NiceguyEddie

Thanks all. Who could forget fish & chips?

I definitely won't be picking up my copy of The Last Chronicle of Barset. Just before Christmas my dog had a bad stomach and **** all over it and the rest of the room. It went in the bin half read. I must buy another as I was only half way through it and was enjoying it a great deal.

Hello all, I was going to post on my thread but it's locked for some reason. Anyway, I know it's been a long time. Quite a few reasons for that, but not the least of which is that I had a heart attack in June. That was a bit of a shaker I can tell you. Turned out, it was actually the second one I'd had. The doctor said it was smoking what done it. Only after I told him I smoked though. But the last 7 months have been spent getting myself fit or "heart healthy". Walking, cycling, gym every day and so on. I've just seen the birthday wishes for August. Odd to see them in a way, as of course statistically I was only 40% likely to be alive. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm fitter and happier. Things took a turn for the worst though just before Christmas when my dad fell ill and very sadly died two weeks ago. So I've been though the mill a bit. By the way, I was going to tell you that I'm listening to an unabridged Last Night in Twisted River and reading the new William Boyd novel. Because of all the activity I now do, my volume of reading has dropped a little, but I listen more now at the gym.

In no order: Stanley Matthews Bobby Charlton Duncan Edwards Paul Gascoigne Peter Shilton

To me, "classic" just means it is of literary worth and has stood the test of time. We have "modern classics". Didn't Penguin recently publish 50 modern classics. In the modern classic list would be titles like "To Kill a Mockingbird", "1984" and so on.

I haven't read the whole thread, so maybe someone else mentioned this, but could he have meant "foreword" rather than "prologue"?

Empire of the Sun is one of my favourite books of all time. I confess to only reading one other of his - Millenium People which I enjoyed. Wasn't it shortlisted for the Booker? Or longlisted?

There's one more to come, then that's it sadly. Although I believe he left detailed plots for three more in the series. No one's mentioned Sansom's Shardlake series. The first is Dissolution. I guarantee that if you read that one, you will be hooked!

Hmmm... I'm in the middle of Our Mutual Friend. It's not yet apparent that Bradley is a villain. A prig definitely.

I listened to an unabridged version of Holes and thoroughly enjoyed it. A modern classic, I think. And definitely not just for children.

I used to drive around 30,000 miles a year. I would have gone mad without audio books.

I've just read The Eyre Affair. It was ok. I'm not sure it left me desperate for more Thursday Next though.

I think I will order The Great Gatsby & The Big Sleep. They just look too nice to read. But as you said, how could you not? That said, if Penguin are knocking them out at

I think it is heavily influenced by the parents. If children see their parents reading, they tend to read.

They are paperbacks with leather. Not worth

Yep. Thanks: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Gatsby-Penguin-Classics-Amberg/dp/0141189509/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1234081527&sr=11-1

I was in Waterstones yesterday and saw a copy of The Great Gatsby in a sealed plain brown box. Published by Penguin it was

There was another thread on this somewhere.

Cafferty's great. He is sometimes outrageously funny. There's a scene in one of ther later novels where him & Rebus are watching a politician speak. Cafferty comes out with an X rated putdown that had me in fits for hours. It involved the word if afficianados recall it.

I read The Colour of Magic a couple of weeks ago. I have to say that if it was the first Pratchett I had read, I wouldn't have read another.

It really is a great play. I've never seen it, but I studied it for O' level and read it a couple of times. It was interesting as we also covered Animal Farm, so two works of literature that were allegories.

Start with Resurrection Men. Then you'll be addicted!

Although of course it isn't really about Salem witch hunts at all.