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

I'm off on holiday on Thursday, taking my Kindle with me. I've got a lot of books on there, so I'll let you know what I read when I get back.

A friend of mine bleeps on about free Kindle books so I decided to download some. I like fantasy books so downloaded Amazon's top rated free fantasy books, sadly none of which were memorable enough to note the title.

Generally - A couple of interesting and newish concepts but mainly wolves and vamps, fairly poor prose and terrible spelling, grammar and editing. My spelling and grammar can be a bit off at times but I'm on a forum, I'm not showcasing my talent. Most appear to be self-published and the first in a trilogy or a novella is given free in the hopes that you will buy the rest.

TBH, I admire their fortitude and drive to publish their work - I've certainly never managed to write a book so kudos where it is due. But if you are going to write a book and publish online, a spellchecker is not a proofreader... I'll not be buying the rest.

Hmmm. It's like how I have a personal blanket ban on reading self-published Internet poetry. I know I'm missing one or two gems - the sheer quantity means there's bound to be some - but there just aren't the hours in the day to sift the flakes of gold out of the river...

I use the Kindle blog every day to see what their offer of the day is and had some absolute gems for 99cents including: How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt and Bitter Water (Gordon Ferris)

In fact, I don't think I've bought more than 4 full-priced Kindle books.

oh and on Valentine's day (on the .de site) there were 4 freebie romances which were ok-ish. In fact one was rather a good example of that genre. And there are a shedload of the classics to download for free, which means that my Kindle is used quite a lot.

I have read recently: Bitter Water, Gordon Ferris. Which was not bad at all so now I've bought the first of the series as a tree book

Soldiers in the Mist by Garry Kilworth, which is the 3rd in a series of 4 (5?) about the Crimean war. A sort of Sharpe in reverse, these are about the gentleman Jack Crossman who joined the army as a private (in the books he's a sergeant)

currently reading Night Watch by Pratchett (am I odd if I have a bit of a crush on Sam Vimes? and Vetinari?)

on my Kindle (which means at the gym only) I'm reading The Hitman's Guide to Housework. Which is by an Icelandic writer whose name escapes me and it's totally and brilliantly bonkers.

At the moment I'm reading a freebie on Kindle called For Love of Livvy or something like that. I had high hopes because it popped up when I searched for Janet Evanovich and sounded in a similar vein, plus had several 4- and 5-star ratings. Unfortunately I've found it to be almost painfully badly written and plotwise is blindingly predictable. *I* could write better stuff (and have, and put it in the UnderGuide).

My Kindle is still new and I'm still learning with it. So any suggestions for worthwhile freebies or apps would be appreciated. Not that I mind paying for content, actually there are a few books I know I'll be buying because their size makes them impossible for me to read otherwise.

Also at the moment I'm reading The Last Hero (Pratchett).

This self-published poem is the only one that ever stood out for me: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewPoetry.asp?id=5998

Caution: it's very happy.

The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton. Given the choice, I'd live in the Commonwealth from his other books, not the Federation.

Sho: If you're odd, you're not alone

Mol

Barking by Tom Holt.

Tom Holt's books are surreal fiction, and brilliant.

I dunno, Tom Holt's always good until about 2/3 through the book. Then it just jumbles into a big mess of characters and plotlines, and I give up

His earlier books (Paint Your Dragon etc) are very different from the later ones (Portable Door etc) and I'm still not sure which sort I prefer.

I like the stand alone, daft humour of the early ones, but I find myself engrossed with the whole ongoing supernatural law firms of the later ones.

I do like the ones with the Vikings in.

Ben Goldarce's Big Pharma. It's very good.

Who's Afraid of Beowolf, hilarious in parts

I may well have to get that, Z. I've got the original "one chapter short because Matthias Rath is suing me" edition of Bad Science.

I just finished One Day by David Nicholls.

I really enjoyed it even though I had already heard what the twist was when the film came out.

Innovative structure, seeing where these two people are in their lives on the same day every year.

Now I'm re-reading Cloud Atlas before the film comes out. I can't really remember what happens.

The Lord of the Fantastic Its a collection of short stories written in tribute to Roger Zelazny who I actually hadn't heard of until I found The Lord of the Fantastic at a used book sale. I was impressed enough by the contributors to buy it and some of Zelazny's stuff.

Just finished Night Watch () and am reading a Daisy Dalrymple mystery (can't remember which one) and Hope & Glory by Stuart Maconie.

I have The Long Earth at home but didn't manage to start reading yet.

Another Tom Holt, this time The Portable Door.

He's written a few books, so I might be reading his stuff for a while.