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

Just thought I would put a slight twist on it.

European Office - Office Design by Jurriaan van Meel.

Liam.

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman.
And very good it was too!

That was a superb book. I got to the end, closed it and though "Neil Gaiman? Where do I know that name from?" D'oh

I have two hours of commuting a day so I get through 2/3 300/500 page books a week. Just finished Black Box by Nick (possibly Walker - can't remember the author off-hand)

Liam.

My commute is much shorter, so not so much time to read. Which may or may not be a good thing.

More interestingly what is the chain of books you're reading. Do you read all the same sort of book, or do you flit from subject, author, genre and period

I've just read:

Showbusiness by Mark Radcliffe
- bloody hilarious, look at 'wanting to be in a band', if you liked 'Lost in Music' - read this, if you like his radio show - read it, if you like laughing at daft stuff - read it.

Followed by:

A Very Quiet Street by Frank Kuppner
An analysis of the evidence of the Slater Trial of 1909, a gross miscarrage of justice, the authour thinks aloud for 200 pages musing on "what the hell were they thinking of?" - brilliant peice of work. Fantastic.

and am just starting

Revolution and Counter Revolution in Spain by Frank Morrow
And account of the Spanish Civil War, written at the time.

Hmm, well, let's look at the last three or four for me;

Thief of Time, by Terry Pratchett

Sweet Thames by Matthew Kneale-a fictionalised account of events leading up to the 'Great Stink of 1854.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman-ponderings on the mortality of belief systems and the gods crerated by them, as well as being a fantastic adventure story with creepy overtones.

Inside The Wicker man by Allan Brown-the definitive account of the life of a troubled masterpiece of cinema. (so yes, I inadvertantly lied at the beginning of the thread.)

And presently reading Smuggling in East Anglia 1700-1849. Borrowed from Linda's dad as it looked interesting, and so it is.)
Next on the Block 'Carter Beats the Devil', (author slips my mind) or The Wooden Sea by Jonathan Carroll, or Nativer American Trickster Legends I haven't decided yet.

I'd hate to say if that reading list said anything about me, actually.

This got me thinking, trying to reconstruct what I've actually read so far this year. I'm sure I haven't remembered it all, and the order may be a bit messed up, but anyway. I think that as the year turned, I was probably reading Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. I often do around Christmas time. After that I believe I read the two latest Douglas Coupland novels, All Families are Psychotic and Miss Wyoming - both of which were brilliant. Then there's a bit of a black hole in my memory, but I know Paul Auster's Timbuktu figured in there somewhere. Lovely book. And there was probably something else, possibly Stephen King. Ah yes, I think I read his On Writing.

I'm pretty certain I bought a book in the airport going to London in February, but I've forgotten which one. I know I also poured through Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and during Easter I'm pretty certain that I read Terry Pratchett - The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, and Childhood's End and Renevouz With Rama, both by Arthur C. Clarke. The former of these got a bit too weird for my tastes, but I loved the Rama one.

Then, for the umpteenth - but certainly not last - time, I read Pratchett/Gaiman - Good Omens, and about half of Umberto Eco's collection of essays called How to Travel With a Salmon, before I was flying to London again and bought Pratchett's Strata at the airport. Then I got my hands on the next two Rama books (Rama II and The Garden of Rama), in between which I read the first few pages of Alice in Wonderland the evening before I got hold of the second of these.

Next came The Salmon of Doubt, which inspired me to re-read (again for the umpteenth time) the two other Dirk Gently novels, and finally last night I finished the last of the Rama series, Rama Revealed. At which point I was stuck without a book and started reading my own diaries from 1986 and '87.

Anyone want to, based on all this, suggest what I should read next?

I was given a few books by a friend at Easter - Chocolat by Joanne Harris which I absolutely adored and have since passed on to my Mum.

Also Rachels Holiday by Marian Keys, which I found laugh out loud funny. I then went to a second hand book sale, hoping to pick up some more Marian Keys, but found some Sheila Flanagan instead, which looked similar (chunky, chick-lit, strong female lead). I struggled (wo)manfully through Suddenly Single, not really enjoying the monotone of voice, the endless litany of which designer suits and perfumes she was wearing. Felt no empathy for the characters, and it made me neither laugh nor cry. Being a glutton for punishment I then started Caroline's Sister, by the same author. Again, colourless, trite descriptions, cardboard characters - one of whom was called Tossa! I mean, I ask you, how silly is that as a name!

It was only when I got to the line "Tossa had made gallons of mulled wine, and Caroline had baked hundreds of mince pies" that I recognised the style as Enid Blyton-esque (lashings of ginger beer...)

The only part that made me laugh was when it actually had printed

THE END

after the final paragraph.

Well I now know what they mean about judging a book by its cover!!

Ok, last few books I have read, in no particular order:

Robert Rankin - Nostradamus Ate My Hamster
Robert Rankin - Dance of the Voodoo Handbag
Flann O'Brien - The Third Policeman
David Adler - The Metric Handbook: Planning and Design Data
Bill Bryson - Mother Tongue
Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods
Andrey Kurkov - Death and the Penguin
Morris West - Devil's Advocate
Homer - The Oddessey
Pat Cadigan - Tea From an Empty Cup
R A Heinlein - Assignment in Eternity
Ian M Banks - The Player of Games

That's all I can think of for now.

Liam.

I've been on a reading binge the last couple of weeks, due to horrible, rainy weather. Finished
Fast Food Nation- Schlosser (thanks to Blues for the recommendation somewhere here on h2g2)

The Master and Margarita- Bulgakov

and then I decided to go on a DNA binge and read

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
THGTTG
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
So Long and Thanks for the Fish
Mostly Harmless

Now I'm reading Beasts- Joyce Carol Oates

Episteme, if you're interested in a rollicky, good read look for something by Tom Robbins. I've loved everything he's written because he has a lovely way with words and his characters are delightfully eccentric. I'd have to say Jitterbug Perfume is one of my all-time favorites.

Right now I'm reading The Two Towers, so the previous book would have to be The Fellowship of The Ring.

I'm predictable

"Systematic Layout Planning" by R.Muther
"Sinister Tide" by Colin Forbes
"Fabrikkplanlegging" (factoryplanning) by A.Aune
"Material- og produksjonsstyring" (material and productioncontrol) by B.Andersen, Bjørn, J.O.Strandhagen and L.J. Haavardtun.

I have nearly finished a project about Factorylayout/planning... So 3 out of 4 are "workrelated" books. But still rather facinating in a way

back to my report

I read a lot in my spare time, so the list of 'recently read' books is a long one. They fall into a number of categories:

History - I recently finished 'The Hundred Years War' by Desmond Seward. I now understand why the French hate the English. Before that, there was 'Nefertiti' by Joyce Tildesley (a very readable author), amongst others. My interest in history starts early and peters out as you get closer to the 20th century.

Natural History - Last book read was 'Life on Earth' by David Attemborough (extended edition, published by Reader's Digest) - beautifully illustrated and absolutely fascinating. Before that there was 'Deep Atlantic' by Richard Ellis - there is some weird stuff down there.

Prehistory / Evolution - Last books read were Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts. Before that there was 'Taking Wing - The Evolution of Flight' by Pat Shipman.

Travel-related, mostly pre-Second World War - Haven't read any *that* recently. Last book read was 'White Death' (can't remember the author) about avalanches and how they are dealt with. The book mainly focusses on the deaths of a group of five young men who went out mountain-climbing in December 1969 / January 1970. They were all experienced mountaineers for their age, but they had no experience of the kind of snow conditions they actually encountered. My heart went out to their families when I read about the search and rescue (later just search and retrieve bodies).

Classics - Just finished 'Roxana' by Daniel Defoe - the 17th century style 'capital letters all over the place' was a bit distracting, and the lack of chapters came as a suprise. Before that there was 'Lord of the Rings' - definitely a classic.

Novels - Just finished the 'Many-Colored Land' quadrology(?) by Julian May.

Ah yes, Tom Robbins. Read a bit of him in my youth, and loved it. For some reason I never found Jitterbug Perfume anywhere, so that's a nice tip. I guess it's off to Amazon for me again, soon.

Thanks

I was reading Women who run with wolves by Clarrisa Pinkola Estes, but despite the fact it was my seventh try, I still failed to finish it!

Games People Play, Eric Berne

Gai-Jin by James Clavell. I have most of his books and I'm working my way through in chronological order. King Rat is next on the list - after I've finished Warrior Queens by Antonia Frasier (No, it is *not* about homosexuals in the armed forces!) and The Fate of the Dinosaurs (can't remember the author).