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

Snag is, as well as the books Mum gave me, I found a boxed set of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman for £10. My unread books list has gone over 160 again! And that doesn't include my Kindle, although there's only two books on there that I haven't read before (Mind you, one of those will take a looonngg time to get through - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire).

@Storm:

I read a couple of the Pryce's and enjoyed them 'Aberystwyth, Mon Amour'...and another. Nice details about the invasion of Patagonia, the tea cosy museum and the ice cream men controlling all the local vice.

Can't say I'll necessarily read any more now I've got the point - it's often the way. See also Christopher Brookmyre. But, yes, recommended.

>>My unread books list has gone over 160 again!

See - I just don't get that smiley. To me, it would be 'I've got 160 books I haven't read. ' I don't *have* to read them. Many of them I almost certainly won't get around to in my lifetime (not if I keep adding more!)...but they're there if I want them. Occasionally one will pop into my hand. 'Ooh, yes. I've got this.' Or even 'Never knew I had that. Wonder if it's any good.'

Glass half full.

And my advice is...*never keep a list*. You know who you are.

<>

Pedro I'll have you know I passed two years ago, I just keep finding new books and read at such a slow pace I'm being lapped by primary schoolers!

Edward has exactly the right hat on, 160 books to read might be daunting but it's definitely a good thing.

Has anyone used Shelfari? I do to, but I find it mean, just because I don't read quickly and therefore don't read a lot of books it seems to need to tease me about it. Meanie.

I really need to catch up with the Aberystwyth books. I think I've read the first three.

"For anyone who has ever spent a wet holiday afternoon in a Welsh seaside town."

Barmouth in Gwynedd two years running.

Currently reading Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson. I didn't know that Isaac Newton had been Warden of the Royal Mint. The first half of the book covers Newton's life to just after the publication of his Principia. The second half covers his work at the Royal Mint, particularly tracking down a master forger.

Regarding my list of unread books, the was because the number never seems to go down. Like Ed, I keep adding more books to the list. I don't *have to* read them, but what's the point in buying a book if I don't read it? It feels like I'm running as fast as I can to stay in the same spot. Right now I have 6 books on the go (7 if you count my 'bathroom book'), all of which are from the 'Not Read' list. I'm reading that many at once because some of them are hard going and I switch between books for light relief.

well, I like my list, and I like Goodreads too, so

Currently reading The Spirit Level Delusion having just plodded through The Spirit Level (extra reading for an OU thing). I didn't agree 100% with the Spirit Level but the Delusion is making me break out in a chorus of The Internationale every now and then.

I'm also reading Starter for Ten which one of the Gruesomes gave me for Christmas. Liking it, it reminds me a lot of something Nick Hornby might have written. But since I've seen the film I roughly know what happens so I'm not sure if I'm enjoying it as much as I would if I hadn't seen the film.

Dances with Dragons by George R R Martin, thoroughly enjoying it, not read any of his works for a few months

I was wrong about the number of books I hadn't read before on my Kindle. It's not two, it's seven. There are also samples of nine books I'd like to have, it's just a matter of whether I buy them before I go on holiday. (Possibly not. I have enough on my e-readers for holiday reading - 16 books in total on my Kindle, plus about the same on my Sony.)

Right now the books I have on the go are: Cromwell by Antonia Fraser (very long and heavy in more ways than one), The Rise and Fall of the Medici by Christopher Hibbert, Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell, Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, A Tradition of Victory by Alexander Kent (my bathroom book) and A Thousand Nights and One Night Vol. 2 by Mardrus and Mather (trans). I can't seem to get into Cornwell's Arthurian stories the way I could most of his other books, which is why this is taking so long. The 'Arabian Nights' get a bit samey after a while - too many incredibly beautiful men and women, very salacious.

Currently reading "The Cats of Seroster", a rather strange young adults fantasy novel I found for 50p in a charity shop, and "A Guide to Undertaking a Landscape Circle Study in Seven Easy Steps", but that's for uni. Probably have several more half-read one somewhere...

Been following the backlog since October
when Pratchett's 'Snuff' was released and
was happy to see it mentioned a few times.

Finally got a copy from the library last week
and am half way through. It is his best yet.
A true masterpiece, with the return of the
Summoning Dark...


~jwf~

I really enjoyed Snuff.

Currently reading a Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Really enjoying it but I'm only 412 pages in and I have been told that it has a very sudden and depressing endings so I'm delaying the end.

In The Company of Strangers (A natural history of economic life) by Paul Seabright. Given that I've studied economics and *love* natural history books, this should be my favourite book ever. Ever!

But it's not, it's like a fuse that doesn't catch fire. It's the second time I've tried to read it (the first time I gave up after about 10 pages, this time I'm about 2/3 of the way through). Maybe it's me, maybe it's just not that good.

Currently re-working my way through Arthur C Clarke's 'Rama' series.

Bit of a change from the Grisham-fest of late...

"A Prayer for the Dying", by Jack Higgins.

This is bad, even for Jack Higgins. The whole plot relies on an incorrect premise, without which the story would all be resolved by about page four, and there would be no tale to tell.

Just started The River of Doubt by Candice Millard.

>> The River of Doubt <<

Is that where the salmon came from?


~jwf~

Doubt it!

I know a song about a salmon.




























Salmon chanted evening...

An let's not forget 'The Warrior Song'.


Warrior wanna make those eyes at me for...