BookJumper

Forbidden Planet had "Coldfire" on sale for

I haven't read them myself but according to my sister the "Chrestomanci" series is the best thing since toast and she's got a pretty good taste in books (second only to mine and my mum's, which towers over us all ), so I feel confident recommending that, if only second-hand.

SNOB POWER!! I mean, ditto . Also, if an author I admire has something good to say about the book, I'll more often than not either buy it on the step or add it to the wishlist of doom. What clinched the acquisition of my first Jasper Fforde book was Terry Pratchett's statement that he would "be watching Jasper Fforde nervously". The only problem with this approach is that Neil Gaiman, bless his generous soul, has endorsed so many authors I've never heard of... how am I supposed to find the time to read them all, eh Neil??

If you look back through the thread at the somewhat heated discussion therein, you'll see that you're not alone. I didn't make it either !

New books added ! Let me know if there's anything you'd like & what you'd like to swap it for; it's a book for a book except for the ones marked "acceptable", which you can get two of for the "price" of one (i.e. a single book).

Roxi, that sounds absolutely amazing - I'm not just in the niche market, I am the niche market. It's been added to the wishlist of doom...

I've lost count of the times I've read "Hitchhiker's", which is probably why I'm having to replace my poor bedraggled books with a snazzy (and hopefully sturdy) leather collector's edition of the whole thing. Hurry up, postie !!

Right, you have just caused this to be bumped up my wishlist considerably ! I thought from the Amazon blurb that it sounded a bit like a grownup version of Daniel Waters's YA novel "Generation Dead"; I was wrong - it is a grownup version of GD. I'm enjoying GD immensely so I can't wait to read this and compare and contrast the authors' views: just what do you do when your son/daughter/best friend comes back from the dead, and how about if they are the only ones who don't?

Oooh theologically conscious vamps are rather my thing - knowing what I'm like, would I dig this do you think?

I wouldn't dare take all that credit; a good slice of that cake goes to my undergrad Shakespeare tutor, who turned a vague sort of liking for the few bits I'd read into an ardent passion. He was the kind of professor that clearly loved his subject and saw to it that you loved it too - many times it happened that the hour passed and we didn't notice to the point that we stayed an extra half an hour. Everybody should be so lucky as to have a teacher like Dr Michael Davies. Aw don't be daunted my advice is find out themes of the major plays and discover which one interests you the most; then, before you read it, rent it on DVD - some film versions are actually outstanding and trust me, a good actor can drive home the underlying meaning of seemingly incomprehensible lines. Some of the ones I'd personally recommend are: The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes (themes: religious intolerance and hypocrisy, revenge) Twelfth Night with Helena Bonham-Carter and Ben Kingsley (main theme: unrequited or impossible love) King Lear with Ian McKellen (themes: the loneliness of old age and the greed of youth). I haven't seen all of Kenneth Branagh's Othello quite simply because I find it a painful play to watch (themes: jealousy, lack of trust, racism) but from the few scenes I've seen Branagh was born to play Iago. There are many other good Shakespeare films out there but these I'd recommend as a good balance between well acted, well directed and easy to engage with. I (for one) believe Oliver's Hamlet and Henry V to be magnificent, but they're not exactly user-friendly. May I also recommend, to the world at large, ATV's mini-series Will Shakespeare with (wait for it) Tim Curry as Will Shakespeare? With his sarky wit Curry would have seemed more suited to playing the dangerous and controversial Christopher Marlowe, and yet he brings to Shakespeare's character a poignant, exuberant vibrancy that really delivers. There's more than a shade of The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Dr. Frankenfurter in his interpretation and yet, don't ask me how, it works: one feels a sympathy for his egotistical and dissipated Shakespeare that one doesn't feel for the egotistical and dissipated Shakespeare of Rupert Graves A Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and his Sonnets. erm, sorry, I went on a bit. That is all.

That's vexing, it was on my wishlist too. Let me know if you find it and how good you find it if you do!

I feel your pain. I've only just moved here, too... they started pretty much the day after I finished unpacking wah!

I'm suitably flattered ! What can one say, one has impeccable taste...

Right - I haven't actually read any of these (I try to stay away from series, just because they take up so much space). However, the ones I recall seeing on my mother's bookshelf (me ma might just be the most discerning reader in the world, she hasn't ever been wrong in recommending a book to me ever since I was ikkle, and her fantasy collection would put most public libraries to shame) are the ones by Trudy Caravan and Tad Williams (an author she particularly adores; apparently his "Otherland" series is also superb).

I am a very "unsafe" reader. My modus operandi is this: enter the bookshop, go to "Fiction: A" and scan every spine until I get to "Fiction: Z". I'll pick up interesting titles, if I like the look of the cover I'll read the blurb, if the blurb grabs me I'll read the mini-reviews on the first few pages, if it's commended by authors I trust or sensible publications (i.e. The London Review of Books rather than The Daily Mail) I'll read a few sentences, if those inspire I'll buy. I've discovered Jasper Fforde with this method, and many other now-favourited authors besides... I recommend it.

Hey just pointing out that (as outlined in the refurbished OP) I'm looking to swap rather than give away, although given the non-new condition of the books I'd be bartering two books in return for one. So if there's anything else you'd like and anything from your own shelves you're looking to get rid of, let me know!

I take my hat off to you - I'm a Shakespeare MA student and I haven't read them all! I've only read all the tragedies (which I mostly adore, especially "King Lear" and "Antony & Cleopatra", though I'm ashamed to say I never cared much for "Othello"... sorry William), a sizeable handful of comedies (my favourites being "Two Gentlemen of Verona" - Will's great underrate classic IMHO - and "Twelft Night") and, it must be admitted, no histories whatsoever (although Olivier's beautifully shot Henry V makes me want to at least read that at one point). I feel incompetent and dejected now .

Nope, sorry. It was suggested reading for a Romantic Lit module in uni but it didn't seem like my kind of thing at all so I didn't bother. Sorry!

Just added another batch... qwick!!!

If you're willing to queue for a few hours before the start of the show you should be able to get return tickets; if that fails my housemate tells me they should also have a limited number of standing tickets available which they'll only sell on the night.

Further to my earlier post, I've realised an additional method to the madness with which I select translations. Books originally written in romance languages such as French or Spanish I'll only read in Italian - similarities of syntax, vocabulary and musicality make a good translation in Italian read less like a translation (i.e. more natural) than a good translation in English. On the other hand, works originally written in languages bearing little relation to either (such as Russian) I'll read in the language of what country I happen to be in at the time.

I welled up at a passage of "Generation Dead" by Daniel Waters yesterday, and I was just skimming it because my bus stop was imminent - I'll probably need tissues for when I re-read that bit properly...

That sounds like fun actually although I would probably leave freezing the (peanut butter, does one even need to specify?) kit kat chunky to save my poor jaw...! What collection are you munching through at the moment, any good?

Please don't hit me:lurker: but, although Poe was undoubtedly prolific, I wouldn't rank him nowhere near as high as the best... I find most of his work rather dull. Don't get me wrong, I love sentences that are more convoluted than the turrets of a gothic cathedral - I just find his convoluted sentences confusing and boring. Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher and Wordsworth's interminable Prelude are responsible, between them, for the total of my boredum-induced naps atop the pages of university coursework. It's like Rossini quipped about Wagner: 'he's got some wonderful moments, but some terrible quarters of an hour'. Admittedly, The Tell-Tale Heart is really good, and the one about beying buried alive (I forget the title) was creepily informative.