Onion Budgie

Let's Make the Water Turn Black -- Frank Zappa

(The) Grass Harp -- Truman Capote

I'm almost a hundred pages into Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and am really liking it so far. It'll take me the rest of the month to finish -- it's a chunker -- but I hope that I can manage it, because I have my December reading all planned out already.

Curled up In bed, I'll read for an hour or so before going to sleep. I always look forward to that hour. Otherwise, I'll mostly read while sat at the computer -- which isn't my favourite, but I tend to multi-task!

I finished Dumb Witness. Not a bad yarn. I had guessed whodunnit before the grand reveal, which I'm always happy about with Agatha Christie, because she's a twisty & tricksy old mare! I've just begun Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's over 500 pages and will take me all of November to read! It's interesting so far.

When I was little, I always used to choose my book by its smell. My mother thought I was crazy. To this day, I still love wafting the pages of a new book and taking a big sniff of it. These days, I buy the vast majority of my books online, and mainly from Amazon. They have so many books for a penny plus p&p, and I can't resist that. The town where I live has only a tiny secondhand bookshop, which I love browsing in from time to time, but their selection is so meagre.

It's been many years since I read it, but The Far Reaches of Fear collection by Ramsey Campbell included some cracking stories -- in particular The Viaduct, which sent all manner of deliciously horrible chills down my spine as a teenager!

Yes, he's starting to annoy me a little now. I've almost finished, and will probably plonk a 3 star rating on it. I've heard of Augusten Burroughs, but haven't read anything of his. Thanks for the rec! Marie: I plan on reading Middlesex next month (unless I change my mind at the last minute)! I hope you're enjoying it.

A dopey character will set my teeth to grinding every time. As an example, Lucy Westenra's mother in Dracula. "Oh, Mr. Van Helsing, I know you told me not to, but I removed all of those horrible garlic flowers from Lucy's room last night, and threw open the windows to let some air in! Oh, but, did I do something wrong, Mr. Van Helsing?" ARRRGHH. There are plenty of nitwits in the Sherlock Holmes stories too, who wilfully ignore Holmes's instructions, causing terrible things to happen to innocent people. "Well, Mr. Holmes, I didn't see the sense in doing what you told me to, so I did THIS instead, and oh, oops, was that the wrong thing to do?" ARRRGHH. Yup. Dopey characters.

Here's my Top 10: William S. Burroughs Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Truman Capote Helene Hanff Michael Carson Agatha Christie Joe Orton Neil Bartlett E.M. Forster John Rechy I haven't read many of Forster's novels yet, but I was running out of favourites by the end of the list! John Rechy's writing is rather like that little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. (When he is good, he is very very good, but when he is bad he is horrid.)

I'm currently reading Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. It's the first book of his that I've tried. There's a lot of puff blurb on the back cover. "America's foremost humorist" -- seriously? The book has made me chuckle aloud a couple of times, and I'm enjoying his style, but, uh. I'd like to finish it by the end of this week, so I can start on Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie. I need my Poirot fix!

Could it be Brian's Return by Gary Paulsen? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/141371.Brian_s_Return

I'd recommend Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. Also one of the funniest books I ever read, as well as being outrageous, offensive, etc.

Benson at Sixty by Michael Carson. I got 100 pages in, and then left it sitting on my side table for a whole year. After that, back it went on the bookshelf for a further two years before I picked it up to finish it. It wasn't a bad book, just slow-paced, and not as humorous as Carson's earlier novels. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I loved this! -- but it took me months to read. Stop/start, stop/start. I was already familiar with the history, so perhaps that's why. They're the most recent ones. I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them offhand.

Only 21 so far this year. My pace is so laidback it's horizontal. Aiming for a further 4 or 5 before the year is out.

Wonderful designs! AC would have definitely approved.

However did I miss this topic? Here's my Top 10, in no particular order: Other Voices, Other Rooms -- Truman Capote Maurice -- E.M. Forster Underfoot in Show Business -- Helene Hanff The Complete Sherlock Holmes -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Perfume: The Story of a Murderer -- Patrick Suskind Skin Lane -- Neil Bartlett The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Oscar Wilde Dracula -- Bram Stoker Naked Lunch -- William S. Burroughs Buster Keaton Remembered -- Eleanor Keaton

The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde Dracula, by Bram Stoker All first read while I was in my teens. I haven't revisited the latter two in YEARS, and I'd really like to.

If you don't mind short stories (as opposed to a novel), then I'd recommend The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: After Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, collected and edited by Richard Lancelyn Green. It has some well-written cases by many different authors.

It's usually possible to change the book edition GoodReads has set as its default to the one that you're reading. Just click on "Other Editions", locate which is yours, and switch over. Typing in the ISBN number (if your book has one) is a quicker method.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer Any Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin I cheated by throwing a few series in there, but I can't isolate a specific one as I haven't read any, so... The Harry Potter series is legendary, I know, but I wasn't a kid when they were first published, and the age I'm at now (46), they appeal to me even less. The media throws Harry Potter in one's face so unrelentingly that I'm thoroughly sick of the little twit without ever having read a word of him. I've nothing against Game of Thrones, except for the fact that the books are so humongous each one would take me six months to read, and no doubt give me a couple of sprained wrists in the process.

I used to subscribe to Radio Times, as I liked the interviews and articles, but seeing as how I barely watch any TV these days or even listen to the radio, I recently cancelled my subscription. (It was always extremely useful for lining the bottom of the bird cage, so not a total loss!) I've just subscribed to The Fortean Times, which is a monthly magazine on strange/unexplained phenomena. My first issue will be next month's. I'm looking forward to it.

Just as a way of seeing if it's something you might enjoy, I'd suggest checking out YouTube. Although YouTube is primarily a video site, there are countless audiobooks uploaded there, and all free, of course. If you like what you find there, then you know you can explore further, at audible.com, for example.

Yep, hire me too, it sounds like heaven! We promise we won't pinch any!

I've done quite well so far this year with tackling a number of books from my TBR pile that had been sitting untouched on my shelf for years. Admittedly, they've only been so-so-meh reads for the most part, but no matter! I'm going to persevere, and do my best to tackle these next five soon: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides Catch-22, by Joseph Heller The Marx Brothers, by Kyle Crichton Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris The Confessions of Nat Turner, by William Styron I wonder if I'll keep to my word!