willoyd

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner ** Loved the first half of this, but gradually the narrative started to grate and two many assumptions and random jumps started to creap into the philosophy, to the extent that I really struggled with the last 100 pages or so, resorting to skim reading the philosophy after Immanuel Kant just to stay awake (literally). The narrative was never that great in fact - it always felt like a vehicle for the philosophy, and things never really developed beyond the two (one?) dimensional - but this only really came to the fore when it the surrealism took over! I did enjoy it though, and will revisit some of the philosophy sections to try and get a better grip on the subject material, but given the comments I'd previously read and given the fascinating first half, I have to admit to an overall sense of disappointment - maybe I was just expecting too much. Not an author who I will rush to revisit, and that is why, although originally awarding it 3 stars, I later downgraded to 2 - it was just that bit too disappointing.

Speaking as a fifty-ish man who is really into history.... There are absolutely loads of good books around at present - does he have a favourite period? Following on from Univerze's Hornblower suggestion - Patrick O'Brian? Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series? Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey series? Non-military, but great historical crime stories - CJ Sansome's Shardlake series (or even Sherlock Holmes?) Alternatively what about some non-fiction? Military history good reads include Antony Beevor's books Stalingrad, D-Day and Berlin, or Peter Snow's To War with Wellington (but lots of others depending on time periods etc and depth your father may be interested in) Non-military non-fiction that makes for really exciting reading (the sort of stuff you touch on - really thinking you are there) include Sebastian Junger's the Perfect Storm, Gay and Laney Salisbury - The Cruellest Miles and Peter Nichols - A Voyage for Madmen Any more precise ideas of interests? In the meantime, hope that helps.

I'd agree with those who disliked Lord of the Flies: possibly my most hated (yes, as strong as that) book to date. Others I have positively disliked: The Great Gatsby: what was the point? Did I care? Did I heck. Moll Flanders: great on TV, wooden, repetitive, overdetailed in the book. Justine (Alexandria Quartet): pompous, overblown and totally pleased with himself (pretty much how his brother seemed to rate him in My Family and other Animals, and easy to see why). I'm sure there are others, but those will do for the moment!

I cannot disagree with quite a few of those listed here: Jane Eyre, the selection of Jane Austens, Ann Karenina, Time Traveller's Wife and so on, whilst I haven't read a few of the others (e.g. Gone With The Wind). But, I'd be struggling to name the greatest. However, these three haven't been mentioned to date (probably unsurprisingly), but in each one the love story got completely under my skin, and marked them out as very special in their own way, certainly enough to go on my short list: A Very Long Engagement (Sebastien Japrisot) Love in a Cold Climate (Nancy Mitford) I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)

Dry Store Room Number One by Richard Fortey *** The author goes behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum in London, taking a look at the people who work there, the work they do, and a bit of the history on the way. An enjoyable read. It lacked a bit of focus, wandering backwards and forwards across the museum landscape, occasionally stopping off to focus the lens on an individual and/or their work, before nipping off to look elsewhere. It certainly passed the time very pleasantly, and I enjoyed the insights into a museum that I used to frequent a lot as a a child (and still do with children I teach every now and again), but it lacked a certain bite, a real raison d'etre, as well as maps of the museum (it sounds like a real rabbit warren) and background in the history and development of the building itself. Anecdotal, chatty, eminently readable, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but was ultimately left asking the question - why? 3 out of 6 stars.

Don't let the 3 put you off - I still regard that as a decent read. I certainly want to read more of his books - have Blue Afternoon on my TBR shelf. I get the impression this would make a better film than book, but have yet to check the theory out! Me too. Thoroughly enjoyed Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality, but this was in a different league. Possibly the best spy novel I've yet read. Didn't realise that - agree, it's the combination I really enjoy.

I think Guido as a character is brilliant - anything but a doormat, as he shows in Fatal Remedies, where he tells Paola exactly what he thinks of her activities. He's only a 'doormat' to the extent that he recognises that for a marriage to work, you've got to be prepared to give and take, to work towards finding common ground, to at least try and see things from somebody else's point of view. One of the reasons I love this series is that he and his family are so 'normal' - so many detectives are fatally flawed when it comes to relationships, and can't quite make it as normal human beings. I can relate to him in a way that I can't with so many others. Whilst in Venice, we spent some time tracking down some of the places mentioned in his book, including the street he is meant to live in. Definitely increased my enjoyment of the book and series. OH is completely addicted too now!

I think that's something we could all do, but I wouldn't have thought 22 books was tragic - that's almost a book a fortnight, and if you've got other things to do (like work!) it's a goodly rate, especially if you are tackling big stuff like Crime and Punishment. I've picked up my reading over the past year or so, but only because I've managed to get some mega-bursts in: last year for instance I read 30% of my year's books in the last two weeks of the year! Equally, summer holidays see me pick up, and are usually the time I have to focus on 'big' stuff, as I find it hard to sustain rhythm during term time, when I can easily slip back to reading a book a month (that's how long it took me to read Pickwick Papers this autumn). Compared to a lot of people here, I'm probably classified as not reading much (I reckon 40 books in a year is good going), but at the school where I teach, that's regarded as being a total bookworm!

Same here: our collection is organised fastidiously by subject (fiction being the first one), and then ordered depending on the subject: e.g. fiction alphabetically by author, history by chronology or by continent/country if not one time period, biography chronologically, travel by continent then country, and so on and so on. It's become a bit of a joke in our household, me and my 'sorting', but I've tried to be more relaxed, and find I simply can't.

I collect First Editions of Peter Ackroyd and Jan Morris. It's fun and, if you choose your author right, not expensive. It depends on your reasons - I collect them because I love their books, and I'm an incurable collector, so it channels my addictive tendenceis down a reasonably affordable route!

Depends on the books you are interested in. Some are quite pricey still (eg those published by MacMillan, Penguin and Hachette groups, whose prices have been fixed by the publishers - how legal that is is yet to be resolved for certain). Others are very cheap. You can, of course, download free books from various sites like Project Gutenberg, and there are some like that on the Amazon site. I've got around 60 books on my Kindle now (including the complete Wilkie Collins and Thomas Hardy novels), and have spent around £25 for all of them combined, which includes a couple of fuller price books. My views are in post 372 - but basically I'm a hard copy lover who enjoys the Kindle a lot - the two formats work comfortably side by side.

Just caught up with your review of Howards End is on the Landing. Can only agree; I loved it too. In fact, so far it's my non-fiction book of the year. Definitely one to return to and dip in. Some of her comments about the way she treats books made me shudder, but I do recognise that this is probably more down to some sort of obsessive behaviour on my part, than something wrong with her! Have you read Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris? It's another (very slim) book about books and reading, equally erudite, that exudes a similar passion, as well as making me feel a lot less odd in my foibles than I previously thought!

I'd agree with Ooshie. Although I do belong to the Folio Society, most of my collection I've bought second hand, many at prices not much more than a new paperback (if that) and in excellent condition, about which I'm pretty fussy. On the others you list: I have several Everyman books. Sturdy, well produced, excellent value, although the quality of type can vary. I also have the Norton omnibus edition of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series. Superficially attractive, there are so many typographic errors as to make the books virtually unreadable - pages have obviously been scanned with OCR, but inadequately checked. I'm replacing them with the Folio Society editions as they come out.

Your favourite read of the year? The Years by Virginia Woolf Your favourite author of the year? Equally Virginia Woolf and Donna Leon Your most read author of the year? Virginia Woolf Your favourite book cover of the year? Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (Folio Society ed. illustrated by Charles Keeping) The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, then the one you read the least of)? Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor The book that most disappointed you? Moll Flanders (unfinished) The funniest book you read this year? Jointly: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (close runner-up for favourite book of the year) Asterix Chez les Bretons by Goscinny & Uderzo Your favourite literary character this year? Mary Russell (Laurie R King) Your favourite children's book this year? Paddington Bear Your favourite non-fiction book this year? Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill Your favourite biography this year? Quite incredibly, I realise I've not read one in the past 12 months. This from someone who loves historical biography. Your favourite collection of short stories this year? Mrs Dalloway's Party by Virginia Woolf Your favourite poetry collection this year? None read Your favourite illustrated book of the year? Asterix Chez les Bretons by Goscinny & Uderzo

It's a bit of a myth that you're limited to Amazon - I've downloaded books from Project Gutenberg for instance. It's true that nobody else does the same DRM books - and there are a lot available on Amazon - but the MOBI format is compatible, and you can get hold of a piece of software that can convert other DRM formats to that.

If I was restricted to fiction, then I would probably have to agree with vinay87: Les Miserables. But with a free choice, I think I'd go down the non-fiction route, probably JR Roberts's History of the World. I might even learn something!

You don't need it Ophelia. Basically, if your Kindle can't find a wifi network to log on to, it automatically goes over to the 3G method. In other words, it acts like a mobile phone, and downloads the book over the mobile phone network. You don't have to pay anything more for this - it's provided as part of the package. I don't have a 3G phone either, but have several times downloaded books using this method, including in the middle of Europe (Amazon claim coverage in around 100 countries). It's all done automatically once you have selected the book you want.

I can't comment about the Sony or other e-readers, other than I didn't like the old style Sony touchscreen ebook when I tried it out in Waterstones last year - screen too shiny, page turning too slow, etc etc. However, I can give you some thoughts on the Kindle, having been using one regularly since the end of September. Is it easy to read for hours on end? Yes it is: I've read it for 2-3 hours at a time, and not once found it any harder than a book. Screen is superb - there is no feel of a layer of anything between you and the words, lettering is sharp and crisp, and page turning is fast enough for me. Is it light? That's a matter of personal judgement, but I certainly don't find it any harder to hold than a standard paperback. As a left hander, I really like the fact that page turning is on both sides of the reader, so it can be held one-handed, but unfortunately that isn't so easy when you've got one of the standard Amazon covers. They're nice, protect the Kindle well, give a real feel of reading a book, but the pager turner on the left side is a little bit too far up the side out of reach in the gutter of the cover. However, without the cover on, it's very easy indeed. I have been using my Kindle fairly regularly since purchase, including taking it on holiday to Venice for a couple of days. I have grown to like it more and more; I no longer notice that I'm reading an ereader rather than a book. I haven't experienced downloading on the Sony, but on the Kindle it's a piece of cake, and I've managed it in all sorts of places, including in the backstreets of Venice when needing an Italian dictionary urgently! (I have the 3G/wireless version, and have definitely appreciated being able to download outside range of a wifi network). I'm fairly certain I will always prefer reading paper books, but the Kindle is proving an excellent compliment to them (e.g. I use it a lot to carry round cheap versions of books where I've only got a hardback), although it's definitely better, as are all ereaders I suspect, for straightforward reading as opposed to looking things up. Hope that helps. Any more specific questions?

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris *** Enjoyable enough, but too dependent on the one twist, which is all too easily spottable fairly early on (certainly not much later than halfway through the book). Once it's revealed, it all tends to fizzle out into a bit of an anticlimax. I enjoyed the writing style, even if I thought the premise a little unlikely and too many characters somewhat stereotypical, and will almost certainly try out others of her books. This one's really popular, and, to be honest, I can't really see why. However, three rather than two stars, as I did want to read through to the end. 3/6

I have had my Kindle for a couple of months now, and love it. I'm very much a lover of hard copy books, but find this compliments them well. I've used it a lot for commuting and travelling - going to Venice a couple of weekends ago loaded up with reading material (Donna Leon amongst them!), plus guide book and eating guide to Venice, it really paid off, as we both travelled with just a small rucksack each. As to prices: I think what the publishers have done is silly and in the long term self-defeating, as the music companies found to their cost, but most of my reading has been of books unaffected by them, not least in that I read a fair number of classics, and they are very cheap, even free (not just on Amazon: try Project Gutenberg et al). Given how straightforward it is to strip the DRMs off a file, I can envisage pirate copy circulation increasing rapidly, especially as there are more restrictions on ebooks than on hardcopies in terms of circulating to others.

I do agree - great book. This is the second time I've read it, having first completed it as a set book at school at 14 - loved it then too, and don't know why I've taken so long to return to it. I appreciate its history, and can see why it is structured the way it is - as a story told in magazine instalments it would hit 6/6 for me. Sam Weller is easily one of my favourite literary characters. But in the single book format, that episodic nature, the sequence of set scenes, wandering round the countryside, didn't work quite as effectively for me, and thus the single star docked. However, a 5 star book is one I'd strongly recommend to anybody, and I certainly won't be waiting another 40 years to read it again!

And another catchup ....not overly long as really only read one full book in October, even if it was a good one! (Stars out of 6) Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens ***** As a light hearted look at early 19th century English life, this was superb. As a piece of fiction, it was very enjoyable, but a bit too episodic and lacking in underlying direction to achieve the highest ranks. All Quiet on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque *** I can see why this is a classic, but it left me uninvolved. The language was just a bit too spare. Am beginning to wonder if this is something to do with German literature, as have not got anywhere with pretty much all German writers I've tried in the past couple of years. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe */** Wooden, repetitive, fussy. I really enjoyed the Alex Kington TV drama, but couldn't progress much beyond one-fifth the way through. Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon ****(*) Read this whilst on holiday in Venice. This series just grows and grows on me, and whilst individual books may 'only' rate 4 stars or so, the series is fully worth 6 stars. A particularly thoughtful story this one, with Paola taking the law into her own hands much to the anger of Guido. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain **** Enjoyable, in parts brilliant, this is the story of how Huck Finn grows up, physically and morally. The journey down the Mississippi is beautifully evoked, but the episode with Tom Sawyer, whilst serving the purpose of emphasising how much Huck had grown up and away from him, was much less satisfactory - it was too far fetched and convoluted for my taste.

Had the misfortune to have to study this for A-level. Didn't like it then and, forty years, still don't. It completely turned me off all things American for a while (literarily speaking), which took some time to overcome. I just found myself bereft of any empathy with any of the characters.

Can't say I liked it at all - my notes say the humour was too forced - but then thought the same about Diary of a Provincial Lady. Loved Miss Pettigrew though! I am, however, horribly difficult to please when it comes to humour in books. There's very little I've ever found funny (I get my laughs from the radio mainly), as most authors seem to me to try too hard, although JL Carr and Douglas Adams are rare exceptions, even if not laugh outloud (that seems to be reserved for Asterix, which probably says more about me than about books!!).

Similar to chesilbeach. I've been steadily cataloguing on LibraryThing, and am up to 1400 at present, being about 2/3 the way through, so estimate around 2000. OH would make another few hundred. I cull regularly as we're right at the top end of our storage limit: I've just cleared out 3-4 boxes worth which are going to a second hand bookstall at the school Christmas Fair. They're a realy mixture, with no more than one third fiction, plus a predomination of history, historical biography, sciences and travel.