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

Right then, I'll kick off with a suggestion for The Time Machine by HG Wells.

Pros
Available for nothing, or next to nothing (it's out of copyright).
I've always wanted to read it.
There's going to be a film of it directed by Herbert's grandson (I think) in the near future.
Intriguing politics?

Cons
It's sci-fi so might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Typical White Middle-Class Male Author

Thats a good suggestion, start of with something thats not too heavy duty...

Does Wells count as middle-class? I always thought he was upper. Anyway, nice suggestion and I didn't know there was a film coming up, so that'll be interesting.

Who can forget the 1960 version with Rod Taylor ?

I've seen a film version anyway. Where they had the time-traveller as a more heroic figure. I probably shouldn't say too much if people haven't read it yet.

I even have a copy somewhere... or maybe I gave it away... or maybe I slipped through a wormhole in space and gave it to my younger self, or my grandmother when she was five years old, or Stephen Hawkins when HE was five years old...



I'll go for that one, (I'd have gone for any of the suggestions in the other thread too).

Ben

I read this when i was about 10 and loved it - however i haven't read it since i got my nice pre-war clothbound collected Wells so i'm up for refreshing my memory.

And Wells was middle class yes, but he was a socialist and a nonconformist so i think that marks him as interesting. And it is the interesting end of Sci-Fi.

So are we agreed on the Time Machine for February?

Yep.

So what are we going to have for the following book?

Not a novel.
Not 19th century.
Not British.

Are we going to do this one a month? Or two a month with a two week stagger?

I fancy reading The Tale of Genji. A 10th century(?) Japanese novel.
Or No Logo sounds good - American - economics of globalisation
Or the Feynman biography - he was amd - who wrote that?

The Richard Feynman biog I read was Genius by James Gleik.
No Logo would fit the bill nicely too.

Something old and Japanese would be intriguing. I spent ages recently trying to get hold of Hsi Yu Chi (Journey to the West), the book that inspired the Monkey TV series, but couldn't find an English translation anywhere. Mind you, that's about 600 years after The Tale of Genji (I think) so it's quite a baby really.

Journey to the West is Chinese and 16th Century, though the stories it retells are older oral tales. It's by Wu Ch'eng and is published in english translation by Grove (US), Unwin (UK) Penguin (US & UK) and Shambala (US & UK).

Sorry thats useless with out telling you that it's usually just titled 'Monkey' thought the Shambala edition calls it "Monkey a journey to the west". There are various variations of the authours name too, Wu Ch'eng-en is another.

The version i read is translated by Arthur Walley - a wonderful charachter, whose translations are seen as 'old fashioned' now. His books of Chinese poetry are a source of constant inspiration. And his commentary of The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is really exellent. If not so much for the literary insights as the social and cultural background he gives you.

Lady Murasaki who wrote 'The Tale of Genji' was a contemporary at court with Sei Shanagon. The Pillow Book is a terrific read, truely exellent - though it is a diary of manners as much and not a novel.

I like the idea of reading a Chinese book. I know very little of that country's literature, apart from modern biographies such as Wild Swans.

So do we have a book for March? We ought to decide soon, to give researchers a chance to buy it.

If we disregard those suggestions that are english / 19th Century / novels (as the current book is) we are left with:

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon - 10th Century Japanese diary

No Logo by Naomi Klein American - economics / sociology.

Genius by James Gleik; biography of physicist Richard Feynman (USA?)
or
Surely you are joking, Mr Feynemann - Richard Feynemann


or perhaps some poetry or short stories.

I am reading 'no logo' at the moment (well actually it's postponed until i finish the time machine). It's quite long, and at 490 pages (446 pages of book + notes, appendix, bibliography and index) maybe a bit too long for our reading group. We could read it, but there would have to be an agreement as to whether it's too long or not. At £9, it's also quite uncheap.

No Logo sounds good. Would also stir up some hot political debate on the nature of globalisation etc.

£9?!? Bloody capitalist monopolist bastards - what happened to FREEdom of information eh? The revolution will not be televised, it will be a strictly pay-per-view event it seems...

Good point. You can probably get in that seminary of sedition that is your local Waterstones for a shade under a fiver (if the sale is still on).

Some branches of The Works had remainered copies for £2-3 pounds before Christmas.

I'll be getting mine from the local library. (Hoorah for public services - anyone noticed the new 50p peices?)

How about "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khyyam" Persian poet and mathematician 1048 - 1122. Copies available at Waterstones for £2