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

I know that there are plenty of bookworms out there on H2G2. Most of you have read alot of books by Douglas Adams, and alot of you have read books that range from the famous to the obscure. So what's on your bedstand these days?

I read a lot but I usually forget either the titel or the author's name. The book I finished yesterday was titled "The Dumas Club"
The author is spanish (but the name is slipping my mind right now). The book was a detective-story written in a whimsical, funny way. The plot, consisting of a antihero involved in antiqe books and manuscripts and murder, amused me. Recommended.

-B-
The authors name can be found if anyone's interested.

Mine has Michael Gayle's 'Mr Commitment' on it. Actually it also has about 50 other books as I'm a bit of an addict!

50 books? That's quite a large bedside table you've got there, Ginger. (Or maybe it's quite a small table but a very high ceiling?)

Mine's currently adorned with The Best of Odgen Nash (fun), Hickory Wind - the Life and Times of Gram Parsons (factual), and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (fantastically gothic but I'm not sure yet where it's going).

Ahh, here it is:
The author of "The Dumas Club" is Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
-B-

I've just finished reading Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected. And it was good.

Oh, and I plan to read "Last nite a DJ saved my life..." next, but I can't find it out here in Germany. Anyone know a good bookstore in Munich???

My bedside cabinet is in fact a bookcase. One of seven that I own and yet I still have a book tower on the floor. I am an addict. I bought 7 books at lunchtime.
Marty - Buy them on the internet - you get next day delivery and you can find just about anything! BOL.com and amazon.com are best.

Cool! But does that mean that you now get/deserve a percentage of their profits for eternally advertising their sites here?

I wish! I'd be a rich woman I'm sure. BTW they are also far cheaper than bookshops! Good reading.

Can heartily recommend "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby.

About a guy who's just hit 35 and his life gets turned upside down when his long time girlfriend dumps him.
Written very well, made me laugh and even get a little misty.

Got a lot of those truism's about lads and lasses and relationships, and even has a couple of guy secrets that females ought to know if they want (or can be bothered) to try to understand the male psyche.

Whoa! This forum's been busy while I've been sleeping and doing less interesting things. At the moment I'm personally wading through several books of poetry and prose by Sam Hamill. Two reasons for this: a) I had to pick an author to do a research project on for my English Composition course and b) Sam Hamill was the most interesting. Well, back to the studies...

For those interested in Terry Pratchett (and even those who haven't heard of him), his new book "The Fifth Elephant" is out soon. My _Signed_ copy was very good.

Also "The Loop" by the author of "The Horse Whisperer" is good and for a bit of variety, "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking, better after doing A'Level Physics.

A few years ago I bought a copy of "A Breif History of Time", but I've never had the chance to read it.

I'm sure many people buy books, usually cheaply, that end up as ballast in bookshelves and suitcases.

I bought a copy of "The Golden Bough" by James Frazer a few years ago, a great insight into turn-of-the-century anthropology but dauntingly thick and minutely printed, I've never gotten past the first few chapters.

Erg! It's so frustrating sometimes...

Then there are the once-reads that form the bulk of any book collection...

Just what ARE these secrets that lasses should know about a lad's psyche? I'm a lad.. and I really can' t think of anything about me that women don't know (or at least claim to know) - maybe I'm just shallow!

As if men know anything about their own psyche's! It's much easier for us to see what motivates you and what your problems are!

*Ginger quickly runs from the room as the ensuing vitriol about women begins!*

Artificial Life by Steven Levy. Recommendations? Everyone should read The Demon Haunted World by the late Carl Sagan and Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow.

I haven't read any fiction for ages, infact the last one was probably DNA's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Dirk Gently), no, hang on... Clive Barker's Galilee, yes that was it.