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

And it WILL massacre it, rest assured. (They'll probably keep the character names the same, and there will be a big wooden horse, but that will be it.)

Reading Sabriel and Lirael again before I read Abhorsen, the third in the trilogy by Garth Nix.

The Falls, by Ian Rankin. I drove myself (and eveyone I know) half mad trying to solve the clues. Much goodness.

Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson - someone lent it me, London - A Biography (ongoing never to be finished type book).
Francis Rose's flora and fauna of Great Britain and Europe, and something similar about mushrooms and other various fungi.

Witches Abroad by Pratchett and In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner.

My sister just finished the Iliad and swears it's fantastic but it looks a little daunting... Maybe I'll go see Troy first *then* decide if I want to tackle it (like I did with Fellowship of the Ring).

I've just started re-reading it - I'd forgotten how it flows so wonderfully. But if you don't have an idea of the story before it is literally a case of being chucked in at the deep end.

After reading Dan Simmons' Ilium, I'm now tempted to read The Iliad so I better understand all the events and characters in that book (well, apart from the aliens from Jupiter, obviously).

I'd forggotten all about the Iliad until someone mentioned it here. It's now on my to read list.

And sorry for off topic: has anyone read Beautiful Bones? Is it readable, or is it one of those 20,000 boxes of Kleenex jobbies?

Beautiful Bones? Do you mean The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold?

Okay, I finished "Buffalo Soldiers" awhile ago. I saw the movie and when I saw the book for only i Euro I thought: why not. And I have to say, the book is great but even more disturbing than the movie.

Right now I'm re-reading the Hitchhiker's Guide for the - I don't know sixth, seventh... time. It's still so funny.
I also read "Die Familie Schroffenstein" (Family Schroffenstein) by Kleist because I think about doing his dramas in my final exams.

Methos

Reading Jingo meself (by Terry Prachett) for about the 15th time - love the guard series and I think Sir Samuel Vimes is one of the most enjoyable characters to read ever written.

sorry, yes - The Lovely Bones.

I read the first 3 pages in Waterstones (in Orchard Square in Sheffield - if anyone was frightened by the sight of a grown woman bursting into tears and running out of the shop: sorry, it was me)

The writing seems very good though, so if that's as bad as it gets I'd like to read it.

Yes, The Lovely Bones is pretty good, though not the greatest. I don't remember exactly how it starts, but I would guess from your description that her death is in the first three pages? Anyway, after the murder the book focuses on the family's life and the girl's afterlife, with lots of sadness, happiness, growth, all that stuff. As I said, pretty good, and certainly well-written.

The Lovely Bones is on my "to be read" pile (i.e. I've bought it but haven't started it yet), but I've read Lucky, by the same author, and that's pretty harrowing, especially as it's true, about what happened to her and the effect that it had.

So, yes, I expect to be harrowed again by her fictional writing. It's not going to be a walk in the park. Then again, that's why I read books...sometimes I read a bad book (not on purpose, I hasten to add!) and put it down at the end (if I get that far) and think "so what?" If a writer can't make you engage with the characters, then (s)he's failing in his/her job, I reckon.

No, The Lovely Bones is not supposed to be harrowing, it's supposed to be uplifting. Yes, there are some harrowing scenes, but the main mood of the book is at times regretful, sad, happy, lighthearted, or hopeful.

The Lovely Bones has a harrowing start to it but that's just at the beginning. It's a good book, very well written and somewhat uplifting.

Thanks all for your input on The Lovely Bones.

I'll give it a miss - I don't know, since I had the Gruesome Twosome I can't read stuff like that. Too close to home I suppose.

To stay on topic: reading The Two Towers, still, and about to start Sharpe's Eagle for the 2nd time, so i can get a good run at the whole Sharpe series.

Trying for the umpteenth time to read the Silmarillion all the way through. All those names to keep track of...

Also reading The Essential Spike Milligan, an anthology altogether more easy to read than the above

"Touching from a Distance - Ian Curtis and Joy Division" by Mrs "I can't believe I've forgotten her name" Curtis
"Franny & Zooey" by JD Salinger
"Monstrous Regiment" by Pratchett
"A Room With A View"

By the way, did anyone else watch the Beeb's 100 fav books and laugh at the poor literature snobs who snorted "Pratchett? Who's Pratchett?". How can anyone who's ever read a book have never heard of Terry Pratchett? Do these people shun popular novels simply believing that popular is synonymous with trashy? Have they spent so long studying dusty 16th century tomes they've forgotten the value of a bloody good story? Oh let us weep for the burden on their souls, and pray some humour and imagination should enter their lives.

No, it's just that they can't get their small minds around the idea that a book can actually be light-hearted and still deal with significant themes and ideas. And it certainly can't be easy to read and still be well-written.

And of course it's worse that Pratchett writes fantasy--anything that talks about magic and/or other planets can't POSSIBLY be literary or relevant to "real" life, despite the fact that most "literature" isn't much more realistic in how it deals with characters.

Just finished "Consider Phlebus" by Iain M Banks.

Now on "The Witches of Chiswick" by Robert Rankin.