BookJumper

I have edited my earlier post with my reply to a rather trollish thread on the Amazon forums whose OP reads: "books will soon be obsolete as the sony e-reader will out sell reading books. muhaaha". Having read some of the responses byly and largely elaborating this dreadful premise, I just had to intervene with my tuppence... !

Football... sorry, no, I don't think so . Oh, I cried and jumped and sang Fratelli d'Italiaaaaaaaaa with my hand on my heart back when we won the World Cup, but on normal days I don't even read the sports section of the free morning paper, nevermind books about the thing. And in any case... Scotland's a bit far away !

Oh, get the Jasper, do - you'll love his books, they're awesomeness incarnate and easily the most engaging, diverting and original thing I've read in years! I say "books" because there are currently four sequels to The Eyre Affair in existence (book six is in progress), as well as two spin-off books (aka the Nursery Crime series). Enough to keep anyone occupied for some time really; myself I'm halfway through book three... I'd suggest reading it hot on the heels of Jane Eyre - it should enhance your enjoyment of both let me know how you find them !

I'd only go if I wanted the book signed, methinks - ticketed events cost money (which you only get back if you buy the book afterwards); unticketed events mean long queues, which I couldn't manage even if I wanted to. Any reason you ask ?

I quite sympathise with your plight, actually. While I finished Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm as well as Kafka's Metamorphosis and thought them well-written and influential works, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the experience of reading them as such; not in the way I enjoy reading Shakespeare, Milton, the Romantics, Austen. I find Lawrence a hateful mysoginist, could never get into Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and would rather eat my own brain with a spoon rather than re-attempt Joyce's Ulysses without (in the immortal words of Bill Bailey) "a Guide to Ulysses and a Handbook to the Guide to Ulysses". I also agree on Mansfield Park - I could not believe I was trudging through a Jane Austen novel, trudging I tell you!!!

I can see the place of portable e-readers. Having spent 4 years of university struggling to lug around tomes such as Duncan Wu's "Romanticism: An Anthology", "An Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings" and Shakespeare's Complete Works, I would have then welcomed one of the things - provided such titles were available for it in their most recent editions (yeah, as if). I am also quite a gadgety person, particularly if the gadget is sleek and available in pink (see my Asus EEE PC and my Samsung Digimax NV15), HOWEVER: Given that (as I'll explain in a moment) my use of one would be quite limited, they are not worth the bazillions they cost. Consider the joy of getting lost in bookstores, the tactile thrill upon first picking up a particularly nicely-bound book, the sheer lusciousness of being able to read in the bath, the instant reliving of most of your life just by glancing at the bookshelf, I could go on... how is an e-reader, electronic ink or not, going to replicate any of those experiences? To me, hunting for a particular cover, attending signings of first editions, reading the inscriptions left inside books by the people who've thoughfully passed them onto me are just as important as the words on the pages. One of my favourite books is Ferenc Molnar's The Paul Street Boys; I used to borrow it out of the library constantly as a child, and had never owned my own copy. Then, one Christmas, my father regaled me with one. The paragraph written in purple fountain pen on the title page to the effect that, even as an adult, I shouldn't be ashamed to shed a tear for the story is as dear to me as the story itself. Should they ever de-price these things enough for me to grab one for (say) fifty pounds and make academic ebooks available for no more than half the price of their paperback counterparts, I'll probably invest - after all, fifty pounds is not two hundred and odd; one can come to terms with breaking/losing/having stolen fifty pounds of equipment in a way one can't two hundred and odd. Even then however, it will be a supplement to my beloved book collection, in the same way mp3s have not replaced my CDs, which in turn live quite happily alongside my vinyls. At the end of the day, if it came to the decision: convert all my books to e-format or be condemned to lug the Duncan Wu Anthologies of the world around forever, I know which one I'd choose.

Well, someone - the Horatio-figure - needs to be alive to recount the tale of the "sweet prince"... ! As promised, more thoughts (and for the record, you're quite welcome to quote me as extensively as you please, although if you do I'd appreciate it if you sent me a PM so I can give you my real name to stick in your foonotes ): I'm not that horrified by the whole Disneyfication thing, to be honest. The classics can be amazing but let's face it, they can also be pretty traumatising. It seems obvious to me that if you're going to adapt Shakespeare (The Lion King I & II) or Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) for cartoon, you're going to have to tweak bits around. Some may say that 'toons shouldn't be drawing inspiration from such grown-up material, but one must consider that children's classics are usually even worse for children, in that their horrors aren't restricted to the physically probable. Take The Little Mermaid, who (unable to bring herself to kill the prince who didn't return her love) used the knife meant to restore her tail to kill herself. Or Perrault's Sleeping Beauty, whose ogress mother-in-law tried her best to eat her and her children "cooked in a piquant sauce", and preferred to kill herself rather than be discovered by her son. I for one read these as a child, and was understandably rather disturbed by all the instances of suicide, cannibalism, etc. [On a side note and in Walt's defense, it should be noted that Disney's Sleeping Beauty was actually based on Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty (cf. 'The Peter Tchaikovsky Story' in Sleeping Beauty, 2-Disc Platinum Edition) and is remarkably faithful to that.] There is a purist in me who will decry all inaccuracies, yet there is also a child who rarely fails to be moved by a Disney offering. While watching Hercules for example, I made sure to point out every single departure from Greek Myth (admittedly, a rather saucy and unsuitable classic, even though my own first encounter with epic poetry was in primary school); yet Meg's song made me blubber like a toddler. Sure - Zeus's wife Hera wasn't Hercules mother (she actually tried to kill him as an infant and made him kill his own children, cue the punishment of the Twelve Labours), Gertrude (-Sarabi) was a possible accomplice in Old Hamlet (-Mufasa)'s murder depending on what Hamlet text you're referring to, Esmeralda was not a very nice person... but are those the kind of examples we want to be setting to our young? Until they're old enough to take an interest in the originals, I see little harm in exposing them to the great universal themes with well-told variations upon classics. For all its supposedly happy ending (had they gone happy-ending-mad, Quasi would have got the girl), Hunchback still explores racial/religious/physical/class intolerance and unholy obsession; The Lion King still addresses hunger for power, life after death, inability or unwillingness to act and eventual just retribution for sinners; Hercules is still the story of the remarkable achievements of a human-born demi-god. All in all, I reserve more mercy for Disney's adaptations than I do for film adaptations gone wrong because there is a difference between a children's cartoon inspired by x and a film which claims to be the definitive version of x. The artistry inherent in most Disney animations, from the hand drawings to the songs and voice acting, I in fact find often superior to the aesthetic values offered by book-to-film transpositions. ... aaaand that's about it for now although I'm sure my opinionated self will be making a comeback before you have time to miss me!

Sounds to me like your OH might benefit from audiobooks. My OH (who isn't dyslexic; he simply wasn't brought up as a reader) for example is having the most tremendous fun listening to Stephen Fry read Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy while we browse the internet on our respective computers. He sniggers away at all the right bits and when a file selection ends he always asks for "more!" Hitchhiker's itself might not be suited to your OH as there are a lot of jumps between characters and locations; still there's loads of audiobooks out there so I'm sure you'll find the right one :friends0:!

Indeed I have not read The Secret History (yet; I fully intend to), however Evelyn Waughn (sp?)'s Brideshead Revisited seems to me to fit your description as a glove does a hand.

Great topic,, I'll be sure to come back and contribute more sometime when it's not 2am anymore. For now though, let me confirm the (as well as the even more obvious Lion King II: Simba's Pride - Romeo and Juliet connection). Re: Hamlet, think about it. King is murdered by power-hungry brother; murdered king's son stands in the way of the throne; rightful heir is chased away and in the intentions disposed of by the evil uncle; rightful heir's love interest is puzzled by his sudden weirdness; eventually rightful heir makes a big comeback and kills the evil uncle. If they'd followed the story to its promised end Nala, Sarabi and Simba would have also died, but that might have traumatised irreparably the kids who only just managed to cope with the death of Mufasa. Again, before I dash - brilliant topic!

Oooh I saw this one in the big W the other day and was quite tempted, however there was no price on it and I felt silly asking !

Indeed, it was The Secret of Lost Things, I got confuzzled . I seriously don't understand why the condition wasn't advertised though; I put it back up for mooch as soon as I got it, describing its state in detail, and someone who isn't as pristine-mad as I am snapped it up the same day! Well done on that even more so with the broken leg, it might supply time and boredom but I know how painful it is! Myself, I've tried Nanowrimo a few times when I was still at university; needless to say, I failed every time, as November is assigment rush-hour. Now I've got the opposite problem; oodles of time but no inspiration. If at all possible, both mojos have gone even further into hiding now - if things continue like this I'll start feeling like a hypocrite for spending so much time here when I don't even read .

I thought Stephen Fry did the audiobooks for HP ?

New titles added - now, in RED!

Indeed, Shakespeare might have had something to do with it along with the ghost and the time-travel. I am quite a soppy soul under all the snobbiness really and don't mind romantic stories at all, provided they're written well and have characters I can believe in.

Stephen King's Dolores Clairborne is the only book I ever abandoned due to being too disturbed by the subject matter ( ).

The Book of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay arrived in the post from BookMooch today; it's in shameful condition so (once again) I'm not a happy BookJumper. Is it so difficult and time-consuming to write a single line about condition, so that only people who aren't fussed about it will request the thing ?!

My reading and my writing mjo have gone walkies. On top of drilling workmen, loud housemates and hammering neighbours, life is once again not too good and that means concentration & inspiration are officially zilch. Haven't read or written a line in days - bleh.

Much Ado in the Moonlight sounds lovely and has been wishlisted thank you!

Thank you for the suggestions although by this point I've been to two signings and I must say, I was taken aback by the big W's organisation - room open early so no queues, chairs laid out for the pre-signing talk, bringing people up a few at a time to avoid signing queues... They had big piles of the books in the events room (I admit to scouring them in search of the copy in the most pristine condition), which you could get signed and dedicated (the helpful W girls wrote your name down on a post-it note and stuck it on the title page). You got

Yay , congrats and welcome! I first read Interview at about 15 (possibly a bit younger) but then, I was always a bit vamp-mad ! Hope you enjoy it, I personally think it's brilliant (although I am of the considered opinion that the first sequel, The Vampire Lestat, is even better). I've just received Sorcery and Cecilia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer in the post today from a lovely BookMoocher and cancelled four pending requests on the same site after a week of silence; how long does it take to click a button that says "no, I will not send this book to you?" ?