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

I never knew that Rancid Aluminium was James Hawes, nor that he'd written anything else. I liked 'White Merc With Fins' - especially the idea of the guy facing a choice between becoming an accountant or robbing a bank. One minor flaw, though: he found the Dundee accent attractive!

I am not reading a book at the moment but I am open to suggestions for something to read during the boring Xmas holidays.

I've had a 100% success rate with recommending 'I Capture The Castle' by Dodie Smith. You'll love it if you like the first line:

'I am writing this sitting in the kitchen sink.'

_A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

No, I am not kidding. It is short (especially compared to his other works) and very witty. Here are two examples of my favorite lines (I know I am wierd):

"Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

"``Who, and what are you?'' Scrooge demanded.

``I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.''

``Long past?'' inquired Scrooge: observant of its dwarfish stature.

``No. Your past.''
"

We did this book at school, I quite liked it, Xmas Carol. The muppets xmas carol is quite good as well, on video, lol.

Yes, Brick Lane is good, although it takes a while for anything to really happen, it is so well written you don't mind.

I think that the general lack of action is the point of Brick Lane, though, isn't it?

The description is fantastic, and the method of revealing what the sister was going through, compared to the grinding tedium of life in the flat in London is excellent. As is the slow revalation about their life as children. I liked the husband, he was a bit of a pathetic figure, but who of us doesn't think (at least sometimes) that the grass is greener anywhere else but where we are.

The daughters are most excellently written too.

Just about to finish Sharpe's Escape. I am definitely showing all the signs of being in love with Richard Sharpe. And it has (almost) nothing to do with the mental picture of Sean Bean that I have while reading)

Has anybody read The Sword and the Scimitar by David Ball. It's on my holiday reading list and i wondered what to expect........

marking

what are you marking with?

"Bitten", by Pamela something-Japanese, about Box jellyfish, Spiders, snakes etc, oh and "Wolf Tower" by Tanith Lee (which my son is reading - which means I can't - yet...).

Have some and

Soory, I found Chanu (the hucband in Brick Lane) a bit annoying. I know he's supposed to be downtrodden and so on, but I just wanted to tell him to pull himself together! Really enjoyed the book though.

Right, that's Brighton Rock finished (after finding it under a pile of stuff)! Quite a disjointed story, but good all the same

Now then, where's that Short History.... book?

Chanu (in Brick Lane) reminded me of the Sikh dad in Bend it Like Beckham - he really had something to offer the British civil service, but they wouldn't let him, wouldn't even let him play cricket even though he had been a useful bowler at home.

It was interesting, in Brick Lane, to see the internal effect that sort of discrimination and patronising behaviour had on the guy.

Now about a third of the way into The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and now I'm over the emotional barrier of reading about starving kids and downtrodden workers, I'm finding it fascinating. And now want to learn how to play The Red Flag on the guitar

(actually, I'm having a job squaring Tony Blair's very strong Christian faith with the socialist ideal in this novel, isn't it one he has listed as a big influence on him?)

I'm also reading The Kalahari Typing School For Men. Love it so far.

In the mid of Pompei by Robert Harris - my daughter & I were out there about 10 years ago when Vesuvius was due to errupt. Just wondered what we missed
Shouldn't joke about it really - the eruption is long overdue & what a mess they will all be in - literally. No evacuation plans, one road out & loads of people. Even though this time they have warning unlike the time we all know about.

Good book: "historial fiction" (fact mixed with story - as if you lot didn't know!!) Recommended.

Just started The Dice Man. Enjoying it so far, especially recognising the voluble daughter who "...is guilty of talking without a break in either time or relevance since getting up"

Stasiland by Anna Funder. Personal narratives about life in the DDR.

Back to Brick Lane...yes, the husband was thoroughly annoying. But sympathetic none the less. He was human and fallible. You could see where he was coming from. The characters were portrayed much more fully than in the execrable 'White Teeth' by Zadie Smith.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist - Blair *would* mention that. It's a badge of socialist credentials. But I bet he's never read it! Anyway, he's becoming an increasingly delusional religious zealot who thinks that 'belief', rather than evidence, is enough to justify war. Francis Wheen's 'How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World' has some good stuff about his and Cherie's involvement in new age malarkey too.

In some senses, TRTP is socialism lite. The decocators fight back more by truculence and shoddy work than by organisation. Try 'In Dubious Battle' by John Steinbeck, which is about CP organisation amongst immigrant fruit pickers in 1930's America. The ending bought a tear to my eye - as, of course, did the famous ending of 'The Grapes of Wrath' (which I won't spoil in case anyone hasn't read it).

john steinbeck *cringes* was put of him by being forced to read Of Mice and Men 20 times in 2 years and then study it too and write coursework on it. though ive been told its a good book but im not too sure!
maybe i should read brick lane as i appear to be the only one who hasnt!

A lot of people say that. Repetition can dull the senses (although my school book was 'To Kill A Mockingbird' - and I still love it).

Try something short like 'Cannery Row' or 'Tortilla Flat'. Or 'In Dubious Battle, even (though it's hard to find). If you like it, try the wonderful, epic, humane 'The Grapes of Wrath'.

He well deserved his Nobel!

may try that!