BookJumper

They sound like it, I'll have to investigate. I love Schiller as a philosopher and Fennimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans" is one of my favourite books from childhood (plus let's face it, his title is pure genius). I must say, as an Italian who rather enjoys the occasional Pirandello fix ("Six Characters in Search of an Author" being my undisputed favourite) I think I may have missed "Loveless Love"...! You wouldn't happen to know the original title, would you?

Then again, who is ? The Phantom Menace was the only ever instance of me snoring my way through a film at the cinema; I didn't even bother going to see Revenge of the Sith. The remastered Star Wars trilogy was the first thing I ever saw on the big screen, I can't believe George Lucas would mar that childhood memory. Thank heaven the new Star Trek film was to its franchise everything the Phantom Menace wasn't. I have this for it sounded awesome but I never seem to be in the mood to see it... help ?

Me too how exciting, shall I be seeing you at Karmageddon then? I'm pretty sure Mac's one too, we should organize a BFC Joinee contingent... I've been meaning to buy this for ages, I really should get round to it; Danny always knows how to make me chortle. Plus he's a top bloke and should be supported in all his crazy endeavours!

Sounds good! Any day now I should be getting a signed first edition (thank you, Oxfam) of his "Nocturnes" in the mail; if I enjoy that then "The Book of Lost Things" is definitely going on my wishlisg.

You so shouldn't have told me this (not that I have any intention of stocking up on "Twilight" )...!

not to mention, robbing a few more banks... !

My point exactly !

Green Metropolis is having a HUGE summer sale - and when I say huge I mean it took me two hours to look through my favourite genres - which returned me 7 books (all in good, excellent or as new condition) for

Notes from the Spec Fic side: Fredric Brown is the author of some of my favourite short stories of all time: there's "Sentry", "Martians, Go Home" and a brilliant one I can't remember the title of which reads suspiciously like the basis for the adorable film Short Circuit. "Sentry" is about a paperback page long, yet it manages to set up and destroy an entire reality and world (well, univese) view. Jerome K. Jerome, better known for his humourous novels, is the author another of my favourites, the nigh-on-sci-fi "The Dancing Partner". I also love Stephen King's short fiction. The collection "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" contains some masterpieces of horror and suspense: "Dolan's Cadillac", "The End of the Whole Mess", "Rainy Season" and "Umney's Last Case" are particularly worthy of a mention. Haven't read any Neil Gaiman stories yet but as I love him as a novelist, graphic and not, I've got very high hopes.

me also . I did pick up on it but I'm usually a bit wary of literary crime novels; however I absolutely loved The Ninth Gate and if the book's got even more in it how can I refuse? (I do wish they'd film books with the book title, it would make cross-referencing across the mediums so much easier...!)

I wouldn't think that's such a risk on a forum such as this to be honest reviews that are too short usually put me off more than ones which are too long, they don't say much ergo don't help me make up my mind whether I should read book x or not... which IMHO is what a review should do. If it doesn't, it's a comment.

Post-Siberia I have heard him classed as the leader of the Russian Conservatives.

Wow, I'm flattered you may want to reach for your notepad, I may have added a few others (clearly marked in... pink !)!! ... blame Green Metropolis. And Oxfam. They have sales on, what's a girl to do??!!

Nihilist .

After being intrigued by this ages ago (Waterstone's was giving out promotional booklets of the first chapter, and I devoured that) I flipped through it when it came out but didn't buy it because I got the feeling it would be a The End of Mr. Y kind of experience (brilliant premise, grippingly written, really want what happens next but the book turns out to be too explicit for the likes of me and I am forced to abandon it)... so I could use your comments; if after having read it you reckon it wouldn't bother me I'll read it also and we can trade opinions !

... of course there aren't. Silly tired me. Oxford it is then; you do not want the tuppence cheapness of the Wordsworth.

I own the Wordsworth edition, although only because it was cheap - there's no introduction or notes, and ink and paper are pretty bad. Oxford's is probably best if you like your introductions accessible yet informative, whie OUP's sounds like the best choice for the reader who wants everything and then some. I'd probably propend for the OUP edition but then, it all depends what you need it for - my general view is that the more footnotes the merrier, but not everyone will agree.

The first few that spring to mind are as follows... Fred Uhlman's "Reunion" touched me quite deeply - it's about the friendship between two boys, a German aristocrat and a middle-class Jew, tested by Nazism. Dostoevskij's "White Nights" is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking things I've ever read. I'm not otherwise a big fan of Goethe's but his Sorrows of Young Werther is one of my favourite books.

I have just discovered these Barnes & Noble Leathebound Classics - aren't they gorgeous? I've got the Ultimate Hitchhiker's one on the way because somehow it found its way on Amazon.co.uk, however the rest of them are out of my grasping reach. The books themselves aren't so bad, however international P&P (in its cheapest form!) is over $7 per shipping PLUS over $5 per item... I know America's far away but this seems preposterous! I remember the days when B&N used to be affordable, back when I was little back in Italy we used to sit around as a family, circle what we wanted from their latest catalogue and eagerly wait our hamper-sized box of books. What I wanted to ask you lovely people across the pond was this: does any of you have experience of sending parcels to the UK, and if so can you confirm that it's quite that expensive? I need to find a way around this... *reaches for the glorious Anne Rice volume, crying*!

I am very well aware of this, which is why I said, No? And, Sorry Mollie: no idea... I could maybe hazard a few guesses but they would be that, guesses. Maybe it's simple transcription of the writer's shorthand - if Hugo's printer knew what town was meant by "M. sur M.", he might not have felt that the readers needed it to be spelt out (Montfermeil sur Mer); conversely it might be that some names were purposefully hidden but not really for political or social reasons. As I said, wild guesses.

Another thing that really gets to me is continuity errors. My inner editor finds it nigh on impossible to cope with one without shutting down and abandoning the book, particularly if it's meant to be a masterpiece of its kind. One recent example is Richard Matheson's "I am Legend" - after looking forward to it for ages, I find a continuity error on page two (either an afternoon or an entire day had been entirely lost, i.e. "at midday he did this. Then he closed the windows because they were about to come, and they came only at night"). This aggrieved me so much I gave the book away. ... which is ironic, because as a writer continuity is the bane of my existence - I'm working across long periods of time so years have the nasty habit of multiplying when I'm not looking. On the other hand, I do everything to avoid this because of how much it annoys me as a reader, and I hope that my future editor will do a good job of getting rid of those mistakes I might have missed - that's their job.

Nice looking shelves poppy, I approve - the Austens I find particularly prettiful.

I agree with ii that one should not forget the great foreigners when talking about classics, and I for one raised myself on Hugo and Dostoevskij; however one needs to consider the matter of translation, which can range from troublesome to revolting, and an even greater disparity of culture than that just brought about my the passing of a few centuries. Greats, surely, but maybe not the best fodder for the uninitiated, especially if the uninitiated are already a bit suspicious of The Classics. It should be made clear that no one is expected to like all classics, ever. After a language and literature oriented high-school as well as a degree in English & Philosophy and one in Shakespeare, I think it's fair to say I've read my fair share of classics. Some I loved (all of Shakespeare's tragedies minus one, J.W. Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther", Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"), some I hated (Shakespeare's Othello, H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine", Alessandro Manzoni's "The Betrothed"), some I considered overrated (Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park", Allen Ginsberg's Howl, Anthony Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange"), some I quite simply couldn't finish (James Joyce's "Ulysses", Eco's "The Name of the Rose", J.W. Goethe's rewrite of Marlowe's Dr Faustus). Not everything can be to everybody's taste, and there's bound to be a number of inclusions in The Classics canon one will not appreciate, but that is of little matter. I believe that one should give these books the same chance one would give to contemporary literature, no more and no less: one does not have to respect and revere them because they're considered classics, on the other hand if they're considered classics there's bound to be amongst their vast ranks a few books you'll enjoy, and cherish. In short: don't let one classic you didn't enjoy put you off all others - there are so many genres, styles and subjects swirling around in there that I just can't believe there isn't something for everyone. As a side note, the opposite of forcing young people to read The Classics proves quite often productive: the more librarians told me "maybe this is a bit old for you...", the more I wanted to borrow a book.

I've never been to a book fair, I wanna go too... ! It sounds pretty majorly awesome, enjoy !