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

Douglas Adams: The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy in English. Not going that fast.

*waves* 'lo, remember me??

Thought I should pull my nose out of the assorted e-book pages(most recently, The Best Of American Beer And Food: Pairing And Cooking With Craft Beer by Lucy Saunders). But a few of the other titles I've been reading are Henry Rider Haggard's Cleopatra-a 'public domain'/freebie-, Nicholas Pashley's ! A History Of Beer In Canada, The Complete Works Of Edgar Allan Poe & Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow(P.S.)...on improving quality of life...some of us need that more than others.

William L. Shirer, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". While it's adding some details to my knowledge, I'm finding some of the author's opinion and analysis a bit shaky.

It also seems to be very badly edited. There are some passages where the sentence construction goes haywire, and left I'm asking myself what he really means.

"...and left I'm asking myself..."

Just like that, in fact. Preview, preview, preview.

I'm reading a Wallander novel, no idea what it's called in English (or Swedish for that matter) but the German title (look away now, Mods, it will make your eyeballs bleed) Mörder ohne Gesichte (Faceless murders - not sure that's what they would have come up with from Swedish into English)

oh and You Too Can Learn Korean Sentence Structure in 40 Minutes.

Hmmmm. Tried it a few years ago, but didn't have much luck. Now I've had 3 months worth of Korean lessons and can actually read the language (s-l-o-w-l-y) it makes a lot more sense. But I don't believe the author is talking about minutes.

Sho - I saw that episode of the Kenneth Brannagh series. I'm pretty sure it was called The Faceless Killers.

I'm reading A History of Mathematics - An Introduction by Victor J. Katz. I'm currently up to Ancient Greece (or rather Hellenic Egypt) and Ptolemy's Almagest where he modelled the movements of the planets (wrongly, but that's not the point - he produced some great maths in doing so).

Also: The Wrecker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott.

Over the last few days:

Allan Casey's 'Lakeland', Governor General's Award winner for non-fiction last year -- a quick meditation of life around Canada's lakes (60% of the world's lakes are apparently in Canada)

Wyndham's 'The Midwich Cuckoos' again

and

Sir Maurice Bowra's 1959 ~Presidential Address to the English Society entitled 'The Prophetic Element'.

and

continuing with Jung's 'Answer to Job'

and

a few days ago I got a copy of the third edition of Charlie Papazian's 'Complete Joy of Home Brewing'. What a fund of information!

At the moment, I'm reading a collection of Irish folk tales - trying to work out whether the white horse that gallops up and down temptingly in front of my window at dusk is really a pooka or a kelpie.

@Sho:

Although Im a fan of the Wallander TV stuff (and also of the *brilliant* Forbrydelsen), Ive not read any of the books - although my wife has. But I did rather like Mankells Italian Shoes. It had the feel of a Jim Jarmusch film.


Just read Pies And Prejudice by Stuart Maconie which I picked up in a church on holiday.

nnn...diverting light reading and OK in its way with some amusing one-liners, but Im frankly not that interested in the astounding observation that its Different Up North. I rather liked his Cider With Roadies, mind.

My daughter was attracted by The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar. I *love* his stuff, and that one has a killer opening line. Possibly Not Quite Suitable, but we wont tell her mum. His Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me is highly recommended.

Shes also become a Ray Bradbury and we finally tracked down Dandelion Wine, one of my all-time favourite books. (and a half dozen others of his).

And I got Fingersmith by Sara Walters. Anyone read? Any good?

Second part of daniel o'Donnel life story.

It's a Corker!

Who's on pre-mod? Most of the types posting to this thread aren't usually the kind to attract sanctions...

It's me!!!

Not normally a naughty sort, I agree

Three weeks ago I posted that I was reading Those In Peril by Wilbur Smith, and kuzushi asked if it was any good. I didn't answer because I'd only just started, then I went on holiday for two weeks, then I've been doing other things. So here's my answer:

Like all of Wilbur Smith's books, this is well researched and well written. Unlike most of his books that I can think of, it's not set entirely, or even mostly, in Africa. Yes, the action parts of the book take place in Africa, but a lot takes place elsewhere. The story moves along at a fair pace, and there's one bit that made me gasp out loud in shock because I wasn't expecting it.

I'm a Wilbur Smith fan and I have all his books, so you can take my opinion with a pinch of salt if you wish. I think this is a good one, although it doesn't rank as one of my favourites.

Still reading 'The End of Mr Y' by Scarlett Thomas. I had an enforced week's pause after my kindle broke and I was waiting for the replacement to arrive. It's OK so far but not really grabbing my attention too much yet.

MC

Finished up Jung's 'Answer to Job' this evening.

While I often think the old boy is completely out to lunch, he sure seems to hit the proverbial on the head sometimes! 'Answer to Job' is only a little over a hundred pages but well worth a leisurely read and reread.

Getting well and truly into Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'. 'The Custom House' is a wonderful relaxed sketch of a small U.S. town in the early says of the Republic ...

Continuing with two of Lord Lytton's novels (it was a dark and stormy night) as colour for an impending journey to the meeting of the Thomson and the mighty Fraser River.

And ...

2666
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Curtius Rufus
Studies in the History of Old English Literature ...

I'm reading Strunk & White The Elements of Style...more on that later.

Also, Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn, and Storm Front, by Jim Butcher, book one of the Dresden Files...both good, for what they are...Urban Fantasy Noir, I suppose you could call it.

Ooooh! I'm all excited! A package of books arrived today!


'Pieces of Me' by Charlotte Gingras, winner of the Governor General's Award in both of Canada's official languages.

'Tobacco Wars' by Paul Seesequasis, an odd adventure romance involving Pocahontas and Ben Jonson told from the Native American viewpoint.

Wallace's 'The Malay Archipelago' -- no comment needed.

and, the most exciting volume . . .


'The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to The Peloponnesian War'!


This is just such !

. . . and I just found a voice mail from the local independent bookseller:


My special order, 'Titus Awakes', the fourth volume in Mervyn Peake's exquisite and remarkably ill-termed Ghormenghast Trilogy.

Reading The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. Fascinating book that does exactly what it says on the cover.