Onion Budgie

He's an acquired taste, that's for sure! He makes me laugh more than any other author I can think of, though. I'm enjoying reading all of these responses!

This looks fun! Here are my answers. A — Author You’ve Read The Most Books From: William S. Burroughs. B — Best Sequel Ever: Stripping Penguins Bare, by Michael Carson C — Currently Reading: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I wasn't prepared for quite so much zoological and religious discussion at the beginning. Now the story's finally getting going, and I'm finding myself saddened by the wounded/frightened animals... D — Drink of Choice While Reading: Tea, I suppose. I'm not particular. E — E-Reader or Physical Book?: Physical book. I don't own an E-reader. F — Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Dated in High School: Sherlock Holmes would have run a million miles from young, spotty me with the bad hairdo. G — Glad You Gave this Book a Chance: The Man from Primrose Lane, by James Renner. Sci-fi isn't usually my thing, but I LOVED this. H — Hidden Gem Book: Sam's Song, by Shirley Schoonover. I read it 25 years ago, and it was like nothing I'd ever read before. Peculiar, striking, discomforting, compelling. I — Important Moment in Your Reading Life: Most recently that I can think of – becoming a member of GoodReads. It pulled me out of my long reading slump. J — Just Finished: Girl Hearts Girl, by Lucy Sutcliffe. Not great. I found the writing style too simple/immature. K – Kinds of Books You Won’t Read?: YA and Chick Lit. L – Longest Book You’ve Read: A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. 720 pages of gratuitous melodrama that I wish I hadn't bothered with. M — Major Book Hangover: Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. N — Number of Bookshelves You Own: Nine. They're double-deep, though, so I can cram a lot in there! O — One Book You’ve Read Multiple Times: The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. P — Preferred Place to Read: Bed. Q — Quote that Inspires You and Gives You All the Feels: “Cleanse my heart, give me the ability to rage correctly.” (From 'Head to Toe' by Joe Orton) R — Reading Regret: My six year reading slump! (I suffered a bereavement and, curiously, stopped reading and listening to music for the longest while. I'm still not fully back with my music, but am happily now reading more than ever.) S — Series You’ve Started and Need to Finish: None. T — Three of Your All Time Favorite Books: Other Voices, Other Rooms, by Truman Capote Maurice, by E.M. Forster Skin Lane, by Neil Bartlett U – Unapologetic Fangirl/boy for: The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. V — Very Excited for this Release More than Anything: (I can't think of anything I'm excited about. Most of my favourite authors are dead!) W — Worst Bookish Habit Reading too slowly. I wish I could pick up the pace, so I could fit more books into my brain. X — X Marks the Spot – Start at the top of your shelf and pick the 27th book off it: City of Night, by John Rechy. Y — Your Latest Book Purchase: I've been on an Agatha Christie spree of late, so it would be one of her Hercule Poirot novels. Let's say it was Sad Cypress. Z — The Zzzzzzzzzzzzz Snatcher Book (Book That Kept You From Sleeping): The Man from Primrose Lane, by James Renner.

My suffering left me sad and gloomy. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Truman Capote. Writing In Cold Blood just about finished him off, both creatively and personally, and he never completed another book. (Answered Prayers remained unfinished.) I wish that he could have recovered, and found peace with himself, and written more. He was outstandingly talented. Helene Hanff. She wrote just a handful of books -- six, I think, not counting her historical or children's efforts -- and I find her such a warm, funny, engaging writer that I would love to have more of her on my shelf.

In the fridge, always. If I'm planning on frying an egg or two, I'll take them out of the fridge a little while before to bring up to room temperature, as a cold egg white tends to clump and not spread out as smoothly in the frying pan.

I discovered Helene Hanff earlier this year, so all of my favourite reads thus far have been hers: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street Underfoot in Show Business Letter from New York Only one real clunker so far: Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet. The characters were all obnoxious bubblebrains, and the writing was far too flowery (no deliberate pun there!) for the mood I was in while I was reading it. I've read 16 out of a modest goal of 20 for 2016.

I'm a member of only one right now: the "What's the Name of That Book?" group. I know full well that if I joined many more I'd never be able to keep up! As it is, I only infrequently check what's going on there. It's more of a help group than a discussion one, in any case. Fifteen is a lot! Manageable, probably, if the groups are small. If all fifteen are popular, and posting like crazy, day in, day out, then ---

That must be it.

Could it be Up Molasses Mountain by Julie Baker? Or how about Strange As This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake? There's a long list of mining-town themed novels here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/32362.Mining I hope you find it!

"Linnet Ridgeway! That's her!" said Mr. Burnaby, the landlord of the Three Crowns. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

With Camus you'd be reading a translated work in any case, so however the line is worded will always depend upon the individual translator. Hmm, I wonder how many different translations of his works there are? The Goodreads site offers the quote as you state it above (although they don't say which work it's from). It's a great line, I like it!

A new point & click adventure game released on 10th June: Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter. I have a special interest in it, as I was on the development team. I'd recommend it if you enjoy twisty plots and are curious to see a younger interpretation of Holmes and Watson than was explored in the previous games. There are action elements too, though, which I know aren't to everyone's taste. Personally, I'm enjoying watching the playthroughs on YouTube, and seeing gamers' reactions.

I'd second the rec for Perfume by Patrick Suskind -- it's wonderful -- except the OP should bear in mind that it's set in France, rather than Britain.

Awesome! I hope you enjoy it. It was one of my favourite books of last year.

The Man from Primrose Lane by James Renner. It's a wild read.

These names always make me smile: Langdale Pike ~ The Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Augustus Carp ~ Augustus Carp Esq., By Himself Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man, by Henry H. Bashford Haha Jones ~ A Christmas Memory, by Truman Capote Chunky Rice ~ Goodbye, Chunky Rice, by Craig Thompson Wuvable Oaf ~ Wuvable Oaf, by Ed Luce

Was that the one, bookmonkey, or shall we keep looking?

Yes, I was a little doubtful because the book seems to be available primarily in the German language. The plot as outlined by bookmonkey is identical, though.

That sounds like Good Bye, Lenin by Wolfgang Becker. It was also made into a film.

Ah, I was looking at that very recently on GoodReads, and wondering if I should add it to my TBR or not. (I didn't, in the end.)

Father Synge, having decided to quit the priesthood, did not feel his decision would affect anyone very profoundly but himself. "Dear Genius..." by Jack Dunphy

I have the GWX stopper software installed as well. I already have Windows 10 on my laptop, and don't think so much of it -- so I certainly have no intention of putting it on my main PC where I do the bulk of my work. I believe that it would have a compatibility problem with the motherboard in any case. It infuriates me how Microsoft are attempting to force this upgrade through, even when people are saying "no". The good news is, this should all stop after July, when the free upgrade offer expires.

Here are a few favourites that I can think of right now: Junky by William S. Burroughs (drug addiction) Darkness Visible by William Styron (depression) Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim (child abuse)

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt Both are based on true-life crimes.

"A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks." The Final Solution by Michael Chabon This book features an 89-year-old Sherlock Holmes. Every time he appears, the author goes on and on about how creaky, decrepit, frail and wobbly he now is. It's making me a little sad, so I'm having to pretend that this guy isn't Sherlock Holmes at all, just an old, retired no-name detective.