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

Hoban? Riddley Walker is, I think, my favourite book of all time. Just wonderful. Of course, living in Kent helps with all the corrupted names (Horny Boy = Herne Bay etc.) but I love it for its inventiveness bith in terms of story and language. Lots of thumbs up for that. Is that the only adult fiction he's written? We have lots of his children's fiction in the library, but I've not come across any more Hoban-for-grownups.

D

Pilgermann is a sort of not-sequel to Riddley Walker, a very powerful book. Turtle Diary was made into a movie with Glenda Jackson and wotsisname, played Ghandi. After Pilgermann, try The Medusa Frequency. Hoban is in poor health but he's writing regularly and has lots of adult novels.

My vote for worthily obscure is Karen Joy Fowler. Although I think her latest, The Jane Austen Book Club, ended up on a lot of reviewers' Best Fiction of 2004 lists. No, her work is not as brainy as Borges but she's sharp, witty, literate and she writes wonderful dialogue. Few authors can do that.

Last night's book group meeting went very well. Everyone but the neocon retired engineer liked the book, and his wife thought all the profanity detracted terribly from the story. This is a novel that won the Whitbread prize for a first novel, and the Man Booker prize on top of that. "Vernon God Little" by dbc pierre.

The entire book is written from inside the head of the protagonist, an 18-year-old boy, whose best friend has just killed 16 people and then turned the gun on himself, at their high school. The use of the f word, the preoccupation with sex and the tactile world, they run through the book like dynamo hum. But the book is also hilarious and unexpectedly complicated, so there was plenty to talk about.

"I think a book should inform and educate," sniffed the engineer, "and this book did neither." Of course, when we had books that informed a left-leaning point of view, then he said thoey were too controversial. When his turn comes to provide the book selection, we'll probably be forced to read Karen Hughes again.

Since when does Karen Hughes "inform and educate"?

Has anyone read any of PTerry's Wee Free Men books? I've the second in a series I believe (it came with my copy of Going Postal) and I am interested in finding out if I should wait and read the first book first. It is not always mandatory in PTerry books to read them in order.

Marv! Read the first book first! The second one (Hat Full of Sky) is a new, separate story, but you'll understand what's going on and why only if you read Wee Free Men first. For once the 'back story' is relevant.

Thanks. I will get Wee Free Men before I tackle the sequel.

those of you with acess to bbc 1 00:15 catch 22 is on tonight well early tommorrow morning,thought that was brought up fairly recently here on on tother thread

bit of choice though as clockwok orange on 4
one very funny the other with some good music backing

I had my book group meeting last night. A few less people than usual (nine in total), but a good discussion on The Turn of the Screw, with about half the group really liking it and the other half finding it very disappointing. Also about a 50/50 split on the they're real/she's mad debate.

I like it.

David

Has anyone else here read "Reading Lolita in Tehran"? I wish I had read it before ~my~ book group meeting -- I would have had much more to say to the engineer on the purpose of fiction other than "to inform and educate."

Is that Lolita as in the Nabokov book? I've not read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" or "Lolita" but from what I have heard about the book "Lolita", I would assume that it would be banned in many countries in that area of the world due to it's nature. Hmm, I will have to look for "reading.."

Anyone read Perdido St Station by China Mieuville?

Bloody Brilliant!

I read it about this time a year ago, Lil. I think what the author would mean by "inform and educate" and what your fellow book club member means are probably two different animals. She looks for enlightenment and education, he for indoctrination.

What is Perdido St. Station about, lostgeographer? And by the way, hello and welcome to the atelier, albeit a side thread.

Marv, you guess right, the title refers to Lolita by Nabokov, and broadly, the story is mainly about freedom to read what one wants, hence about religious oppression, not to mention all the other sorts of oppression.

Well, I just placed an order for "Reading", "Lolita" and "Wee Free Men". The first two books are sold in a bundle on the online merchant named after a river, and the third is because I have it's sequel and should read it first. Methinks that it is doubtfull that that particular combination of books has been ordered in one go before.

I've heard about "Lolita" from some people and it seems that it is one of those rare books that exsists in a binary state. People either hate it with a passion or they love it tremendously. I never saw the film of the same name, though I assume that it is an adaptation of the novel. Now the question is which order do I read the books?

I seem to be in the middle with Lolita, which is appropriate as I only got half way through it...

Read Perdito St Station. It's a dystopia fantasy type novel, if having half the population of the city turned into half human half machine counts as fantasy. Not very good machines either: a lot of them run out of coal at critical moments I seem to remember. It's one of those novels where I can't remember the plot at all - except that I think the words 'jolly depressing' spring to mind - but the world building aspect is fascinating - although the words 'jolly depressing' spring to mind again. He's written a couple more novels in the same world: the second is set on a floating city - can't remember the stroy again, but again, the set up was interesting. Haven't gotten around to reading the third yet.

Don't bother seeing either of the movie versions of Lolita, Marv. The book, as is always the case, is much better. Stanley Kubrick does a good job but it's *his* movie and differs wildly from the book in many places. As for Adrian Lyne's version, well, . The usual prurient Hollywood mess. Surprisingly, Lolita, for all the fuss about it, is not that obscene. Yeah, Humbert Humbert is raping a child but this reader wasn't horrified by that so much as his emotional self-centeredness and shallowness.

But of course, if you ~hadn't~ read it you would know it was obscene and deserving of incineration.

I have a hard time picturing Jeromy Irons in a serious roll at any rate. I did not know there was more than one version of the film.

Once I get done with a couple of the 5 or so books I am reading I will start in on the two Lolita books.