Kell

An unusual title will usually catch my attention. I love Christopher Brookmyre's titles, such as A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away and One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night - they reflect his kind of humour quite well. Another title I loved was Bimbos of the Death Sun - I just thought it sounded so absurd I had to try it. The cover looked very sci-fi trashy (a blonde bimbo, a geeky guy and a computer), but it was very fitting to the book which was set at a sci-fi convention. And yes, it was pretty funny too (if anyone's interested, it's by Sharyn McCrumb). It must be difficult to get the cover and title right sometimes - they need to reflect the story and the style without giving too much away, but with enough to grab your attention - it's a fine line.

How about tagging them as "supernatural", Nici?

Bonny book covers attract me, but if it's a book by an author I already know I like, I'm less likely to be put off by a crummy cover (although I may wish it looked nicer than it does). For example - I hate the Josh Kirby covers on the Terry Pratchett books, but all the earlier ones had those horridly grotesque, bulbous little beings sprawled all over the covers - ick! It didn't stop me buying them though. If it's an author I've never heard of, I'm more likely to pick it up and read the back cover blurb is it's nice to look at in the first place.

Hi Moussecake, and to the forum! Not to worry about yacking about your books - we ALL do that here! I'm currently listening to an audio book of The Hound of the Baskervilles and I'm about to start reading The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood.

You're welcome - I'm glad you enjoyed it. His other two, Dying Light and Broking Skin are both excellent too.

I did it a few times when I was a kid and didn't have a bookmark handy. I got into such trouble from my Mam when she discovered what I'd done, that I never forgot it and now balk at the thought of turning the corner.See what happens when a bookworm mother drives that into her daughter? LOL!

Strangely, I've never had a problem with the language where Shakespeare is concerned - even as a kid I loved the way everything was so expressive, yet set out so rigidly (oh, that iambic pentameter!). It's later on that I seem to have a problem with language. For example, going back to Emma again - I've been assured there's a fair bit of humour in that one, but I completely missed it. Perhaps it was because the writing and language style was so new to me, or perhaps it was just that this particular book bored me, as when I listened to an audio book of Northanger Abbey, I "got" it all and loved it. And when I followed that by reading Pride and prejudice, I found whole swathes of humour. I know what you mean there - I read Dracula when I was very young (I think I must have been only 9 or 10 at the time) but loved it, and I recently read Frankenstein (for reading circle) and enjoyed that too. I think that genres within the realm of classics are slightly more clearly definable too: You can pick out the gothic horrors, the romances, the social comentaries, the detective/mysteries, and the sci-fi/fantasy more easily than you could with contemporary writing, which ALL seems to be multi-genre these days (not that I'm complaining either way!). Incidentally, although I've never been a reader of romances, classic romances seem to be a different thing altogether - I adored Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice - both very romantic novels!

I'm pretty new to classics - I've spent most of my life unconsciously avoiding books written prior to 1900, so recently I decided to rectify that and make a concerted effort to try them. For the most part I've enjoyed them, however I have found a slight problem with some of them... I'll illustrate this particular example with Emma by Jane Austen (which I read last summer). What was it that really got my goat about this book? It was the fact that nobody ever actually DID anything! It was a continuous round of visiting neighbours to drink tea and discuss a letter that came six months ago from a distant cousin who tells all the news about visiting HER neighbours and discussing six-month old letters! I found it incredibly boring and found most of the characters very annoying. It almost put me completely off Austen all together. Fortunately, I tried Northanger Abbey earlier this year and loved it, which made me decide to try a few more of Jane's novels. Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else had anything they didn't like about classics? Or am I the only one?

I don't thin I have any "guilty" pleasures - mine are all out there on my shelves for all the world to see,, and I take whatever I happen to be reading at the time everywhere with me in my bag, which I then openly read in public. Dale seems to think I read a lot of "naughty" books though and looking through my titles there seem to be a fair few with either steamy sex scenes in them, or are renowned to be steamy ni one way or another: Maia by Richard Adams Savages by Shirley Conran Girl with a One-Track Mind by Abby Lee The Sexual Life of Catherine M by Catherine Millet Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence And that's just off the top of my head - there are certainly more. I'll be getting a reputation if I carry on like this!

I always take at least half a dozen books with me if I'm going for 1-2 wekks, so I have a choice depending on what mood I'm in when I get reading time and during travel (if I'm flying or taking a train). Of course, I usually buy a couple more at my destination too... This year I'll be visiting friends in Swindon in August, so we'll be flying down to Luton. The majority of my week-of-luggage bag will most likely be given over to books. I don't yet know which ones they'll be, but I've decided to take a mixture comprising of the following: A chunky book A classic book A modern classic book A book by a foreign author A book from the 1001 books to read before you die list Of course, several of those might be covered by a single book, but you never know till you pick it up!

I think I'd be quite happy to break it down into something as simple as fiction and non-fiction, then just list them alphabetically by author - I could browse for hours!

You can't - I just meant that supernatural wasn't there and that was my "other".

I forgot to hit the "other" button - I wanted to add supernatural to mine...

I'd say that's a combination of both sci-fi AND fantasy, as there are mysthical creatures AND scientific gadgets. I'd also class it as crime fiction, in a sense, as Artemis is, after all, a criminal genius. There's also the added pseudo-genre of "Youth Fiction" (I hesitate to say "children's fiction" or "young adult", because I think it's somewhere in between).

It seems to be getting more and more blurred with each new publication. I don't know if it's just me, but I thin it used to be easier to compartmentalise on genre than it is these days. Nowadays it's the norm for any novel to cross the boundaries between two, three, or even more genres between the covers. It's not even as easy as saying, "Which genre is the predominant one", because it's quite often a pretty even spread. Many historical fiction novels have a romantic element and perhaps a major war. On top of that, they may have a plot to overthrow a government with some murder and mystery thrown in for good measure. You might then have the main character having a prophetic dream that helps catch the hired killer who has run rampant to boot. Right there in that small idea there are many genres: History Romance War Murder/mystery/crime supernatural Perhaps it's set in a slightly alternative history - that adds fantasy to the mix. Then, if the evil killing-spree guy is a mad scientist who murders with his devilish inventions - is that science fiction too? How would you then define that by a single category? Would you simply label it "Historical Fiction" due to the fact that it's set in the past? I think that in many cases it's the author that gets pigeon-holed more than the individual book - Stephen King is generally thought of as a horror writer, but I would argue the case that he's more of a thriller writer, often with a psychological twist, rather than "classic" horror.

It depends - if I'm eating lunch (at work, for example), I eat with my right hand and hold the book with my left, turning the pages with my right between bites. If I'm in the bath, I hold the book in my right hand, as the shelf where my cuppa is sitting is on the left. In bed or on the sofa, I hold the book in both hands. I guess you could say I'm an ambidextrous reader...

It's been lovely having you here, Maggie. I do hope you'll pop in occasionally to say "hi".

What was it about them that you disliked, Kylie? Anything in particular? Style? Plot? Characters? (I ask because I quite liked them, but know that both have very strong love / hate camps).

Hello and to the forum, Clockwork Frog! I hope you'll enjoy it here. As you'll probably find out soon enough, we have members from all over the world here, but I think you're the first in Cyprus (if I'm wrong, please, someone correct me!). I look forward to chatting books with you.

I just had this one arrive this very weekend, courtesy of Gyre, who very kindly sent it to me. I've very much looking forward to reading it as not only is it by James Herbert (who has written a lot of books I've enjoyed), but I've heard very good things about it from folks on here - and that's usually a higher accolade, from my point of view, than if 100 professional reviewers said "buy this book - it's great!". Here's an addition to the original question, actually - what is it specifically that you find unreadably scary? Is there anything in particular that would just give you too much of the willies to read a book?

Hello & A Writer - it's lovely to have you here. And another member in Scotland too - I'm just up the road from you in Aberdeen! We're slowly taking over the forum here - LOL! I'll look forward to hearing about some of your favourite books and authors, as well as about your own work. We have a few writers on here now...

I certainly plan to read more of Atwood's work, Paula. I enjoyed the audio book of The Handmaid's tale and I'm looking forward to The Robber Bride...

We never mind old threads being resurrected! Often all it needs is a new member adding their thoughts to a thread and a whole discussion gets picked up from one of their points.

Well, seeing as how you read TWO chunks in April, I'm sure we can forgive you for missing May. I'm planning on reading a Margaret Atwood novel for my Chunk Challenge this month - The Robber Bride. Looking forward to reading it...

Aww, thanks! I think what is considered horrific differs from person to person. For example, I often find gory stuff hilarious, however unintentional that is on the part of the author, as I have rather a dark and twisted sense of humour. I also like that kind of horror where you get right inside the mind of someone completely psychopathic - it's like experiencing the other side with all the glee of the psychopath, but without the guilt and horrid associations of actually being a psycho myself which, I assure you all, I'm not, so you don't need to run away screaming or anything like that when you see me!). I agree with that point - I actually rather enjoy it when the bad guy gets away with it and when the relationship doesn't work out all "happily ever after." It's also worth noting here that the ideas I've had for my own vamp-fest aren't particularly "happy"...