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

Ghost Country - Sara Paretsky

I was expecting another V I Warshawski story for a little light reading instead got an involving tale of dysfunctional families and christian bigotry.

Finished that and just picked up The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy

Much happier with intrigue, espionage and boys and their toys.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

as am trying to write a guide entry on Nick Hornby and it's just some fun for me

Great book.

Have just finished Driving Over Lemons - the story of an English couple making good and gaining respect as immigrant hill farmers in the north of Spain and am about to start Parrot In A Pepper Tree - the second instalment.

PP

Serendipities - Umberto Eco

Weird stuff... interesting, though.

Snap, Mr P-P I'm reading Parrot in the Pepper Tree too!

I didn't like The Bear and the Dragon. Maybe it's just because I strongly disagree with Clancy's kind of jingo-istic politics, 'cruise missile diplomacy' to replace the gunship diplomacy of the last century. His heroes just don't seem all that heroic when all they're doing is lobbing cruise missiles from drones from the safety of a bunker hundreds of miles away. Rainbow Six was much better.

Read loads on holidays, including 100 yrs of solitude by gabriel garcia marquez and the pearl by Steinbeck as well as others!
FwT

just started Salmon of Doubt. Cannot put it down, it is SOOOO good.

Plus am reading new new internationalist...

Arthur C Clarke - Fountains of Paradise..

It is true...you have to be more than 16 to enjoy his stuff... For any who were put off...give him another go...!

Erm... I was about 11 when I first read Arthur C. Clarke - a collection of his short stories, including 'The Sentinel', which inspired '2001 - A Space Odyssey'. I was often told that I was 'mature for my age', so I guess that proves it!

In my teens and early twenties, I read a lot of science-fiction. Interestingly, when I did a clear-out of old books a while ago, most of the books by Asimov went but I kept all the books by Arthur C. Clarke. The difference in writing style is vast, and I found Asimov unreadable.

Never had any problems with Asimov - the Foundation series and Robots stories especially...

Just finished The Thieves (or was it thief?) of Time, and The Rose in Winter (Laurie Lee). Think I'm going to have a go at The Hellfire Club by Peter Straub tonight....

I'm getting through The Road to Middle Earth, by Tom Shippey

I'm reading (again)'For the New Intellectual' by Ayn Rand, which makes my teeth ache. As I disagree violently with all she stands for, I wonder why?

Also, the 4th book in the Lioness series by Tamora Pearce.Much better than the previous 3!

I'm currently reading 'Sharpe's Triumph' by Bernard Cornwell as my book at bedtime (he writes great battles, and I'm not normally into war books!), still reading 'River God' by Wilbur Smith, and started reading 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII' by Antonia Fraser.

I've just finished Jeff Noon's Needle in the Groove - isn't he just a fantastic author? I'm now half way through Mr Phillips by john lanchester

Currently getting through 'Berlin: The Downfall 1945' by Antony Beevor, 'Julian' by Gore Vidal, and 'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling.

Is Berlin any good?
I loved Stalingrad so much - and I'm intrigued as to whether to get Berlin (when it's in paperback)

I haven't read Stalingrad, so I can't make comparisons. But Berlin is a great book. Beevor is really good at telling the personal stories alongside the big picture, there are lots of haunting stories about villages destroyed, mass rapes, ten-year-olds being drafted into service etc. So yes, I'd recommend it. I got a present of it

Just getting stuck in to Red Dust by Ma Jian - tells the story of his journeys through China.