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

Well the reaction to Thomas "effing" Hardy means that the majority didn't like him but boy did he make an impression on you all. Most still seem to remember the story, chapter titles and characters names, if he truly were dire you would have forgotton.

Perhaps at 15 you wern't mature enough to read these novels.

Its a bit like Shakespere we all hated him at school, but there is no doubt that he wrote top quality stuff. I mean there must be something good about it or why else was it chosen for school?

Ah, the old 'Classic Canon' debate. One for another forumj, I'd suggest...

I'd hope so. I quite enjoyed Hardy.

Wuthering Heights was the book that drove me crazy.

B

I tried Hardy agin later in life- still hated it.

I liked Wuthering Heights though...

If you want something that's an exercise in memory, try Bleak House.

Tom Holt's good for a quick, weird yet funny read. Hardly masterpieces however. I found 'Here Comes the Sun' to be the most enjoyable.

Wuthering Heights I loved, and Bleak House is my favourite Dickens (well, joint with Tale of Two Cities)

Hate Jane Eyre though - Charlotte Bronte was so much worse than her sisters.

My 19 year old daughter has just read,studied and been examined on The Mayor of Casterbridge.She didn't want to spit on Hardy.She wanted to go p*ss on his grave but as he was cremated and his ashes scattered and his heart buried somewhere in the wilderness she was stumped.I must say I don't know where she gets it from.

Incog.

I have to confess to not ever having read a single Hardy book. Do I take it then that perhaps I shouldn't?

An ex-girlfriend of mine quite likes him... she says Far From the Madding Crowd is her favourite. She's a bit crazy, but basically a good sort.

Last Chance to See - one of the few books in have read many many times.

JD Salinger - any of his stuff but especially "Catcher in the Rye"

Malcom Lowry "Under the Volcano"

I think every book I've read has changed my life, if only a little bit, when I look at my bookshelves I see my mind. I reccomend my latest read, 'Use of Weapons' by Iain M Banks (transparent SF pseudonym of Iain Banks). You'll never look at furniture in same way again, I promise you.

I loved Shakespeare, and I read Jane Eyre when I was 10, and quite enjoyed it. Better than Jane Austen's Emma (please let us not go down that route though...I hate that book more than Thomas f***ing Hardy's sh*te).

Another book I would recommend is Oliver Sack's "An Anthropologist on Mars"...very interesting!

Oh! And for something a little more modern - hunt down anything by Gavin Baddely...

Personally I love Jane Austen, but I could never really get into any of the Brontes. 'Wuthering Heights' I managed to struggle through, but I just could not get into 'Jane Eyre' no matter how many times I tried. Still, each to their own I suppose.

Folks - could I ask if you would all be so kind to put a note of which genre your books fall into? I'm noting these down and don't want to get a book with a great title that reads like Barbara Cartland! Fanks

My recommendations are.....*drumroll..*


Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder:
Based in philosophy but with a story running though. Made me chill out about ordinary stuff! Quite factual, best read in bite size chunks. Though when you put it down you end up thinking about philosophical stuff for hours after! My most recommended book.

Bill, the Galactic Hero - Harry Harrison:
Not life changing but great for a laugh! SF comedy.

Queegle
(getting into chrimbly spirit!)

Another series of humerous fantasy/SF is Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series which I read after Hitchikers and before the Discworld series.Hilarious! You may find them in the library.

Incog.

Just read "Stupid White Men" by Micheal Moore, its funny and scary at the same time and is a good warning to us Brits about where we are headed as well as a wake up call to all Americans.

Read a philosophy book... They're absolutely wonderous! As well as being massively enlightening, they also happen to be very entertaining. After reading a good philosophy book, it's possible to see the world in an entirely different way... however a word of warning - don't even try to experience Cartesian doubt because doing so has been known to drive philosophers mad! Bertrand Russell is a spiffing chap, and so is Einstein. "Einstein's Universe" is a rather enlightening little book, as is "The joy of pi" by David Blatner - if you like your philosophy more on the scientific side. There's also "the meaning of it all" by Richard Feynmann which is a hugely amusing pile of words.

Or if you're feeling ambitious "A Discourse on Method - Meditations and Principles" by Descartes!

I liked the Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood and I'm hoping that someone is buying me a new novel called Lovely Bones, for Christmas.
It's a story of a 14 year old girl who is murdered and goes to heaven, so the blurb says.

I'm sure that this is in the b'log which I was keeping up with and have now forgotten ...

Catch 22. It was on my list of 'books I ought to read', and I reluctantly took it on holiday thinking that I should read it but might not enjoy it too much. How wrong I was - I thought it was fantastic! I loved the circularity of the language throughout the book, and was amused and moved in turn as the story progressed. Genre? Not sure, it is set on an island in the Med during the second world war and revolves around a character called Yossarian who is a little eccentric and made more so by circumstance. It is funny in a very black way.

I suspect this may be one of those love it/hate it books (like Catcher in the Rye) as I have reacted so very strongly to it, but I thought it was great.

k

Two books that have had a huge effect on my way of look at the world are "Steps to an Ecology of mind" By Gregory Bateson. and Meta States By L. Michael Hall and if you want to read some of his work then visit the neuro-semantics web sits www.neurosemantics.com this will open your mind.

A real lifestyle changer is 'Fast Food Nation' I forget the author, but it's still in the bestseller lists.

I used to have the occasional fast food meal, but not now mainly for the way these companies treat employees & animals than for my own health. (though that's not a bad call either )

I would also recommend Handmaidens Tale and stupid white men.

To look back through the backlog, I also found Pratchett a lot easier to get into than Rankin. Rankin has his plus points though.

Marion Zimmer Bradleys 'Mists of Avalon' series is absolutely absorbing.

The Eyre Affaire and Lost in a good book by Jasper Fford (Yes two 'fs') are great fun, and good for spotting literary references.

Oh and The Wasp Factory IS a little disturbing.