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

I'd like to ask the h2g2 society for their opinion on the ideal holiday literature... Soon I will be lying for two weeks in the southern French sunshine, and some good books are -of course- necessary to ensure a perfect relaxation.

Anyone?

Thanks...

h³ (who is down South already in her dreams)

Something serious:

Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
Love in the Time of Cholera.

Something light:

Anything by PG Wodehouse.
"Mort" and "Wyrd Sisters" by Terry Pratchett.

Something really silly:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Something for readers:

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

I take it you've already read the Hitchhiker series?

Something serious:
"Things fall apart" - Chinua Achebe

Something light:
"McArthys Bar" - Peter McCarthy

Something French:
"La Peste" - Albert Camus

Already read :
La Peste,
the name of the Rose,
everything Pratchett has written,
the hitchhiker's guide (of course!),

The rest I've written down to check out!
thanks again!

On my list are already :
"More bread or I'll disapear" by Emer Martin
and
"Walking on glass" by Ian Banks.

anyone who has read these last two books?

Ooooooooh I envy you your holiday!

I'd recommend anything by Tom Robbins for a really fun read. That man can squeeze the juice out of words!

Erica Jong's "Fanny" and George Sand's "Consuelo" are both delightful adventures.

Something long, interesting, involving, fun, serious, funny, compassionate, stimulating, surprising, absorbing and full of people you come to like and care about facing dilemmas with humour, dignity, and human confusion.

'A Suitable Boy' - Vikram Seth

***B

waw... very convincing! must try!

I'll let you know...

I read Michael Crichton's "Timeline" on holiday in Cornwall 2 weeks ago and loved it. But then I like all his stuff. Think Jurassic Park, but without the dinosaurs, and then add time travel, quantum mechanics and Medieval history.

make sure it's paperback, of course; anything else would be heavy and take up more space.

i would suggest Catch-22, by Joseph(well, i'm not that sure about his first name, but i think this is it.) Heller.
Starship Titanic, by DNA and/or Terry Jones. as in they collaborated, sort of, on it. if you liked the hhgg books, you'll probably like this, too. on the other hand, if you liked them, then there's a pretty good chance you've already read it. same goes for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, both by DNA.
something by Richard Bach, such as Illusions(that's iLL, not LLL) or Nothing By Chance. a lot more serious, and a bit philosophical. not at all silly for the most part.

I LOVE Richard Bach, and haven't opened one of his books for years. Thanks for reminding me!

I read Walking on Glass some years ago and really liked it. I liked anything by Iain Banks at that time but nothing of his has come my way for a while.

you might also want to consider Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishuguro.

176645

I guess it depends what you're into. Here are some books I've read and enjoyed on holiday over recent years.

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell. (For once a film that sticks closely to the book!)
Here I Stand - Roland Bainton (Biography of Martin Luther)
Iceblink - Scott Cookson (I think! An investigation into why John Franklin's expedition to find the North-West Passage failed)
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (It's very good when you get into it. Think 19th-century soap!)
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (I'm an over-grown kid. I've loved that book for years!)
The Lost Tomb - Kent Weeks (The excavation of KV5 in the Valley of the Kings)
Hatchepsut - Joyce Tildesley (A biography - sort of - of the only woman to rule as Pharoah in her own right)

That list looks so factual-biased that it makes me sound like an intellectual. I guess the first and fifth books listed let me off the hook on that score!

Ash : A Secret History by Mary Gentle
BCNU - Crescent

'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood - rather depressing but devastatingly good.
'Steppenwolf' by Hermann Hesse - probably ditto (sorry - I seem to read books only of the depressing variety).
'A Clockwork Orange' - Anthony Burgess
'On the Yankee Station' by William Boyd - my favourite book of all time. Some brilliant short stories.

"High Fidelity"--Nick Hornby(about MUSIC and dating and women and MUSIC and the BEATLES--(a little) and people in general and you REALLY get into the main character... or I did!!!)

"Like Water for Chocolate"(If you like romance/tradition/fabrication/culture...)--Laura Esquirel

"The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy"(YAY!!!)-- Douglas Adams



All pretty entertaining, engaging, and easy reads...

Just come back from a week in Italy (wonderful) and read 'The Forest' by Edward Rutherford. Came in handy for delays at London Gatwick and Genoa airports.
But for France, then perhaps it had better be 'Chocolat' and 'Blackberry Wine', both by Joanne Harris and set in France.

hmmm, H^3 hasn't posted in a few days, think the vacation has started already? *waves to H^3* be sure to tell us what you did take when you get back!

Everyone gets a vacation but me...



But not everyone is going to go visit New Zealand in about a year-- and I am!!! (I had to say that... )

I'm hoping this will considered sort of on-track for this thread...

I came across a book yesterday, "Running in High Heels" by an Ann Maxted (British author) which looking entertaining. Has anyone read anything by her before? I got the feeling that this is not her first book.

SC

Oh, I forgot to say congrats to AGB for her upcoming vacation. I'm not the least bit ..... oh, heck, yes I AM jealous, thank you very much!

SC