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

Never mind. I'm just going to put the kettle on.

Have I mentioned before how much I like this thread? You guys have been recommending my book list for me for a couple of years, I think!

I'm going to the library later, picking up some Steinbeck to (re)read, and it's all your doing...

Ten years this day since Allen Ginsberg passed away.

Today, a break from the novels, and a delve into The Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry (ed. Helen Vendler) especially the poems of the aforementioned Ginsberg.
I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys...

I've just finished reading 'Stories We Could Tell' by Tony Parsons. It took a good half-a-dozen chapters to get into it, but it was worth sticking with.

Initially I didn't like his writing style - too many facts (you can tell he was a journalist) and not enough character and plot. And he's obsessed with how old everyone is! However, by the time I was half-way through the story I was completely absorbed by all the characters and now I've finished the book, I really miss them all.

And I love that quote towards the end when Terry realises that the opposite of love is not hate, but irritation!

'The Dawkins Delusion?' by Alister McGrath
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dawkins_Delusion%3F
Having just finished 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins

I hope you atheists out there will give McGrath a fair hearing!

Random Mood

Finished Hide And Seek by Ian Rankin. Now I'm about to start Good Wives (follow up to Little Women)

Tomorrow I'm taking 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' by Ken Kesey on my journey to Italy. I quite enjoyed the Jack Nicholson film but I have a suspicion the book will be much better. It's 'a glittering parable of good and evil' according to the New York Times Book Review. I like the back-cover blurb from Scotsman: If you haven't already read this book, do so. If you have, read it again.' Well, I haven't and I will.

The last 200 or so pages of Steinbeck's masterpiece 'East of Eden' will unfortunately have to wait until I get back.

Good Wives is pretty good so far, just a continuation of Little Women without a noticeable break.

I've also (finally) finished reading Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix to The Gruesome Twosome and am re-reading HP6 for myself.

if you are second you are nothing ferguson and shankly

Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer. It presupposes that the reader is familiar with the political landscape of apartheid South Africa, which makes it a bit of a challenge. Knowledge of Afrikaans and several Bantu languages wouldn't hurt either.

I've started the tome that is Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons, the last book in the Hyperion sci-fi series. The first three were good, though the first was definitely the best. Nothing quite as creepy as the Shrike has appeared yet.

You all probably already know this, but Kurt Vonnegut has died. (Tuesday 11 April, 2007).
This is the link I have (maybe not of much use, but still)
http://www.fantascienza.com/magazine/notizie/9288/


Vicky

Just finished 'The Kite Runner'. Good, but the 'surprises' weren't very surprising. I liked it, on the whole, and it gives some personal background to Afghanistan history etc over the last 30+ years.
Started another Inspector Morse book; easy reading with enjoyable plots.

I've recently finished 'Last Car To Elysian Fields', another in the long line of Robicheaux detective novels. It's not a typical detective story though, more about how an emotionally-crippled man deals with his life. It's really quite a depressing book, as the plot deals with the racism of Louisiana, or at any rate the fallout from the legal apartheid of the pre-civil rights era, and the corruption and moral squalor of the local aristocracy. This is a superb read, literature disguised as a thriller.


What is it about detective novels? In any that I've read, it seems the location is almost as important a character as the, erm, characters.

The author is James Lee Burke.

The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West. I saw the film and wanted to see what the book was like.

The Dawkins Delusion? by Alister McGrath.

Finished we need to talk about kevin ad now reading the screwtape letters by CS Lewis

Finished reading, A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gates. It is a very sensitive rendering of an American past that is still largely unexplored. Gate's use of first and second person voices creates both an intimate and almost claustrophobic atmosphere. Subjects include: racism, the God question, capital punishment, self loathing, and other light summer reading topics. Highly recommend the novel.