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

Re: literary snobs:
The same people pooh-pooh SF and have probably never read William Gibson, for example. And from the range of taste displayed here most hootooers would seem to agree! Pratchett hits the spot so often and proves that you don't have to be unreadable to be erudite.
Having had to read Thomas Mann in the original German many moons ago I have always appreciated more accessible stuff! (Sentences 2 pages long do not tend to hold ones attention).

I'm now re-reading William Gibson - finished Neuromancer, half way through Count Zero. Love it.
Once my course is over (2 months and counting) maybe I will tackle stuff that I've been putting off for too long like Thomas Pynchon and Don deLillo. Maybe even James Joyce (ashamed to admit I've not read anything of his!)

If you've not read James Joyce before then whatever you do don't start with Finnegans Wake or you'll be frightened off for life! I'd go for "The Dubliners" first, it's very readable and I found it atmospheric and enjoyable too. I must get hold of a copy of Ulysses one day and give that a go.

We have the books in the house, I just haven't managed to find the time or inclination to go for it. My other half got through FW (eventually) so I know what to expect!
A little light holiday reading...
Another one I haven't got round to yet is A Suitable Boy, which comes highly recommended. Trouble is I get distracted by the latest Pratchett or Robert Rankin...
I'm also looking forward to the new Neal Stephenson but it'll have to wait till it's out in paperback.

Best of luck to you then. Better make it a LONG holiday...

Quicksilver must be due out in paperback soonish, we seem to have been waiting for it for an age.

It came out in hardback September, so we may have to wait a while. There never seems to be any rhyme or reason to how long it takes to go affordable! I'll get the other half to look out for an airport edition on one of his upcoming trips.

Return of the Kind

and several other things

Still reading The BFG to the Gruesome Twosome - we're all loving it.

Reading "Isaac Newton" by James Gleick for history class, and enjoying it (more for the subject matter than the writing, though). I'm also almost finished with The World According to Garp by John Irving, for a different class. That one I'm not enjoying so much.

Irving is worth persevering with, honest!
If you don't get on with Garp, try A Widow for One Year or the Cider House Rules.

Oh, so he DID write Cider House Rules! (Someone was asking me about that.) I am almost finished with Garp, and it's okay. I like the character Jenny Fields, but some of the others I'm just not getting into.

I'm also just starting on Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett.

started Sharpe's Gold last night (Bernard Cornwell). So far so good.

The best John Irving book I ever read was Prayer for Owen Meany followed by Hotel New Hampshire.

Started The Lovely Bones on the plane home last night, and have now nearly finished it!

Just now I am rereading Story of my Life by Jay McInerney, bout a young NY socialite, kinda like Paris Hilton without the amateur porn video. Not bad, very funny in places. Also The Scottish Enlightenment (How the Scots invented the modern world), vv interesting and damn great if you're Scottish. Recently re-read LA Confidential by James Ellroy, possibly my favourite novel. This book is simply stunning.Hope his next book is better than The Cold Six Thousand.....

My mum deserves a special mention, she's ploughing her way through A Dance to the Music of Time, all 12 books in 4 volumes

Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Taking Toilets
Dav Pilkey


as recommended by my 10 year old daughter...

Talking, not Taking.

Excuse me, I appear to be drunk.....

Re-reading 'One hundred years of solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez(one of my all time favourites)
Just 2 pages in to 'The famished road' by Ben Okri, so far so good!

t recently recieved a copy of the simarillion not got around to reading it

I just read 100 Years of Solitude for a class a few weeks ago. It was pretty good.

I'm currently reading "Herr Moses in Berlin" (Mr. Moses in Berlin) by Heinz Knobloch. It's basically a biography of Moses Mendelssohn.

Methos