BookJumper

... aw, that's a beautiful story Vinay I'm sure that the old man who made you read is smiling down on you from his fluffy cloud.

... out of interest, how can one ReaderDigesterise The Curious Incident? It's hardly War and Peace !

Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances/Vlad Taltos books? I've just picked up The Phoenix Guards (first in the KR) because reviews had said that it & its sequels could be read as a series in their own right. I thought all would be clear but well, so far it isn't which annoys me because it's written in such a gorgeous, funny way and I really want to get stuck into it. Any chance of my understanding of Dragaera improving in the near future or do I need to read the Taltos books before the prequels?

If you don't mind a bit (but not vast amounts) of supernatural elements with your serial killers, Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series is really interesting in terms of criminal psychology.

I thought 1408 was awesome but then I haven't read the story, is it vastly different?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon l tend, sometimes more consciously than others, to steer clear of bestsellers, must-reads and page-turners. Occasionally though, a book will come along which will turn out to have deserved the hype surrounding it. This is one of them, even though the story's linear, as is the storytelling. Under normal circumstances, I'd fling a book across a room with great force at the umpteenth usage of 'and then he said, "...".' However. It is precisely thanks to a plot and devices that couldn't be more straightforward that Haddon is able to delve deep into the mind of his unusual protagonist, and provide as close a look as one is probably ever going to get into knowing what it means to have Asperger's. The narrative voice is real, vivid, instantly believable; for a short while, one gets to see and feel the world as young Christopher does, and what is fiction for but to enable one to step outside of oneself and into the mind and soul of another for a while? Good books entertain; great books manage to simultaneously entertain and teach without preaching. This is a great book. I have edited out this last paragraph of my review prior to posting because I was unable to do the book's message justice without sounding preachy myself, so you'll just have to pick it up and experience it first-hand. 5/5

I read all of the introductory bits + 5 pages of Steven Brusts's The Phoenix Guards at 6.30 this morning before conking out on the plane tray I'll see if I can make it to the end of the first chapter before meeting the same fate right about now.

The Shining is a really good film (I'll just say that it's left me terrified of the days of the week...!) Sheeta, just very very different from the book so you need to engage with it on its own terms

Phoebe shrugged, her gaze drifting outside as the bus rolled to a stop in front of the Oakvale mobile car park, where Tommy usually waited for it. "Probably... could not... get a word... in... edgewise," Colette said. "Har-de-har," Margi said, "you are such the little comedienne." The Kiss of Life (Generation Dead 2) by Daniel Waters

There are a couple of major differences between the book and the film, but since the changes were all made by Gaiman himself because of 'x works better on the page but y would work better on screen' kinda considerations, if you loved one you should love the other - I saw the film first and love both, f'rinstance .

I'd say Patagonia, so you can come back and tell me what it's like, it being on my TBR also though our tastes may differ, I tried Miller's Tropic of Cancer a few years back and couldn't finish it:lurker:!

I think I might be naughty and start with The Phoenix Guards Lavinia looks like it will make me cry, while The Phoebix Guards makes me chuckle with its very chapter headings - such as, Chapter the Eleventh: In Which the Plot, Behaving in Much the Manner Of a Soup to which Corn Starch Has been Added, Begins, at Last, to Thicken I think I'm in the mood for some chuckles. High fantasy told in the style of Alexandre Dumas & Rafael Sabatini, praised by Neil Gaiman and Tad Williams... what could be better?

I second Bram Stoker's Dracula - gorgeous book, though if English is not your first language you might find it a bit difficult - as well as anything by Oscar Wilde. His short stories are beautiful (quite a few made me cry) and should be a pretty safe bet if you don't want to commit to anything too long or hard to understand.

This was my first Gaiman also and I reckon it's the pretties thing he ever wrote, his others tend to be a bit darker but the quality is consistent, I'm pleased to report Neverwhere is particularly amazing, IMHO.

As you can tell from my updated TBR (new additions in green, although some aren't quite so new; I've neglected to update this for a while), I have given up on this whole 'reading one book at a time' business. I seem to actually get through more pages when I indulge whatever mood I might be in at any given reading time, so back to my old ways it is review of The Curious Incident etc. will be forthcoming.

... aaand this gets a further bump up the wishlist I too am a loser by the way, and join you in coveting the pretty three-volume box-set.

I was in Forbidden Planet with OH on Saturday to choose me some belate birthday presents but, as the half an hour we stayed in there was not nearly sufficient for me to make my mind up, I was back bright and early this morning when they opened with a voucher in my hand after a good hour's browsing, I emerged carrying: Stephen Brust, The Phoenix Guards Charles de Lint, The Blue Girl Ursula K. LeGuin, Lavinia ... now. Choices, choices, choices!

Aw of course not Pixie; in fact, I am flattered I could even PM you a little list myself if you like?

Did somebody say my name ? Seriously though, I wish it was something I could turn off at will, as I know full well that not every book requires the same level of analysis - but alas, my brain does it automatically whether I ask it to or not. Close Reading ruined me !

Put in spoiler tags just for you, Noll LOTR and Narnia

To be quite honest, I don't know what kind of reader I'd be if it wasn't for my own inclination and my family's encouragement. In middle school most of the Italian books we were set were dire, as the interesting stuff (such as Ariosto's genius epic poem Orlando Furioso) was considered difficult and only read in extract form; while for English we were usually asked to read heavily simplified - urgh! - versions of the classics. In high school, the Italian books we read in full continued to be mostly dire thanks to a particularly uninspired and uninspiring professor, and the English curriculum was simply laughable (particularly for a modern languages prep schoool!): I remember we spent 6 months on Shakespeare and only got through what was on our book, i.e. two speeches from Hamlet, two from Macbeth, and all of three Sonnets I let you imagine how behind I was when I went to the UK to read English Lit.

I certainly don't feel guilty abandoning books I'm not enjoying at all (I learnt my lesson after trawling through the bajillion pages of Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant only to discover that no, it didn't get better). I love good solid characters, poetic language and interesting philosophical themes, ideally all together but I will continue reading a plainly written book if I care for the characters and the themes intrigue me (i.e. Daniel Water's Generation dea) and so on. I guess if all three of the above are completely lacking, the book's toast. I am pretty good at judging whether I'll like a book or not before committing to it, so this happens rarely.

Ditto everything Noll said about Norwegian Wood - what was all that about? While there's books which, like NW, I have failed to see any point in, I can't actually remember any book where I thought the message was A and in fact it turned out to be B.

Ooooh, pretty cornery things! How does one make them, you clever Kell?