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

Hmm, meanie , did so know that, did so, sort of, and am so interested, , although I didn't know about the bobsled.


If anyone wants a really deep and gripping read, the biography of Daphne du Maurier, written by Margaret Forster, is just that. Kinda deep. Expect shadows. Not at all what you might expect, if you expect anything. (I'm not a book reviewer )

Margaret Forster is a very interesting writer, in fact. I have been told to read The Memory Box, next, if one likes a bit of psychology, which I do.

What about lifts then?

OK, so novels involving lifts, or liftshafts.

What about The Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen? I think this involves a liftshaft and a suicide. I think I read it in the 70s, so consequently can't remember. . Must re-read.

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I'm allowed to take editorial licence, y'know. Even with intellectuals who know all about Proust and asparagus.

That Leonard Cohen reference sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip!

The asparagus tip.

hahah.

Aha. I note that 'The Beautiful Losers' takes place on Hydra.

Although I cannot claim to have read the book, I have visited the island.

The islands in or near the Saronic Gulf are cool. Most of the houses have doorknockers shaped like hands. I've never seen them anywhere else.

What about the asparagus then?

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You've been to Hydra?? I went to Hydra, way back when, with my dog eared Castaneda book in my backpack. That's what they always said, every Greek Island backpacker had a copy of Castaneda in their backpack, or Kerouc's On The Road.

Actually, I think I travelled with Hermann Hesse's Wandering, because I am such an intellectual.

(for anyone reading this, those last six words were fiction).

Ah the light! The Greek light! Leonard Cohen spent many years there, living with Marianne, as in So Long Marianne . I think there were a lot of artists living there in the 60s.

I didn't know that about the doorknockers, though.

Have to go back. Ah I wish. One day. The taste of retsina and Greek salad. Next time I go, I shall travel with seven Proust volumes in my backpack.

There used to be a second-hand bookshop where we got most of our books. (The rest we got from the occult place.)

So that's explains why that bookshop was full of Castaneda stuff. We read 'em all.

Of course, you could borrow saner volumes from the British Council.