BookJumper

Ok, the results may be very pretty but... what is that criminal thinking?! For a minute I thought he might be working with cheapie modern paperbacks but nooo, he's got to deface beautiful old books CRIMINAL I TELL YOU!!

Shakespeare Writing Set and Secretaire - OMG DO WANT!

I'm in two minds about the cave. On one hand, it looks really sfiddley and the concept is fabulous. On the other, cave and claustrophobia might not agree...

My personal favourite: J.K. Rowling, HP 7, broomstick chase scene: "swerve to avoid".

Indeed, I (tried to) read Eco's "Il Nome della Rosa" in Italian. Which reminds me, I've got his voluminous volume on how to translate (dissertation research - I am crazy and attempting to translate Shakespeare) waiting volturously for me on the shelf... then again I've been told that as a critic and theorist he's a lot less dry than as a novelist (some achievement), so it might not be so bad after all.

I'm an Italo-Brit, so Italian's my joint first language. I write in English (a natural consequence of the fact that I read mostly in English) and while I'm a decent translator of other people, I found the task of trying to translate my own work far too nerve-wracking.

Oh good - enjoy it (you'd better, it was one traumatic trip to the Post Office so make sure it wasn't in vain)!

I think the only thing for it is getting oneself down to a large, sofa-full Waterstone's, surreptitiously read the first few chapters and see if one likes those. Me, I'm intrigued and scared by the idea in equal measure so I'll probably adopt the above mentioned technique to test-drive the mash-up.

Is this on its way now...? I only ask because I'm in the process of moving house so I'll be changing address soon so I wanted to know who to give my address to/which one to give them.

Me and OH will be having a dumpling feast, which implies calling up Miso Noodle Bar and ordering two portions of every type of dumpling they do and then... nom nom nom!

A lot of writers already do you know.

Blurb from Amazon: After crashing and burning during his PhD viva, Mason Ambrose is offered a large amount of money to go to a mysterious tropical island - Isla de Sangre. His employer is wealthy recluse Edwina Sabachtani whose daughter has supposedly lost her sense of right and wrong after a diving accident. Mason is to use his knowledge as a philosopher to instil a conscience, a moral compass in the child. Mason happily instructs her in schools of thought, from the stoics to the epicureans, but it is when he introduces Londa to the Beatitudes that the seeds of a rampaging sense of justice are sown. Venturing from the confines of the island, Londa sets out to create a world that is more just. But when she takes her crusade too far, kidnapping a boat full of wealthy industrialists, Mason realises he must take desperate measures...

If you post in the "Looking for a Book" section giving details of what kind of novel you're after (sci-fi, horror, fantasy, thriller, realistic, etc.) the forum shall brainstorm and do its best to suggest titles you might enjoy we are quite a helpful bunch, really.

I haven't read it all (I'm a perfectionist and refuse to buy one of those ugly

On one hand this sounds really interesting, on the other hand... would the disturbing bits disturb me, do you think? Please advise.

I'm actually giving it away having barely read two pages because of its hardbackness; I'm not a fan at the best of times and a book this long in that format becomes unmanageable in my opinion, particularly because I do most of my reading on buses and the hardback "Vellum" is bigger than most of my bags... . I do want to read it though; I plan to buy it in paperback once I've cleared the shelf-space.

I used to have the opposite problem, people never wanted to give me discounted tickets because they always thought I was between 2 and 5 years over my actual age: "You can't have a concession, concessions are for under-12s darling" "Yes, but I'm 9". I had to have an adult vouch for my smallness... .

I like weird books and alternative approaches to narrative and this incorporates a lot of my pet themes as well - I'll let you know what I think!

I'm so gutted you didn't enjoy this... it was one of my favourite books as a child (oh, the anger when I discovered years later upon buying my own copy that I had been duped with an edition heavily abridged for kiddies!), it's gothic as opposed to modern horror - blood and guts weren't really in fashion yet - so it's one of those books where it's all about the atmosphere conjured up by the language. I hope it hasn't put you off reading oldies, admittedly there's a lot of faff but there's also a lot to be treasured and who knows, there might be an old musty volume destined to regale you with wonders...

New titles added don't worry Ben, I haven't forgotten about you...! "I Am Legend" is, believe it or not, in the post.

That rather sounds like my cuppa tea...!

I have not read this yet but I intend to; the only reason I didn't buy it is that the copy they were trying to sell me in the Book Warehouse was quite crummy and not worth even the discounted price, really. What is it exactly that's troubling you? Is the philosophical side getting in the way of clear narrative, or...?

You see, I succumbed partially but chose my part wrong; I ordered the Austens, which turned out to be not the prettiful editions I was expecting, instead of the Penguin for Boys collection, which I knew are lovely from having seen them in Waterstone's... *cry*!

Indeed. I must say, I do resent the ability some people have to translate themselves; I've tried and I must say knowing two languages from infancy is of no help whatsoever - the reason being, you're bound to me more of a perfectionist about your own work than someone else's, and throw your towel down in despair when confronted by the impossibility of transferring the many nuances of sentence x in language a. into sentence x in language b.

I actually loved that film, it made me cry so much - dare I still call myself a "Dracula" purist or will the ghost of Bram Stoker haunt me forevermore? That wouldn't be good at all; I want to win Bram Stoker awards, not find the shadow of Bram Stoker himself lurking under my bed...! Oh please read them, they're brilliant. My memories are rather vague re: content as I first and last read these at 11-12 years of age; what I do remember is that of the zillions of books I checked out of my middle school library, these were amongst the ones that really captured my imagination. Only warning, by her own admission Ursula K. LeGuin isn't a "grab the reader by the throat and force them to pay attention or else" sort of author; however, if you don't mind (or in fact prefer) a softer approach to narrative, she is one of the best storytellers out there.