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

Ted Hughes did a reading at my school. He said that one poem was about waiting in a hospital for a friend to come round after an operation. Years later I thought "It was Sylvia Plath...and it wasn't an operation."

Further thoughts on Slaughterhouse 5? I've already advertised this A3724823, no?

And I see you're read Levi. An inspirational man! It's too easy to say that his suicide resulted from his experience in the camps. Lots of people kill themselves after far less trying experiences. Lots of people who survived the camps didn't kill themselves.

I finished reading Slaughterhouse Five about half an hour ago. That's the second time I've read it in the last 12 months. It's an amazing thing. Also I've been to A3724823 a couple of times.
In a few minutes I'm going to open a bottle of beer, settle back in the armchair with Rushdie's novel Shame. Although it came out in 1983 it's a new one for me. I hope I can manage it. I couldn't get my head around his infamous SV and packed it in before halfway. I've chosen Shame because it won a lit. prize in France.

I liked Shame a lot. The brother of a friend rated it higher than Midnight's Children - but I wouldn't go that far. Pakistani/ Bangladeshi history is something of an ignored topic - which is a shame (sic) because much of it is fascinating. And horrific.

Incidentally, through Indo-Pak friends I've come to hear a bit of history from their viewpoint. One (German) friend had a grandfather who fought the British in the Hindustan Republican Socialist Association (to learn more - google "Bhagat Singh"). From their point of view, the British weren't embarassed out by Ghandi. They were forced out at gunpoint. One thing that I hadn't been aware of was the indecent haste of the partition and withdrawal. Mountbatten's instructions were (something like) 'You've got sixty days get us out of here, and don't bother sweeping up on our way out.' - a pattern which was repeated all over the empire.

I feel another Guide Entry coming on...

Thanks for that interesting info and good luck with your Guide entry if you do it.
Mountbatten's remarks remind me there was a telling scene involving a small band of Germans and a dog in Slaughterhouse Five engaged in what politicians and military men call (with unintended black humour?) "mopping up".