BookJumper

It's worth every month of your time, Pixie (in fact, it features on the famous recommendation list I haven't forgotten about ). I love the musical too adz3, even though I read the book first - in fact, I'd go as far as saying that it captures the atmosphere and message of the book better than any of the gazillion films that were adapted from it.

I listened to the Original Broadway Cast recording of Wicked on the train this morning. May I just say I was glad I didn't have any make-up on yet? *bawl* Fiyeeeeeeeeeeeeeero *bawl*

DVD - do want. That is all.

I don't know if this would be of interest to you but I'm going to recommend it anyway, as it's just that good. Erasmus (aka Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, aka the philosopher and theologian who - when he got some money - bought books, and food & clothes only if he had any money left over) has written a brilliant, funny, poignant, important and actually really accessible treatise called The Praise of Folly, about the wisdom of mad people. You won't regret trusting me, I promise.

I went into half a dozen bookstores today without buying anything in my defence, abject poverty made me do it. Oh well, I took lots of notes at least - oh wishlist, how you've grown!

I am a young man trying to create humanity in vats.

Who is it by ?

Today I: - pottered around the second-hand bookshops of Stratford-Upon-Avon and drooled over pretty books I could not afford - emerged from the local Waterstone's with a much longer wishlist than I had entered with (let us just say, I had to be asked to leave ) - read 7 pages of Jack Vance's The Dying Earth on the bus so far so good - I'm not sure I'm too keen on the distressed damsel element, however the man has a way with words so I'll probably forgive him.

Shariann, could you please tell us who the last three books are by ?

It should, it should !

I was shown episode 1 on BBC iPlayer at 2am on Sunday morning and adored it, so I was thrilled to have episode 2 lined up for later in the day. I've been listening to Martin Freeman's Hitchhiker's Guide audiobooks so I knew he'd be good, and the to-me heretofore unknown Benedict Cumberbatch (best name ever!) was a welcome suprise - he's amazing, and he and Freeman bounce so well off each other. Gutted it'll be so short though, I can jusr hope they take notice of how well-loved it is and commission some more.

90% of university professors would be flattered, and delighted to help. If the other 10% don't like people seeking to widen their knowledge, then that's their problem, not yours. Whichever type you encounter, you have nothing to lose by asking .

Those are also very good, Baldrick from Blackadder reads them and does a smashing job.

Then I'm a sad old biddy too for I also call bookshops, bookshops.

The UK version of the Lemony Snicket books is read by Tim Curry, who is just awesome. If your oldest is into that kind of thing at all, the UK version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (read by Stephen Fry) and four sequels (read by the equally brilliant, if in an entirely different way, Martin Freeman) is magnificent.

We don't have a board 'policy' as such - if we knew the perfect answer, this thread wouldn't need to exist! - but personally I think it's a combination of all three. I wouldn't consider a book a classic just because it's old, or good, or popular; I would however cosider it a classic if it had been around for a bit and was worthy of being remembered in more than just my individual opinion to answer what was probably your question - if you think a book's a classic and want to talk about it, feel free to start a topic in this section.

Agreed on Cloverfield - two hours of feeling seasick, and for what? It didn't even have an ending, not even a rubbish one. I will however dissent on Shakespeare in Love - cheesily ahistorical as it is, it made this Shakespeare fangirl laugh, cry and clap her hands gleefully in all the right places.

Like Twelfth Night the interesting bit though is that since all of Shakespeare's women were played by young men, and because in his day a playwright tailored his parts to his players, all his heroines were effectively written with male leads in mind.

The only stories I can think of which are even vaguely similar are Shakespeare's comedies I'm afraid, and in those the hero - while having been attracted to the disguised heroine all along - only allows his love to exist when she is revealed to be a she sorry I couldn't be more helpful!

I only got 'original' and 'quote', and that's only because I did some Russian in school. Could you please say that again for us all to understand ?

I read a chapter of Lilith St. Crow's Strange Angels from a promotional booklet I found at the pub. It was slightly above average, but not above average enough to make me want to actually buy it and find out how the story carries on unfortunately...!

+ Son of a Witch + A Lion Among Men haven't read ALAM yet but the first two at least are brilliant. May I further suggest Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, Anansi Boys and Stardust if you haven't read them yet? Such superb storytelling. Finally, I am currently reading Charles de Lint's The Blue Girl and it is an absolute gem of YA fiction, so much so I badly wish I'd had it to read ten years ago - I don't even need to finish it to recommend it to you.

As he wants tactics and seems not to mind fantasy, may I suggest Naomi Novik's Temeraire series (starts with His Majesty's Dragon)? Napoleonic wars with dragons...! What more could one want?

Universities won't have reading lists on their websites, however if you find out the convenor for a specific course on the website and email them saying that you're interested in the topic and wish to carry out some independent research, you may well obtain the reading list that way.