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

I dont read enough - ill admit this now.

and i dislike the amount i read. There are so many classics i should have read by now!

At the moment there is a book my friend has lent me which i read at lunch times. and its proving to be a productive tactic as im almost done i feel quite achieved.

Its called the Perks of Being a Wallflower. Its in the form of letter from this kid, called Charlie, to the reader. One letter tells that he does not want to be found and this is why hes given to return address and he also leaves out some information so he cant be 'tracked'. The reader is called 'dear friend' and we never know how the letters came by this address. Its quite an interesting read - not challenging - but just interesting.

Charlie is an observer in life. An inexperienced 16 year old but has problems and struggles. His best friend has died and now Charlie is left alone in the world when he comes across two siblings. They show him parties and love and take him in even though he is lonely and young.

The book makes refrence to some great songs, movies and other books which is nice as one day i will go and listen to all those songs he mentioned and watch all the movies that he watched. Just becuase once youve read the book, it feels right. Its relatable - maybe thats because im close to his age?

The book has many 'profound' moments and my only problem is that every time one of these comes up its the same sort of thing '... da da da, and then they were all silent and everyone stood there and everyone understood'. For some reason, everyone always understands. Apart from that, its very insightful and interesting. Its all about acceptance and, although its also about love, its not tied up on it in a teenage, girly way. Thats probably becuase its written by a guy.

Im liking it so far. Im also finishing the auto biography of the lead singer of the Red Hot Chilie Peppers - Anthony Keidis, Scar Tissue. which is so interesting! hes been through a lot in his life, met heaps of famout people, lost many friends, had sucess and failure, taken lots of drugs, tried to get clean many times and met many interesting people.

Have almost finished! its so great i would never put it down except that i have a life and need to spend my time doing other things.


So, in terms of favourite books at the moment:

Perks of Being a Wallflower
Scar Tissue
The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams (the only book ive ever turned straight back to read again)
Anything by Mark Twain or Robert Louis Stevenson


Least favourite books:

To Kill a Mocking Bird.


Very disappointed in that book. Expeted so much as my teacher kept saying how fantastic it was. There are other books in the world that deal with the same issues in a more interesting way. To Kill a Mockingbird ONLY became interesting when the court case started. I like Atticus and how he tries to look after the family but the girl annoys me - even int he movie. And why they were caught when wearing silly school play costumes i do not know. I just felt ripped off when i read it. i expeceted some challenging, remarkable story.

Sorry to go against the normal opinion of most people..



favourites/least favourites of yous?

My favourites have to be the Harry Potter series of stories and I have not enjoyed reading books for a long time. I don't have a least favourite book but type of book and they are the self help books which I cannot relate to and tend to waffle on and take about 3 or 4 chaptes which could have been easily summarised in one paragraph.

harry potter was such a craze as was twilight. both similar and nothing completely original in story line but people still love them. ive read the first three a long time ago but becuase so many people are so into them, ive tended to avoid them - as expectations are high and i dont want to disappoint myself. besides, im a more visual person and like to watch the movies (even though most people say they are worse than the books i quite enjoy them )

and i agree with you on the self help books

If there's a book and a film, I'll read the book first given the chance. The text will give me little pointers that images can't, also, I don't have my own visual imagination tainted by the scenes from the movie. Then having seen the film, I can go back and fill in some gaps that visual tricks helped with. That's why I'm hanging on to read the Discworld books before getting the film - I don't care how brilliant David Jason is!

There's a time for self-help books. Usually when they're set texts for a course - read, precis, expound, discard never to need again.

"A classic — something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." Mark Twain. One of my friends has posted that "she's only read a few lines of wikipedias description of 'Tess Of The D'Urbevilles' and is already feeling depressed! =( "

Don't read stuff because people bully you into it, read it becasue it's recommended or interesting, or both. There's the popular thing around for podcast Audiobooks. Stick 'em on yer MP3 and away you go, on the bus, walking, folding laundry. Time issue solved.

Yes, I think you're right! Don't be bullied into reading a book. (Can you really be bullied into reading a book? I guess so, though nobody has actually come at me with something heavy and hard.)

Weirdly, it took me years to realise (or more truthfully work up the courage to realise) that I didn't have to finish a book once I started it. I felt compelled, some sort of duty, to finish what I started. That chain got broken after I read a sci-fi book by (I can't remember) which was very popular at the time and pretty good. The author even came to our uni and gave a lecture and I asked some inane (though I thought at the time very insightful) question which he couldn't really answer probably because the question really was so inane.

Anyway, after that he wrote a book of short stories which just seemed pompous and arrogant. So, I stopped. It felt good...Since then, for me at least, I've realised that a good book, no matter how good, has to be picked up at the right time. For example, my sister gave me a book when I was growing up - it was exactly the right thing at the right time and had a profound effect. I'm afraid to go back and read it because now I might go, "oh...really...". On the other hand I've started a couple of books and given up on them only to be drawn back to them a long time later and realised, "Wow, this is life changing". The series by Carlos Castaneda falls into that category. My sister (my other sister) thinks he's a wanker but for me, second time round, his work was the right thing at the right time.

Favourites?
Douglas Adams (why would we be here otherwise?)
Catch 22
Remains of the Day