Kylie

I would think it's better to receive multiple copies of a book than no copies at all. When I bought The Last Continent from a second-hand bookshop recently, the shop owner showed me a large collection (not sure if it was complete) of brand new Pratchetts that she had just received. She was debating whether to sell them as one big collection, or individually. I might need to take another trip to that shop soon to see what she has decided, then see whether it's too expensive to ask for them for Christmas Update: Well, it wouldn't be so expensive for someone to buy them for me now that I've just knocked a few more off the list. I went out at lunch to look in a cheap book shop and found 3 Discworlds (I've never seen them in that shop before!).

Welcome Chicken! Looking forward to discussing books with you (although not Diana Gabaldon, because I haven't read any of her work) .

Has anyone read The Running Man by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)? I was just reading a plot summary and it sounds pretty interesting.

My goodness! How many of those do you reckon you've read? I'm so jealous I checked my LibraryThing tags earlier and apparently I've bought/received 170 books so far this year. That's about 1/3 of my entire collection.

Whoops. I agree, still a great price. I don't think I've ever seen hardbacks anywhere near that cheap (except second-hand).

Wow, 6 paperbacks for $7.95? That's a pretty good deal! I've got a complete set of Penguin's Read Red. I didn't like the covers at first, but they've really grown on me. Great to have you on board with us Paul! Pride and Prejudice is my favourite Austen (the only other one I've read is Emma, which I also loved).

Ooh, where can I get one of those? Good post Adam. Look at how much time we hard-core book addicts spend on the net! I can imagine how easily technology and new gadgets would distract people's attention from reading.

I love dictionaries and thesauri. I bought a beautiful big one when I was doing a proofreading and editing course a couple of years ago. If I'm reading at home I'll look a word up, especially if it's one of those words you start seeing/hearing all over the place all of a sudden and it gets really irritating that you don't know what it means. I always have a dictionary/thesaurus widget on my Mac at work which gets used quite a lot. In fact, I used it just then to look up the plural of 'thesaurus'. Ah, I love the English language - so many different words for different things.

I love discovering second-hand bookshops, although I think I've only touched the surface in Sydney. Which ones around Sydney would you recommend, Roger?

I keep threatening to open up the wall between my bedroom and the spare one next door so I can have more space. My parents think I'm joking.

Oh my goodness. I couldn't see pics of it yesterday when I visited Amazon but just saw them now. It's certainly not attractive is it? Definitely looks like something out of the 80s. Another turnoff point for me. Drop the price and change the design (maybe they should get Apple on board!) and then I might consider it.

Looks like hardbacks may be going the way of the dodo. Article here.

Hi Ben and welcome to the forum! Speaking of Orwell and essays, I know that Anthony Burgess wrote a sequel to 1984, called 1985. It's in two parts - the first part is a sequel and the second part is a collection of essays discussing 1984. I would love to get my hands on this and read it. Anyway, enough prattle from me. I'm sure you'll enjoy it here!

Hello there and welcome to the forum!

I completely agree with the last few posts. I like reading a lot of classics, but I need to intersperse them with 'light' reads to give myself a break. Something like Bill Bryson, Roald Dahl or JK Rowling (or any other kids book) does the trick for me.

I've catalogued most of mine on LibraryThing and according to that I have a little over 500. It really doesn't sound like that much, but boy they take up a lot of room! At the rate I've been buying books lately, my collection is likely to double in size in the next couple of years.

While I'll always prefer holding a physical book, these gadgets interest me. The only problem I've had with them in the past is that they never allow you to put your own texts on them - you always must buy direct from the seller, although it seems you can add your own with the Kindle. I have stacks of etexts I've downloaded from Project Gutenberg and I would love to put them on such a device. Actually I've just been reading about the features on Amazon's site and it's looking pretty good. It's been getting a lot of negative reviews at Amazon, but the device hasn't been released yet so I think people are getting ahead of themselves! I recommend reading some of the reviews listed on Amazon's site from people who were used in the testing of the device. They, at least, appear to know what they're talking about. It's certainly interesting, but pretty pricey so I wouldn't consider one unless it came down in price (a lot!)

Yeah, come on Andy. Stop beating around the bush and tell us what you really think I'm up to p 98 at the moment. Not much has happened but I like McEwan's writing style. If not for this, it would be a very dull book indeed.

Oh, easy! John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr The four men who have brought me the most happiness in my life And then I probably spend all evening blushing and not saying a word because I would be so nervous

It's certainly an unusual (but enjoyable!) read. I was just thinking this morning that I'd like to watch the movie again. Quite well done, I thought, considering the story - but then I might be biased because I think Orson Welles is brilliant. Have either of you seen it?

I agree, Adam. It must be the time of year. I've been reading the same book for three and a half weeks, and I've only just passed p 400 today. It's so frustrating because I'm really enjoying it but at the same time I just can't get into it properly. I'm hoping things pick up after this because there are still a few books I want to read before the end of the year and I need to get a move on!

Welcome to the group Bambi! It'll be interesting to get insights from someone who has studied them in-depth. I'm glad you changed your opinion about Austen's writing.

The 'L' is missing from 'Girl'. It goes straight from 'Gir' to the smilies

Hi Bambi-eyes and welcome! I hope the forum can help take your mind off the pain I love Charles Dickens too - looking forward to discussing books with you!

Muggle, it seems the general consensus was that it's brilliant. I don't think I've heard anyone saying that they haven't enjoyed it. I haven't read it yet myself but intend to sometime in the first half of next year (my reading is booked solid until about then )