Raven

I'd just put it down to how the forum has developed over time. When I first started posting here (over a decade ago now) people used to start threads for individual books more often, or threads for popular authors or series, but that has largely dropped off over the years as people have left and the remining posters have focused more on their own reading blogs.

Finished my re-read of the Rivers of London graphic novels this afternoon with The Fey and the Furious; my 14th book of the year, which is a coincidence as it was my 14th book of last year as well! It was interesting to re-read them back-to-back as I didn't realise how interconnected they are until doing so (and when I say interconnected, I mean with each other rather than just the main series of novels). There are several recurring characters the graphic novels use and elements from previous stories crop up again in later ones. The graphic novels also flesh out background characters from the novels as well, making them an interesting companion piece to the main series.

Equal Rites is near the top of my favourites list. I read the Discworld books in order (there weren't very many of them when I started!) and although I enjoyed The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, I felt they were a bit disjointed (they are basically several linked short stories spread over the two books). Equal Rites - to my mind - is Terry's first proper Discworld novel, and along with Mort it put his books at the top of my to-be-read pile. Of his earlier novels, I would say my favourite is still Guards! Guards! Of the rest, I'd say Lords and Ladies and Night Watch are the best, but there are a lot of others that are very good as well!

So, after vowing not to re-read any books this year, I was flicking through the unread list on my Kindle last night, nothing was inspiring me, and then I hit upon Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites. I've never read it on my Kindle, so technically it's not a re-read. *cough* ^That's not COVID

Don't cut it up!

Hux's post about Norwegian Wood has reminded me that I saw Murakami's new collection of short stories, First Person Singular, in Waterstone's last weekend. I'm tempted to buy it, as I always enjoy his short stories, but all my other Murakami books are paperback... Bloody OCD...

Good to hear you enjoyed it. I read it a few years ago now and enjoyed it as well, but - as you say - it is Murakami's most mainstream novel and (from my own experience) I can confirm that it is a very different from book from most of his other novels and short stories (which usually tend to have a more surreal or fantastical aspect to them - which I quite like...). With regard to the sex, that does seem to be a cultural thing; the Japanese authors I have read are a lot less inhibited than western writers. I used to think Murakami used sex as a blunt tool in his stories, but I now think I was reading too much into it at the time and by-and-large, it's quite often something that just happens during the course of a story. A lot of Murakami's writing is set in the sixties as well, and jazz, bars, classical music, cooking - along with sex - are all recurring motifs in his writing (he dropped out of University and ran a jazz bar for a while, and his writing keeps going back to that). I think there are also a lot of Japanese readers who would argue your definition of a classic - it has certainly assumed that status in Japan and not just because it was popular (though Murakami did move to the US after it was published, to get out of the gaze of the media, such was its impact). There is a long-standing Murakami thread here: Haruki Murakami - General Fiction - Book Club Forum That has more information on his novels, from a range of posters, that you might find useful. Also, there is a film version of Norwegian Wood if you are interested (my own opinion was that it is well filmed, but I remember being disappointed with it when I saw it, as I felt it lacked the humour that I enjoyed in the book).

Hurrah! Happy Birthday! Always put off today what you can ignore tomorrow! Careful, this is a book forum... Doh!

Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh is 99p on the kindle today.

Whilst I prefer printed books, I do use a Kindle quite regularly as well. Trying new authors is the most common reason, but also for reading longer books and books that are out of print as well. Does the Kobo not tell you how far through a book you are? The Kindle has a page count, percentage read and other stats you can cycle through at the bottom of the screen (you can also turn them off if you don't want to be discouraged when reading a long book!)

Give it a try, the next time you are in there* *Don't come crying to me if you get banned from the shop, though... Yay!

Pff... After five minutes in the shop you'll be cracking open the nearest tome and rubbing your face in fresh book pages again, just like the rest of us. Hope everything is okay and you managed to get some reading done!

Popped into my local Waterstone's last Saturday. Whilst I was walking around it was rather sobering to realise the last time I had been in there was Christmas Eve, the day the shop was last open before Lockdown 2: The Tricky Second Act.

It's a pass, then.

Are they likely to do the washing up?

Being really old, I have no idea what a teenager sounds like these days, but I thought Ben did a convincing job (well, convincing enough for me, anyway).

Five Neil Gaiman novels on Kindle for 99p each, today.

Nah, I was thinking about Paul Newman. Again... What a nice way of saying "you're really old..." Now that actually works for me, because it is her stream of consciousness. If is wasn't written so, then I think it would have read too much like Peter again, which was a criticism I had of Oktober Man.

Or you could always double post to show your enthusiasm!

I very occasionally underline something I might want to quote or find again easily in red, but that is very occasionally indeed. I otherwise try to keep books in pristine condition, where possible. I'm with your brother on this one, and I'll add a Gollumesque Murderer! for emphasis!

I was at work, sadly. ETA: I have been looking at other people's pictures of bookshops on social media, however...

Okay, fess up, who went to a book shop today?

My sister had half a shelf full of them!