Same era as Aubrey - 18th-19th century naval yarns.
Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell. Peninsular War. As seen on TV
Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
Discworld by Terry Pratchett

If you're in to classic literature and have a Kindle, the Delphi Complete Works have loads of classic authors - Hardy, Dickens, Austen, Thackeray, Trollope. Pretty much a case of you name them, Delphi has done them. Don't try putting the complete works of *anybody* on your phone, though. For one thing, they take up too much memory. For another, they won't be readable unless you have something the size of an iphone.

I've just started The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth as light relief from Lucky Jim. It's not humourous in any way, but I've smiled more in the few pages I've read so far than in the whole of Lucky Jim. (I'm about half way through that and I'm only sticking with it because I don't like leaving a book unfinished.)

if you liked the Sharpe books you might like the ones about Sgt Jack Crossman by Garry L Kilworth. They are about a posh boy who joins the army as a sergeant (I won't say why because of spoilers) and in a reversal of the Sharpe scenario has problems with the men and some officers.

They are based in the Crimea but I can't remember what the first is called.

I've been reading, for a while, Michael Moorcock's Colonel Pyat Quartet (aka Between the Wars). It takes a bit of work, and I've been reading other things to relax between episodes. The fact that the 'relax' between "The Laughter of Carthage" and "Jerusalem Commands" was Primo Levi's experiences in Auschwitz and after (If This Is a Man/The Truce. Utterly magnificent) shows that the Moorcock takes a bit of work. It is wonderful though. Only 600 pages left.