Oblomov

Thanks Echo. The Truffles Canapes must be what I was referring to earlier. But instead of mere shavings, some place small truffles chunks on the bread.

No, not the chocolate variety, you can get those anywhere. I meant the rare mushrooms that are found in Italy and some other temperate climates. I have seen that Wikipedia link Kylie, but it only describes the Truffles themselves, not how to eat them. I may be wrong, but I think lightly roasted truffles are sometimes eaten like a snack with pre-dinner cocktails in uppity gatherings. I'll try to get myself invited to an X-mas do in Buckingham Palace or similar!

I have had a lifelong ambition to eat some really good truffles, but not only have never done so, but don't know how best to enjoy them. I do not want the miniscule shavings added to other dishes, but eat them in large chunks like they do in some posh movie dinners. The problem is, I have no idea how they should be cooked, seasoned or eaten. Someone please enlighten me!

My fruitcake wife has just bought a genuine Art Deco bookcase for

It cuts both ways for me. Very acceptable, even desirable, if it is a hand signature by the author with a message or, if it is a used book gifted by one celebrity to another. But I hate the idea of Joe Bloggs's message to his one-time girlfriend defacing a used book that I want to buy.

There is something exhilarating in poking about through old books and magazines to find something with a link to one's past or different & interesting. We go to Hay-on-Wye every other year and almost a third of the books in our house are from there.

This is a slightly complicated phenomenon that I am trying to express, but in my 40 odd years as a reader, I have concluded that many authors subconsciously build their characters on inspiration from (rather than "based on") others from a different era. I am not referring to plots, but to indivudual characterisation. For example, I am convinced that Ken Follet consciously or subconsciously bases his character pattern in the style of Somerset Maugham. Considering that the two men not only belonged to different eras but had widely different writing styles, this might seem preposterous, but the similarity is there. Both writers quite delibrately leave a gray area between "good" and "bad" or "right" and "wrong" natures in their characters which gives a very "down to earth" feeling. Characters in their books are never better or worse than they need to be and almost everyone has hidden agendae that even others closest to them would never know. To me, that very closely reflects real life characters....something that I always admired in Maugham's stories. Follett too keeps getting us deep into the innermost feelings of his characters and even though his plots don't always jell, I quite enjoy reading his books for that reason.

For me, it would be unquestionably The Consort by Anthony Hextall-Smith. It starts out light a lightweight comedy and gradually gets darker and darker but somehow maintains a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere at the same time. Very appropriate for the futility of the occasion.

For me, Harback v Paperback depends on the book and any special reasons for either. As a general rule, I prefer hardback for quality non-fiction books simply because they are often sources of reference and handled regularly. I go for paperbacks for fiction for reasons of economy, space and convenience; also, a paperback with an interesting cover gives the psychological impression of a relaxed read while a hardback can appear too "businesslike"...if you know what I mean. Having said that, I do have some fiction hardbacks for special reasons. An example is Bernard Glemser's Girl on a Wing, no more than a lightweight comedy about life airline stewardesses in the early 60s, but I got the hardback because I like that title better than the one that was changed for all paperback editions...The Fly Girls. Then there is a very special hardback edition (the only one available) of one of my all-time favourite books - The Consort by Anthony Hextall-Smith. The hardback edition has two separate dust jackets.

I am not sure that I would have read all the books that I own by the time I pop my clogs. I keep telling myself that I'll have more reading time once I retire from work (in about 9 years time), but then that also means more TV and DVD watching time, more socialising and other "catch-up" activities. We humans are generally crazy.

Usually, yes. But there is one place where I simply cannot avoid the temptation and that is at the proverbial Airport bookshop before a long haul flight. It has become almost a tradition to buy a paperback - usually a thriller - before a flight to read along the way.

There are enough lunatics to suggest conspiracy theories for just about any major event. For instance: - James Dean was murdered. - The Moon landings never took place. - Elvis is still alive, well and what's more, singing! - The Titanic never sank. - Lindbergh accidentally killed his own baby son & then framed Hauptmann - The 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the US Govt There have been books written and published about quite a few of these and more nonsensical theories.

All over the place. I have my own home office that is wall to wall with books of all kinds; so does the wife. We also have a 'library' at home for general books.

For me it is a very difficult question to answer. I have to read a lot of professional stuff and so the time available for recreational books is limited. As a rough estimate, I'd say that I read about 20 fiction books in a year and maybe an equal number of non-fiction, but a lot of the latter are reference works and so read in stages.

I am sure that every one of us readers have come across some really strange and unlikley names for characters in various books. Which one would you say is the most preposterous name of them all? Personally, I have never seen anything to beat MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR of Catch 22.

Yes. After I read Alfred Draper's The Amritsar Massacre about 20 years ago, my entire outlook about the Eastern & Western cultures changed and the outcome of that has remained to this day. The book made me realise that no matter now "small" the world becomes, certain basic cultural differences & prerogatives will remain in place, as they should. The book helped me to recognise and understand my own comfort zones and to cherish certain common grounds in people from my part of the world.

My wife and several friends have compared me with Captain Yossarian of Catch 22 because they think that I am always trying to get away from the present and wishing that I was somewhere else. Probably true.

If you like sexist, gloriously politically incorrect and very cliched thrillers from the 50s & 60s, go for books by James Hadley Chase. All are under 200 pages and ridiculously easy and enoyable reads.

Somewhat predictably (and I won't say why so ), Liz Bennett of Pride & Prejudice seems to be the most popular choice thus far with 4 nominations. Personally, I considered her character as weak and indecisive. But what is more interesting for me is that Yossarian of Catch 22 is a close second with 3 mentions. It will be interesting to see WoKK's choices.

In no particular order 1. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 2. Iago - William Shakespeare 3. Nostromo - Josef Conrad 4. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 5. Captain Yossarian - Joseph Heller 6. Orlando - Virginia Woolf 7. Hawkeye - Fenimore Cooper 8. Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain 9. $crooge McDuck - Carl Barks 10.Scarlett O'Hara - Margaret Mitchell

If possessiveness about one's books is being a "Book Nazi", then I am the Fuhrer himself. Nobody but nobody touches my books without my permission (and that goes for the wife as well) and on the rare occasions that I do lend someone a book, I check out their CV first and then put the fear of God into them to make sure that they look after it well. I am not ashamed of this attitude at all.

We have some Indian wicker short stools called moda. I have one in my home office near the radiator. I like to sit on it with my legs stretched out in front and read, leaning back against the radiator, enjoying the cool metal on hot days and vice versa.

Extremely heartening to know that today's kids can actually be made to read books. Congratulations and I sincerely wish that the library is used regularly. As I have said before, curling up with a good book with a glass of chilled lemonade to hand has a charm that no computer can ever match.

I can usually remember the plot details of books that I have read quite well, even from over 30 years ago. I promise that I am not exaggerating or showing off - it is just a fact. For instance, I read most older James Hadley Chase titles between 1968 and 1975, and even today the plots, sequence of events and in some cases even the character names, are quite vivid in my mind. I used to remember movie plots and the characters in the same way. I still do with classic movies - I can recall almost every scene in Gone With the Wind or Casablanca - but am beginning to forget many modern films after a few months.

I don't recall that particular story, but like many Indian kids, I grew up on a diet of Russian Fairy tales. We used to get translated editions at subsidised rates and they were more affordable than the mainstream Grimm or Andersen tales. Russian folk tales are generally darker than the usual German ones, but often with a moralistic ending. Baba Yaga - the witch with a switch - is a common interloper in Russain fairy tales, as is Ivan the Fool. My favourite is Chesnut Grey.