Slim Jenkins

Books rarely make me laugh either...perhaps because I don't read 'comic' novels...but...Donleavy's 'A Fairy Tale of New York' had me guffawing years ago. That and 'The 2nd Armada Book of Fun', which I've had since it was published in 1971. Sample: Ist cannibal: I don't like my mother-in-law 2nd cannibal: Well just eat the chips

Life's full of 'em! I love football...hate aspects of it...use the local butcher and the supermarket...love jazz...hate Jamie Cullum...you're thinking in the outmoded either/or pattern! Contrariness is all the rage these days. Not that I think I'm being contrary...it's the way the world is these days...possibly longing for a chat over the fence...making do with the online community...:lol:

I use Amazon too...you can't argue with a selection that big...buy lots from the s/h private sellers. Likewise with music. You go in a shop and their selection pales compared to online...natural evolution! And who doesn't enjoy those packages coming through the door?

I go in Borders sometimes but never like the (lack of) atmosphere...much prefer dusty little shops manned by a grumpy b*stard wherein s/h gems can be rescued from the shelves...those special books you never knew existed...or ones you saw many years ago and didn't buy...the historic treaures that you know you may never find again...it's close to religious experience, collecting these 'documents'.

You mean they turned down all those Mills & Boons? I've experienced the same thing a few times....offered what I considered to be quality books in good condition and they take five out of twenty. Now the local community shop gets them. In my experience s/h booksellers are a miserable breed. Perhaps they're all frustrated writers...surrounded by rows of reminders of what they failed to do. I used to sell s/h books on Camden market. A woman once complained that I was selling a paperback for

Or snowdrops in July/////:lol:

Oh I'm not displeased...hence the

To say it 'changed my life' would be overstating things but 'On The Road' made the greatest impression, I think. It showed me that novels could be more liberating than I ever thought possible and a lot more 'hip' than what I'd been forced to read at school.

Oxfam book shops (nothing I love more than looking in them!). Also buy from Amazon. There used to be a fantastic shop in Camden called Compendium...it had a good attitude and, I suppose, shared my view of literature. The guy that worked in there had similar taste to me so he would always tip me off about what was worth reading. Who has a relationship with their bookseller anymore? Just people selling us books...and shops pushing stuff at me that, usually, I have no interest in...

Good choice! Mine's the Collins English Dictionary...not that I remmember much from it.

Thanks to all who've bothered to welcome me. It's turned into a nostalgia thread! 'Our memories are card indexes consulted, and then put back in disorder by authorities whom we do not control'. - Cyril Connolly

I find that hard to believe...pretty basic skills required...perhaps he reflects the state of 'musicianship' amongst the current young generation? He's rubbish!

Plays and likes anything? What is he? A genius with no identity?

Thank you for allowing me to join you... Thanks Judy - I knew a generation gap had opened up behind me when a lad asked me to tell him all about Punk Rock...

Thanks for the welcome you lot.

I thought the list was amusing...ironic...but sadly true aswell. Anyway, one minute 'Nobody reads' and the next we have Richard & Judy to thank for the 'boom in reading'...so it goes. It's no great thing simply to brag about reading when all you read is tripe, is it? YouTube's more stimulating than a lot of literature. Perhaps the idea that to read is inherently better than not doing so is a hangover from ye olde days when reading meant the improvement of one's education and spiritual nourishment...except for the poor proles who had their Penny Dreadfuls. With the popularity of Kate Price and JKR I think the state of the nation's cultural health is in excellent condition...

The book must not contain characters who sound like they could have been in a Punk band. Or be too 'literary' in the sense that it just shows off the writer's private education. Or be about middle-aged men and their record collection/children/failed marriage. Or involve intergalactic empires and comprise of so many words that, laid end-to-end, they'd reach the moon. No wizards, please. A good read for me has stylish prose, be that hardboiled minimalism or something else....perhaps like Greene it makes 'political' points without lecturing...or like Burroughs it plays with words and their meaning to challenge notions of conformist literature and society.

Hi everyone I won't pretend to be clever, rich, successful or handsome... Here in Camden Town, when I'm not out drinking with Amy, partying with Jude, swapping notes with Alan Bennett or helping Tim Burton with film scripts, I like to chat on forums so I thought I'd join up and see what you all have to say. Philip Larkin said most books have 'a beginning, a muddle, and an end' - I tend to agree, although sometimes I finish one and feel satisfied. More often than not I stop when the 'muddle' begins because I've got fussier with age. If you're wondering how old I am...I remember Andy Pandy, coal fires, a home without a phone and Ziggy Stardust when he first appeared. Some authors I like: Bill Burroughs Cormac McCarthy Raymond Chandler Grahame Greene Sounds: Charlie Parker Lee Perry David Bowie James Brown Films: Taxi Driver The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Apocalypse Now Casablanca I write fiction and had a book about modern jazz published a few years back. Along with dating the most popular girl at secondary school it's my proudest achievement. 'Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth' TTFN

strange but true coincidences that would suit one of ACC's 'mystery' books...maybe... ...the night before I heard that he'd died I picked up his Profiles Of The Future collection, randomly, as you do, and read a chapter...then, the following night, listening to Count Arthur Strong's radio show, the showbiz legend is mistaken for Arthur C Clarke...

hi everyone picked this up the other day after spending a long time in Foyles wandering the racks as you do and looking at their brilliant collection of obscure foreign authors etc before settling for I Am Legend and feeling slightly ashamed of myself because I don't buy film tie-in books never mind ones with Will Smith on the cover (Is he a snob, or what? you ask - yes I am, possibly) - pleased to say that up to p62 I'm enjoying it - also good to see that Hollywood got their casting right with good ol' Will since the novel's 'hero' has blue eyes and is of 'English-German stock'...think I'll give that a miss.