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If it could be guaranteed a degree of respect for the text, a decent budget, the actors to remain throughout the length of the project and for the cinematography to be top notch, then I would have to say the Flashman books. In chronological order, two hour long episodes, international filming (like the Sharpe series) and broadcast in HD. Not much to ask, is it?

The only thing I can remember from trying to read the book is . I've struggled with the text a couple of times, and it doesn't help that the film (which I watched to try and get into the story another way) ran on for hours.

I get anything from 20% off up to 50% off depending on how long a book has been sitting around. I've even had books given to me, because the owner knew he would never be able to sell the title. Face it, nobody these days cares one iota about bound collections of obscure magazines, so passing them off to the geek who keeps bugging him for strange material is (in his eyes) a solid way of keeping someone coming back on a regular basis. And the retro-futuristic computers which allegedly tell you which books are in stock, though spectacularly fail to get updated on anything remotely resembling a regular schedule. You have to admire the tenacity of the high street bookshop chains - they've survived the expansion of the internet into their core business model for a reason. I've ordered books from a bricks and mortar bookshop before (several dozen times) precisely because I know the title won't arrive coverless / inkstained / chewed up / water-damaged. And if you are well-enough known by the guy who runs a small bookshop, you'll be updated on editions of books as well, and pointed in the direction of the best edition. It does mean I often get duplicates of a title, but in nearly every case it has been to upgrade my collection.

Handy that you mention HP, because that is the defining book I turn to when thinking of multiple characters being instantly familiar. JK Rowling, despite anything that her writing failed to accomplish in coherence of detail (there are no set rules for Quidditch, yet there are 'guides' to the game online, mangling the text to fit where needed) she does manage to make all the characters live and breathe on the page. I was surprised at how easily I managed to remember all of the characters, but I suppose that having a grounding in books with large casts from an early age prepared my brain to cope with that style of writing. Similarly set, the Gem books - or Magnet books, I would have to check that (handily reprinting all of the Greyfriars stories) - have a large cast in comparison to most of the juvenile texts I have read (I'm using the word "juvenile" as a description, not an insult), though you should be able to pick out any character with ease. It helps that they have a limited setting, interact frequently, and have unique voices. That, more than anything, is the decider for me. I've read material which sounds sameish, no matter which character is speaking, and authorial intrusion into the narrative (where the voice of the character is used as propaganda) is a killer for large casts. It often comes across as blahblahblah. Stephen King does large casts well. Frank Herbert... Not so much, though the Dune books span vast timeframes as well as having large casts of characters. A question for those who find it hard to remember which characters are which - do you make use of Wiki's, or character biographies online? I've needed to check online whilst reading some books, and they are helpful at jogging my memory, though the errors which creep in are often perplexing in their nature.

Has anyone noticed that coffee tables are getting smaller, while coffee table books are getting bigger? I have several British comic books from the 1940s, and I can state with certainty that thickness and page count are two different things, so when you say "lager quantities of paper" you should really add "certain types of paper" - one hokey old Buck Jones comic I have is forty pages long, yet is thicker than this month's issue of Empire magazine. The cost of paper back in the forties was weighed heavily in favor of the woodpulp paper (which is why so few pulp magazines, annuals and storybooks survive in any condition) whilst higher quality printing (books, primarily) survives in relative abundance. At the moment it is cheaper to buy certain paper stocks from virgin sources (for all sorts of reasons) than it is to use recycled paper, though a certain number of publishers do use recycled paper for their books. There is a difference in both feel and weight, mitigated somewhat when binding and hardcovers are added to the finished book... There are thousands of reasons why books are seemingly changing at the moment, and I'm certain that similar discussions to this were being held in smoking rooms and gentlemens clubs a hundred or so years ago.

The official(?) Black Museum books (two I am aware of, maybe there were more) are big enough (and concise enough) to cover a lot of cases that aren't as well known as the massive news story cases - Jack the Ripper type murders are given space as well, but there are smaller, more intimate crimes discussed as well. The photographs are well laid out in the pages as well. There was a long running part-work magazine in the UK back in the seventies (True Murder Something? Real Crime?) which was collected into a few oversized volumes in the eighties. One book runs to about 1000 pages of crimes, so I have no idea how many issues of the magazine were printed. Those types of books can be too bitty for some - reading condensed versions of the cases gives the erronious impression that a lot of them were easy to solve. They are useful if you are hunting for general, rather than specific, information from a time period.

And nobody has suggested William Wordsworth? Strange imagery, complex thoughts, looong poems... He's one of the few poets whose work I return to with regularity. Not in the same category by any means, I do like Ogden Nash as well - both of those poets have crossed over to the wider reading public, and anyone who is unsure of reading poems would do well to look out for their work.

It's been a while, but I still remember the look on the face of the assistant at my preferred second hand bookshop when I asked for a particular title which had been lain aside. He turned deathly pale and stammered words to the effect that the book in question was not stocked. I had to wait on the owner returning for lunch, but I managed to get my hands on that handbook . The one which is illegal to own in the UK. Making friends with the owners of bookshops can net you things that are (technically) impossible to get a hold of by other means.

I was also going to add in widdershins, but it's one of those words which you have to say a few times - widdershinswiddershinswiddershinswiddershins... it's got an internal rhythm to it that gets compulsive. Then people passing by look at me funny when I'm doing the chant. So... Yeah.

TV Tropes has a name for "messed up writers" - Creator Breakdown (which is about things going pear-shaped mid-series), and there are fine examples included. A comic-book example would be (famously) Dave Sim, but the Skippy saga is much more interesting.

I received a very strongly-worded e-mail after sending the link to a friend, decrying my taste in reading material.

Pretty much anything by The Incredible String Band contains amazing lyrics. Naturally, the music itself has the power to divide people sharply, but the lyrics are beautiful. For anyone too young to have heard them, they are like Marmite - you'll love the songs or hate them. There is no middle ground.

Welcome to the BCF. I have a Stephen King addiction, though The Dark Tower's interlinking or every single thing King has ever written is beginning to grate. His best work is still The Stand.

Welcome to the BCF. I take it that valley girl jokes will not be appreciated?

Alaphroiskiotoi. Vorvolaka. Stoechoia. Yes, I like intellectual horror.

He writes short stories as well. Do I really need to point out how dark the story which I've linked is? It's Palahniuk. Of course it's dark.

There is an (arguable) difference between erotica and pornography. The case against pornography (the Foundation of Light, or whatever they are calling themselves these days) completely miss the point when the distinction gets brought up, and several politicians (who ought to know better) have fallen into the trap of labelling something one when it is the other. Using dictionaries, or legal definitions, or guidelines of any sort, to categorize all sex scenes is a Fail. Each depiction (in literature, film, art or other media) should be approached on its' own merits or lack thereof. By saying that all sex scenes are pornography, then we come to the other discussion. Do we want to see age ratings on books? Titles sold in brown paper bags from under the counter, where impressionable minds can't be influenced? I'm with Frank Miller when it comes to censorship - the idiots (book burners) go after the media which is emblazoned with age restrictions and content warnings on the front. Lets not do their work for them.

Do not click on this link if you want to remain blissfully ignorant of upcoming Who-ness. MAJOR SPOILER (possibly... If it ever gets made...)

I heard (from a reliable individual) that the only reason companies produce follow-on milk is so they can advertise their products on television. There is a rule somewhere that says baby milk can't be advertised on television, so the 'follow-on milk' was created as a way to get the companies some screen time. It has something to do with the government's push to get mothers breastfeeding, but without checking through the thousands of pages of television regulations myself I can't say for sure if the info is accurate.

Can we include plays? Trainspotting (circa 2000(?), Adam Smith Theatre) was amazing.

Terry Gilliam is one of the Monty Python guys (he did all the animation on the show) and his spectacuar adaptation of Don Quixote - or, rather, the aborted, abysmal failure to get the film made - is something of a legend amongst film aficionados. Despite the mixed reviews Baron Munchausen wasn't the complete mess people assume it to be. YMMV on that one.

It's the one percent you have to worry about. Government officials in the making...

Guillermo del Toro, for one, could easily handle both the right tone and the awesome visuals. I would hesitantly add Terry Gilliam, but I have the feeling his best films are behind him.

Welcome to the BCF. It's on my list of books I really should read once I get some peace and quiet.

There has been talk of an adaptation of the game for a while, but given that Tim Burton has a habit of - how can I say this politely, ah... - creatively interpreting certain properties in the past, I doubt the holders of the game's rights would want him stamping his mark on the look and feel of the world which they imbued with such detail. I don't have a problem with Burton's work, it's just the fact that he very rarely approaches material with serious intentions regarding mood. If you doubt this, just take a look at Batman Returns... Killer penguins? With rockets? Or the ending of Planet Of The Apes - a textbook example of how to kill a potential franchise. When he is working on his own property he seems much better at refining his ideas.