BookJumper

The non-fiction on my shelves comprises solely of books on writing, books on bookshops and libraries, biographies and autobiographies of authors, and critical assessments of authors' work. I sense a theme here...

BBC Persuasion BBC Pride & Prejudice Jane Eyre (by Franco Zeffirelli) Romeo & Juliet (by Franco Zeffirelli) Hamlet (by and with Laurence Olivier) King Lear (RSC with Ian McKellen) Tweltft Night (by Trevor Nunn, with Helena Bonham-Carter and Ben Kingsley) ETA: The Merchant of Venice (with Al Pacino) All the LOTR films, particularly The Two Towers Stardust Carrie

A few. Clicky for complete list of titles, courtesy of our friend, the Wiki.

... O, M, G! I love Tim Curry's acting and voice (Rocky Horror, Clue, The Man in the Iron Mask - yes I know it was a terrible film but I don't care -, the fabulous Will Shakespeare series...); as it happens, I'm not adverse to the Lemony Snicket books, either. If I haven't read them all it is mainly an issue of shelfspace: when my cousin (roughly a decade my junior) lent me the first book one time I was staying over at her uncle, she assured me I'd love it, and I did! I found it refreshing, diverting, and was quite impressed at how much education (particularly about complicated words) the guy had managed to sneak into the book without seeming patronising towards the kiddies. In a few years when I've got a house of my own, more shelves and possibly kiddies to read them to (excuses, excuses) I might invest in a boxset; for the time being... ooooh, Tim Curry CD!

Thank you, Vanwa, for making me feel positively well-behaved and restrained !

*faints*!

Ironic - I loved the three you hated (admittedly, I haven't read "The Shining" yet, though I have read and adored the other two), but thought "Misery" could have been so much better. Kathy Bates was superbly cast but the film itself was one of those heavily-cut transpositions which you need to have read the book to follow, which vexes me. "Stand by Me" I agree is superb; I've yet to see "It" (though I'm predisposed to think well of it because it's got Tim Curry in it!).

which isn't a novel, so your record is intact !

*sighs* showers...! I haven't had one in a week as our boiler's leaking and might well take another week to get fixed. Now that I'm reduced to washing with cold tap water and asking OH to wash my hair with water from the kettle, I promise I will no longer complain about the boringness of showers...!!

Pretty much all of China Mieville's books seem to fit your bill; is any of them it?

I loved all of the LOTR books (ten years ago so they're due for a reread) and films (saw those 8, 7, and 5 times at the cinema respectively; OH owns the extended versions which we love as they take the time to explain things that don't add up unless you've read the book, i.e. !). I also loved HP books 1-4 (after which IMHO they got silly, soppy and repetitive); however I thought all films post-Chamber of Secrets were rubbish: Prisoner of Azkaban had an awesome cast but the director spent so much time on stunning scenery he forgot to tell the plot. Hadn't I read the book I wouldn't have known who the Marauders were!

I started Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road" today; barely 10 pages in and it had me chuckling and welling up on the bus. Now that's what I call a good book.

I was pondering the Jane Austen but I've already got my heart set on the individual Fine editions, although to my annoyance they've only done Pride and Prejudice so far; Emma is available for preorder but it's just a wild guess that they'll be issuing the others. Apparently Fine is an imprint of Oxford University Press but I can't find any list of forthcoming titles on the OUP website so... who knows?? As for a complete Shakespeare I rather wanted a copy of The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare, which is simply gorgeous (and dated, but who cares? I've got my Ardens should I need up-to-date scholarship; this is just meant to look pretty), as well as only available in the U.S.... aaargh!

This just triggered the memory of my strangest place - I knew there was one! I was interrailing (interrail: special train ticket giving the young traveller access to all trains within a certain country or countries) across Spain with two mates and, a couple of days in, I found myself at Madrid train station minus my ticket. Though the ticket is registered on a database with your name on it, it is non-replaceable in case of loss, as I discovered dispite many tears and prayers. Replacing it was unthinkable (300 euros, as I recall, aka all my food money), so I pretty much spent the next two weeks as a stowaway in train toilets in various states of disrepair, all of which air-conditioned me within an inch of my life. On the longest of those journeys (8 hours, count them, 8), I sat in the locked, rattling toilet of the day and nursed my nerves with Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"* (which, incidentally, I adored). *Needless to say, it took me a few years to find that image even remotely amusing.

The lovely lady in Foyles gave me a pretty purple bookmark depicting a person with their nose stuck in a book the other day, it's currently lodged in the copy of Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road" that came with it.

Oooh thanks for bringing that to my attention, I'd read this and somehow failed to make the "breaking even on the postage" connection as I'm thick like that ! Anyway, now we're talking, that's more like it (or rather, becomes a more feasible prospect for when I stop dissertating and find me a job)! Priorities are Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles" and Gregory Maguire's "Wicked & Son of a Witch"; all of these are books I love but the paperback editions I own feature appalling cover art - the Maguires particularly. What were they thinking??! If Amazon persist in not shipping my copy of "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" I'll get that from here, too... suggestions for my discounted book to go with that? Thanks for all your help you lovely people from across the pond !

The way you put this nearly made me spill my coffee I can see it being irksome, though .

It's not the $7 I've got a problem with, it's the $7 per order + $5 per item I can't afford!

I made us udon noodle stir-fry with tiger prawns, shrimps, orange and red peppers, slivers of halloumi cheese and inordinate amounts of raw garlic, seasoned with a hefty amount of chinese five spice, a dash of ginger, a bit of curry powder and a splash of sweet chilli sauce. It was so nice - man, I'm a genius.

Count me in for the zilch, too. Too much dissertationing to do... !

Sounds like I might as well wait until I'm able to afford a trip to the U.S., go there with an empty suitcase and engage in pretty-book shopping first-hand...!

Oooh that sounds like fun, enjoy! I know, aren't they splendid?? As soon as I have a job = first paycheck... bwhahahahahaha!

Who, moi? Oh, alright then.

... you evil girls you, now I want to do it, too! As if I had the time or the money, harrumph. Yet, when have such trivial considerations been known to stop me? Exactly. It would, I suppose, provide a use for the oh-so-pretty venetian glass pen + coloured inks I bought at the British Library Shop a little while ago. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.