Marie H

Woo hoo, Great book haul there!!

Hello Mr Cat, and to the forums.

Finished reading Roald Dahl's Boy, a very enjoyable read; apart from the appalling amount of caning (as corporal punishment) that was inflicted on Dahl (and it seemed pretty much all the other boys in his boarding schools) during his schooldays . But apart from that, it's a great book. I will defiantly read the next of his autobiographies Going Solo too. Oooh, it's not just me then. I have tried the first few chapters, but the flowery language really put be off. As it was a library loan, and with more readers requesting the book, so I didn't try to read any more. I'll be interesting to see how are you getting on with this one.

Rescue Me - Fontella Bass

Well there is are different opinions on Saki's works . I still think his short stories are the best way to start reading Saki's work. How could I forget Clovis Sangrail? He is wonderful! Nowhere near as good as the beasts/superbeasts stories, for me. And the Clovis collection are very good. I tried to describe the story telling of Saki to a friend once, and the closest I could come to was "imagining filming P G Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster, but directed by David Lynch . Saki has a very dry sense of humour, but with a certain macabre. I recently read some reviews, and the best description of Saki as a mix of Oscar Wilde and Roald Dahl (I would refer to the Tales of the Unexpected rather the childrens books)

I love Saki's short stories, especially Beasts and Super-Beasts. I bought The Complete Saki nearly 30 years ago, and loved the short stories, but the novels and plays were dry and dull, after the sparkling, wickedly good ones.

Welcome to BCF

Welcome to BCF Mauri

Mark Cavendish!! Le maillot jaune Looking forward to watch today's stage this afternoon

Hope you enjoy Proust's Within a Budding Grove . And your odyssey for the whole of In Search of Lost Time! I haven't read much of Swann's Way for a while, but I will get back to it hopefully. At the mo. I'm enjoying Alexander McColl Smith's (hereby referred to as Sandy ) The Sunday Philosophy Club. I noticed in Goodreads that this series are not that popular, especially (I think) that by those who loved the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, actually loathe this, but I love this one. Slow it is, and at a very provincial but intellectual type of Edinburgh, so I think that it is a very required taste.

Welcome to the Forum Hmm, Welsh obsessed? Have you read Aberystwyth Mon Amour by Malcolm Pryce? Weird sort of Welsh Noir gumshoe type, but quite good and humorous.

yeah, I have had problems with Love in the time of Cholera; it is very difficult to get into, and so far I still haven't get far for more than a couple of chapters, then I....drift off. Strange that it is the only Marquez book that I can't seem to get into.

How about Abraham Maslow's Toward a Psychology of Being, I have found that was excellent, great to read about self actualization.

The Smiths - This Charming Man

Yeah, maybe I was asking too much, and there a handful of other books are excellent, especially Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Of Love and Other Demons.

Hmmm, it certainly a Marmite type of book; I absolutely loved it! Yeah, I've had a few of Marquez's books after Solitude, and they were good, but not the spellbinding as Solitude.

Edinburgh, with Isabel Dalhousie.

Yes, I will be watching the Tour this year again - I can remember watching it in the late 80's, as I was a fan of Stephen Roche when he was King of the Mountains. Hope for good coverage by the ITV4 again.

Lovely review of Common Ground, and I have that one on my wishlist. I have a copy of The Running Hare, and I saw John Lewis-Stempel at the bookshop event last week, but haven't read it yet. At the moment I am reading John Wright's A History of the Hedgerow, which is really good. There seems to be so many wonderful books about natural history at the moment.

Had a lovely afternoon reading Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club. What a way to read books and eat homemade ginger cake, while watching the rain pelting down outside

Nick Drake - Riverman

Yes, I am still taking some time to get my head around some of the concepts in FForde's head; I still have quite a problem believing Acheron Hades existing in so bizarre ways

Read 33% of The Eyre Affair, and I am enjoying it now, getting into the weird stuff.

19 degrees Celsius, mostly sunny but the breeze is playful though.