Onion Budgie

Absolutely! It would be boring if we all liked the same things.

Stella Gibbons. I got perhaps two-thirds of the way through Cold Comfort Farm before I decided that I'd rather strangle each and every character in it, and set the farmhouse on fire, before I'd read another word of it. It was about as humorous as festering pancake batter. Charles Dickens. Yes, you, Mr. Dickens, and your rotten, long-winded, miserable dribble. I'll kick Shakespeare into the ring too, just because I feel like it. He and Dickens made my English Literature 'O' level an absolute grind.

Hi Giulio, and welcome! Yes, I've often wondered about how many countries I may have visited during my reading travels. I know that I've covered much of North and South America, and a vast section of Europe. Not so much in the Far East, or Africa, so perhaps I should rectify that. As to your second question, try this website: http://www.tripfiction.com/ There are probably others. This was the first one I clicked on.

frankie: We had to read Dickens' Hard Times at secondary school. You had a lucky escape by giving your copy away. I've never read such depressing dirge. It's the kind of book that can put a schoolkid off reading for life!

Hi Simon, welcome to the forum! There's an LGBT book recommendation thread floating around here somewhere*, if you have any favourites that you think we should know about. * I just checked -- it's in the General Fiction forum.

Physical books all the way. I'm not remotely interested in a Kindle, or its equivalent. I love the smell of books, the feel of them, their covers, and the crinkles in their spines. I enjoy seeing the jut of my bookmark, that shows how far I am, and how much I have still to read. It's all very sensory. Plus, I take a delight in glancing over at my bookshelves and seeing all those much-loved books, which bring back memories, and remind me that yes, I need to re-read them soon -- if only I had the time!

Last year was a good year for me reading some of the books that I'd been putting off for eons. I still have quite a few left! Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides has been loafing around on my shelf for over a decade. Ditto a number of books by John Rechy: Marilyn's Daughter, This Day's Death, and Our Lady of Babylon. Life of Pi by Yann Martel -- I REALLY want to read this one soon! Dear Genius by Jack Dunphy, which recounts his life with Truman Capote. I've had THIS one for over 20 years, and have only ever flicked through it. Ulysses by James Joyce. Yeah, good luck to me getting to THAT any time soon. Orlando by Virginia Woolf Early writings by Joe Orton: Between Us Girls, The Boy Hairdresser, Lord Cucumber, and more. There are others, but the above are the ones that glare at me the most accusingly.

I've watched a couple of playthroughs of the full game by different YouTubers, and I really enjoyed them. Both the isolation and the exploring in Firewatch reminded me of the game Miasmata, which has an entirely different storyline, with a survival element, but it's an extremely beautiful adventure. You might like it too?

That's homemade Thousand Island dressing. I make it myself too, but as a sauce for prawns. (Better than shelling out on expensive ready-made variants!) Chips with mayo -- DELISH. Count me in. I'm also very fond of Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce, but sprinkled on the chips rather than used as a dip.

Ooh, I'm glad it came through at last! I do hope you like it.

"Weidmann appeared before you in a five o'clock edition, his head swathed in white bands, a nun and yet a wounded pilot fallen into the rye one September day like the day when the world came to know the name of Our Lady of the Flowers." Our Lady of the Flowers, by Jean Genet

Back to playing a few oldies right now. I'm enjoying Faery: Legends of Avalon on the PS3, which is an RPG with turn-based battle. On the PC I'm having fun with Restaurant Empire, which is a tycoon style game. Furnish and staff a restaurant, build up your menu, and complete a set of challenges and competitions. It's addictive! I love checking out all the different recipes.

84 Charing Cross Road, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. I had just finished reading the book. I was wondering how on earth one could successfully dramatise a book of letters to and from a bookshop, but they managed it fairly well. I watched the film on YouTube, but I think it cut off the final 10 minutes. Boo!

"Theoretically, it was one of the happiest days of my life." The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff

I read this in my late teens, and can remember almost nothing about it; nothing but its overwhelming bleakness and claustrophobia. I can recall just one scene: Cathy, sat by a blazing kitchen fire at 5am, reading a book by the light of the flames. Somehow the imagery of that always struck me. I so want to re-read this, but, as always, I have too many other (unread!) books on my shelves.

70s Bowie, on vinyl. Last night it was Station to Station and Young Americans. Not sure which of his I'll play tonight. I'll be playing an Eagles Best Of as well, that's for sure. (Another one that's bitten the dust. What are you doing to us, 2016?)

I read Paul Monette's Nosferatu the Vampire many years ago, and remember loving it for its language and atmosphere. It's a fairly short novel, however -- under 200 pages.

I'm currently playing the Skyrim Farskaar mod, and have been having such a blast with it. Finally owning Skyrim on PC (after playing on PS3 for years) has opened up a whole new world of possibilities with downloadable content. Such fun.

I'm so incredibly sad. I had no idea that he was ill. Bowie has been such a vital influence and inspiration to me over the past 30 years, and I'm really struggling with this news.

I began A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole a week ago, and am just a third of the way through it. The humour is so overblown, and the "hero", Ignatius Reilly, is a complete *!$?head, but I'm still quite enjoying it.

I'll be back on the exercise bike as from January. Was doing so well with it through the summer and autumn of this year, but not so much the last couple of months. My joints are getting stiff again! The colder weather doesn't help. I hope everyone manages to stick to their regime -- if they've set one.

Perfume -- Patrick Suskind The Man From Primrose Lane -- James Renner Beautiful Darkness -- Fabien Vehlmann Locke & Key Vol. 6 -- Joe Hill Sexing the Cherry -- Jeanette Winterson

Aw, I have barely any books remaining from my childhood. When I hit my teens, all of my old Enid Blytons (and I had hundreds of them -- the full series of the Famous Five, Secret Seven, Five Find-Outers, and others I can't remember), as well as other books I felt too "old" for at the grand age of 13, went up into my grandmother's attic -- never to be seen again. I've no idea what happened to them. I guess they gathered dust, mould and mice, to the point where my grandmother had had enough of shuffling round them to get to her own stuff, and binned them. I still have my original copy of Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman, which I adored with a passion when I was a gruesome sprog. Also a sweet pop-up book about cats, titled All Kinds of Cats. All of the pull tabs still work.

Here are mine: William S. Burroughs Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Truman Capote Michael Carson Neil Bartlett Joe Orton John Rechy Agatha Christie Agatha Christie is a new addition.

I only read 33 books this year, so my choices will be somewhat restricted, but here they are anyway! Your favourite read of the year? Perfume, by Patrick Susskind Your favourite author of the year? I'm on an Agatha Christie kick at the moment. Your most read author of the year? Agatha Christie. I read five of her Poirot novels in 2015. Your favourite book cover of the year? Any of the Locke and Key covers. They're stunning. The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? I didn't abandon any. I'm a stoic. The book that most disappointed you? A Little Life, by Hanya Yanigihara. What a melodramatic, emotionally manipulative chunker THAT was. The funniest book of the year? I loved the sly humour in Patrick Susskind's Perfume. Your favourite literary character this year? Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, from Perfume. What a stinker! (Boom boom.) Your favourite children's book this year? I didn't read any. Your favourite classic of the year? Another Country, by James Baldwin. (A modern classic!) Your favourite non-fiction book this year? The Essential Crystal Handbook, by Simon and Sue Lilly. Your favourite biography this year? I didn't read any. I hope to read at least one in 2016! Your favourite collection of short stories this year? The Life to Come, by E.M. Forster. Your favourite poetry collection this year? I didn't read any poetry. Your favourite illustrated book of the year? Beautiful Darkness, by Fabien Vehlmann. (A graphic novel.) Your favourite publisher of the year? I don't have any particular favourites. Your favourite audiobook of the year? I rarely listen to audiobooks. I'll occasionally listen to the Sherlock Holmes radio series with Clive Merrison. Your favourite re-read of the year? I dipped in and out of Schott's Original Miscellany quite often. It's a fascinating little book of facts.