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

Some of us read an awful lot, more than anything else. However, some of us can't stand reading and then suddenly we have to read this book for school and we haven't read a book properly since the age of 6 and aaargggh!!!

Well come here and talk about it!

We want to know what you're reading...

What books do you enjoy?
What did you last read and was it any good?
Do you need to find a new book to read because you're stuck in a wheel of reading the same things again and again?
Do you want a really good fantasy/romance/adventure/traditional/drama/anything book to get yourself into?

This is the place to be then! Whether you're reading The Famous Five for the 65th time, or you're tackling War and Peace, there is a place for you!

how come no one is talking about books? dang kids these days, sittin' round watching tv and playing video games. Back in my day, television was called books!

Unfortunately, doing so much school reading means I hardly have any time to read for fun. But in English class right now we're doing an Oscar Wilde (A507052) unit which is, of course, hugely awesome. The Importance of Being Earnest makes you laugh and the Ballad of Reading Gaol makes you cry. Wilde is amazing and I just feel sympathy (even though he's dead) because of what he had to go through in his life.

I read lots all the time. A lot of the time it is non-fiction, and a lot of that is about rock n' roll music, but I do read fiction too. At the moment I'm re-reading the Hobbit. I will then re-read the Lord of the Rings. Don't tell anybody, but I've tried about 2 times, and yet have never got through the whole LOTRs trilogy. I read the first two, and then generall half way through the third I can't be bothered.

This time I'll do it.

That was my problem. I tried to read the hobbit a few times, but could never do it, so then a feew years later I decided to go on to the LOTR and then I really liked it, so then I tried hobbit again and I got about three fourths through it and then I got bored and quit...

hey EMR, have you read the hippopotamus by Stephen Fry? I saw that you said something about him on you PS. I've been reading him latly and I was thinking of reading that one next, and I was wondering if it was any good. I have read revenge, making history and the liar....

I've read Revenge, The Liar and The Hippopotamus ... all excellent, in my opinion!

The Hippopotamus is not your cup of tea if you're easily grossed out ... for example, I don't think it would be giving too much away to say that there's a relatively graphic sex scene between a teenage boy and a horse. But otherwise it's quite cool.

What did you think of Making History? I can't get it in the States, which is why I haven't read it yet.

It's only now that I've started reading Wilde that I realise how much Fry based his style on Wilde's.

that creeps me out, but I think I can handle it.
Making history was really good. about the best one i've read so far, even though it wasn't a comedy like the others.
I heard that revenge was based on the count of monte crisco. and that a lot of the names are anagrams from thing from that.

And I also happen to be reading the gunseller, by hugh laurie.

42dontpanic, my problem is fairly well the opposite, I have always absolutely loved the Hobbit, the first part of LOTR, whilst the secomd installment has bored me and then I just get sick of it by the third.

But I would have to rank The Hobbit amongst my favourite books. In fact, talking of favourite books, heres my Top 10 fiction list:

1. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams,
3. Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
4. The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien.
5. Leave it to Psmith, P.G Wodehouse
6. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Douglas Adams,
7. Life, the Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams,
8. The Wish List, Eoin Colfer
9. The Crowstarver, by Dick-King Smith (an old favourite I haven't read for a while)
10. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams.

What are your top 10 fiction lists?

You like PG Wodehouse! Yay! So do I, though I haven't read any of the Psmith stories yet. Do you ever read the Jeeves and Bertie stories?
Yeah, I thought the Two Towers was always the most boring one.
Ive read Eion Colfer's books, too. I have tried to read Alice, but I always absolutly hate it. She is so STUPID! I mean, eating cakes and candys that she just finds laying around? They could have injected with AIDS, or have a razor blade imbedded in them, or have some sort of potion that makes really big, or little or whatever. At least it inspired the really awsome song, White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane

It's usually hard for me to to pick favourite books specifically, so I typically go for authors. I'll try to put the list in order by favourites
JK Rowling
Douglas Adams
PG Wodehouse
Neil Gaiman
Corneillia Funke
LOTR
Lemony Snicket
The Inheiritence Trilogy
Stephen Fry
Stephen King, i suppose...

I love Lewis Carroll! It's the pure ridiculousness of the situations that make them so hilarious.

I couldn't put them in order, but some of my favourite books and authors include:

Douglas Adams (of course)
Stephen Fry
Terry Pratchett
PG Wodehouse
Oscar Wilde
Goscinny and Uderzo, who wrote the Asterix comics
Lynne Truss (but her newest book sucks - fame has gone to her head.)
Edmund Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac
William Shakespeare

... and that's only nine, but I can't think of any more.

terry pratchett is another author i've never been able to get into...I read three fourths of the colour of magic and i hated it, and read a little of witches abroad and it was alright, but i never finished it.

Well, I didn't really like Colour of Magic either - it was his first Discworld book, though, so he hadn't quite gotten into the swing of things. My favourites are the City Watch ones, like 'Guards, Guards!' and 'Men At Arms'. 'Going Postal' is good, too.

Alice in Wonderland isn't meant to be a serious book. There are a number of things you must remember when reading it:

a) it is about a nine year old.
b) It was written in 1865.
c) It is not intended to be taken literally, or at least not in the particular way you say.
d) It is about a dream.

You can read the story as a simple childrens story, or you can look on it for the deeper meanings hidden beyond the surface. There is so much satire and themes contained within.

To me, perhaps one of the most important of these themes is the way that there is so much innocence, both from Alice and the story and character in general. It shows us to try and act like children, with wonder, curiosity and the forementioned innocence. And you should view it with innocence.

It is in part a message to open your heart up to the world, or at least thats my interpretation of it. Everybody could probably draw something different from the magical story.

i recommend it for anybody, of any age. Each time I read it, I draw more and more from it.

Gee, I feel bad now.

Don't feel bad, 42. It's not worth it.

Right-ho, then.

Why would you feel bad?

'cause I was being sort of rude about Alice in wonderland...

Anyway, hey EMR, I got a Oscar wilde book from the library, though I can't gaurentee that I will actually read it....

Which one? I'm sure you'll love it.