Oblomov

I have had a strange life, but here goes. 1. Born to unknown Asian parents in Chelmsford, Essex in November 1955. 2. Illegally adopted by another Asian couple & taken to Bangalore, India 8 months later, where I grew-up without knowing my origins. 3. Never got on with my foster family, and upon discovering in 1984 that I was living a false life, legally changed my name, disinherited myself and broke all contact with them - never to restablish. 4. Meanwhile, I had got married - incidentally my best friend's girlfriend whom he made the mistake of introducing to me . 5. Worked as Dr first in India as a GP, then as Radiologist before coming to the UK in 1985. Then changed to Anesthetics for 6 years before going back into General Practice in 1992 and here I am!

Yes, very much so. The great American cartoonist Carl Barks created $crooge McDuck, a Scotland born American tycoon who made his fortune in the Yukon gold rush. But Don Rosa, a Berks student and contemporary writer/cartoonist, greatly expanded this theme into a complete life history. $crooge was also a fan of Robert Service's poems. But unless you have been 'into' comics in general and the Disney Ducks in particular from an early age, the $crooge saga will have little significance.

Long shot, but tell me Lily, are you familiar with Uncle $crooge comics?

I can't help but quote a verse from Robert Service's Spell of the Yukon. I think it superbly reflects the peculiarities of human nature: There's gold and it's haunting and haunting It's luring me on as of old; Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting So much as just finding the gold. It's the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder, It's the forests where silence has lease; It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder, It's the stillness that fills me with peace. This way of looking at life is true with us in so many situations. We often do things not so much because of the ultimate reward, but for the thrill gleaned by searching for it high and low.

She did say that her life was an open book.....

OK, I have just one question: Why do you call Dale "Mount TBR"???

I am not much into poetry myself and the only book of the genre that I own is The Best of Robert Service; I like the sense of adventure imbibed in his poems, notably Spell of the Yukon. The wife likes poems by Ogden Nash & Robert Frost.

There is a book titled Magicats! by Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois (editors). It is an anthology with no less tha 18 fantasy cat stories, including My Father, the Cat that I mentioned ealier.

I am like-minded for new books, but I am a fan of the older (60s or earlier) sexist, politically incorrect "trashy covers" and have picked up several such books at random in Hay-on-Wye. Many of them were quite good reads, actually. That "trashy" cover of The Colorado Kid is excellent.

Anyone who likes cats should read Desmond Morris' classic Catwatching. I also once read a very unusual and fascinating fantasy short story called My Father, the Cat. I cannot recall the author, but the story appears in some old Sci-fi anthologies.

I think the aforementioned Savages by Shirley Conran is a great holiday read. At nearly 700 pages it is thick enough to last your entire holiday and the gradually increasing tension means that you'll always have the book to fall back upon when you want just to put up your feet and relax. Since the story itself starts with the women going to a tropical island paradise on a holiday, it should be fitting.

I think a lot of us do occasionally judge a book by its cover. Not for planned, serious reading of course, but for spontaneous, instinctive purchases. Just picture yourself in an airport lounge before a long flight but without a book; unless you find something that is specifically in your interest in the lounge's WH Smith, there is a chance that you'll pick up a book by the front cover picture and the synopsis at the back .

Looking at you profile picture, looks like you are indeed well read.

I cannot say that my tastes have changed, but since becoming a member I have re-learned to appreciate good books and value my collection. I think I spent too much spare time messing about with a computer in the last 8 years.

Back in the 1969, I got hooked to James Hadley Chase after reading his The World in My Pocket. Over the years I collected all his available books. The wife is very much into murder mysteries and has a full collection of P D James' books, among others.

I know many people who are very "working class" and have (or given their kids) a double-barelled surname. Some do that for fun; I know a Stephen Grimm married to a Nicola Reaper and the young couple apparently had to be persuaded not to give their young son Christopher both their names .

Baba Yaga - the "witch with a switch" - is an old friend. When I was growing up in India in the 60s, we used to get a lot of subsidised Russian fairy tales translated into English like Ivan the Fool, Chestnut Grey and so on. Many of those featured Baba Yaga - apparently is a common occurence in Russian Folklore. In fact, my nickname for the aforementioned sis-in-law - a rather fiesty character - is Baba Yaga!!

Funny that you should mention it because I was always under the impression that the depicted relationship between Noddy & Big Ears was more than a bit odd. I not only recall them sleeping in the same bed, but also kissing on the lips on a few occasions. I recall those images from my childhood very clearly and have discussed the (possible homosexual) implications with my wife, but she is less certain (but admits that her childhood reading memories are not as vivid as my own). I have never felt comfortable with Noddy books and on my request, my sis-in-law banned them from her house for her daughter - who is also our godchild. Although "coloured" myself, I never felt uncomfortable with Golliwogs, which frequently appeared in various stories. But in many of them, they were just part of the 'gang' and not singled out as being particularly naughty. I recall that we used to have books called "Brighter Grammar" in Primary School in India; in these, Grammar was taught through a series of animated pictures that included the Golliwog as a matter of course.

Er...this is not on the same lines as "having a friend for lunch" is it?

I don't have any particular nostalgia for books related to the places that I have lived in myself, but there are certain times and places that I enjoy reading about. Stories set in the South Pacific Islands Stories about settlers arriving in America in the first half of the 20th century hoping to find their slice of the "American Dream" and so on.

How do you mean "you like reading about food?" Are you a gourmet cook interested in ideas for new gastronomic creations? Or simply read about hearty meals and pretend you're the one eating them?

I recall that I was put off my it several times because of the apparently similar theme to William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a story which I recognise as a classic but personally detest. That story delves too deeply into the bestial side of human nature, the kind of depravity which I prefer to avoid even if the storyline is good. But in Savages, the characters remain on the recognised human side of the barrier despite their progressively enforced reliance on more basic instincts. On the face of it, some plot twists and writing style are undoubtedly commercially motivated but despite that, Savages remains a story of extreme innovation and survival against the odds. There is a bit more to the book than meets the eye and I for one quite like it.

That's OK. My FM was a delightful woman. She would have made a wonderful wardress ar Auschwitz or Treblinka.

1. The Killing Fields 2. Night of the Hunter 3. Casablanca 4. United 93 5. Airport (the 1970 original) 6. Thirteen Days 7. Tora! Tora!! Tora!!! 8. The Great Escape 9. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 10.Thief of Baghdad (the 1924 silent version)

As I have mentioned before The Consort by Anthony Heckstall-Smith is a classic example. A very unusual and brilliant satire, it is almost unknown and was the only work of fiction (a romantic fantasy at that) by a war historian. Although the hardcover - which came specially with two separate dustjackets - was a bestseller in 19 coutries in 1962, only 2 paperback editions came out in 1965 & 1969. The book was never officially banned as such but rumours are that the British Government gave plenty of 'incentive' to the distributors to withdraw it completely.