jankensan

I think it depends on the store and the staff at the store. I used to work in a chain bookshop and the author events were often very good. Especially ones for local authors where the turn out from the general public was strong. It used to make me wonder when the authors wouldn't say hello to the staff though... As long as you have enthusiastic and engaged staff I don't think it really matters which shop it is... It's great to be put in charge of that though! You must be really excited

I've had people say similar things to me about reading taking much longer than watching a film. I'm fairly tolerant on most occasions (as long as they're not just saying it to wind me up). I normally just explain that for me reading is easier because I can go at my own pace and don't necessarily need 2 hours spare to do it in. I also find it easier to follow a book than a film as I tend to zone out when watching films. Each to their own I suppose! One thing to do would be to recommend a book that was way better than the film it was made into - I've brought one or two people around this way. But like I say, some people just aren't into it and that's entirely their choice!

I don't take offence at all- you're entitled to your likes/ dislikes and opinions just like I am I just hate sites like that and in the interests of the the thread being about more than people telling us their user names and requesting friends I though a little debate was in order. Personally, I really don't care how many books other people have read, want to read, wish they could read or that they read a book on the train on the way to work and thought it was amazing etc etc. I'd rather spend the time reading! By author I mean the person who wrote the list, not the author of the book btw. Probably not very clear on that one. I think it's unlikely that anyone who uses that site really CARES about anything that anyone else on the site has read or reviewed. It's just human nature to catalogue and list. Unfortunately for me, I now have to trawl through hundreds of reviews about what people 'think' about books whenever I want to buy one in order to find a review from someone that has actually read the book and thought about it properly. I have honestly seen reviews that say 'not read it yet, but looks awesome'. I love pickled onions, but my bf hates them - it's the same for books- you just can't tell from a 20 word review about how much someone liked a book. There are so many better resources for finding out about books in genres you love - for me the primary one being actually reading them, and talking to friends who like the same kind of thing as me in depth about whether or not it's interesting and worth a read. Amazon 'look inside' is very good for reading books you think may be of interest. The review articles on here are also quite good! I'd be interested to hear if anyone else thinks it's a time waster if they dare come out the woodwork!

I think I'm one of the very few people who finds sites like goodreads almost entirely pointless. There is so much 'content' that you can't see the woods for the trees. If 500 reviews that are 20 or 30 words long are attributed to one book I have no desire to trawl through them to find the gems. I equally hate the customer reviews on Amazon. 90% of them are meaningless comments on how much someone thought the book 'rocked' or 'sucked'. You very rarely find a decent review which can give you a good idea of what the book may be about. I'm sorry, but for me a book review actually needs to review the contents, themes and ideas and advise on what kind of reader might enjoy the book. Comments about 'I read this when I was 12 and loved it' are a big turn off for me. I've chose a random example to illustrate... Quote '"Read Gaiman!" they say. "I can't believe you've never read Gaiman! You have GOT TO read Gaiman!" "Gaiman is SUCH an important part of popular culture and one of the BEST contemporary writers! You HAVE TO READ GAIMAN!" Well, I've read Gaiman now. Hi Gaiman! Bye Gaiman!' End Quote What exactly is the point in that?! I know nothing from this review, and I would say 90% of reviews on goodreads and amazon are exactly like this. Finally, I think that a lot of the reason behind sites like this is for people to 'collect' ratings/ reviews/ number of books posted. Much like with facebook it's not really about making friends or reading books - it's listing in public a whole host of information which no-one but the author actually cares about. I'd rather spend the hour it might take to post 50 books on reading some books. The information stored on this site could dissappear in the blink of an eye and all that time spent adding reads would be obliterated without meaning. I just think it's a complete waste of time. I do keep records of my reading for myself with details of title, author, genre, how much I enjoyed it, but that's just for me and I wouldn't want anyone else reading it - it's probably nonsense to anyone but me anyway. It's just not for me I'm afraid!

Haha probably more than I would confess to spending to anyone I actually know...Maybe about £30 a month, including comics and manga which I also read a lot of. When I was a student I had to be much more frugal and use the library more, and borrow from friends, but now I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to buy quite a few books to supplement what I can get for free. You can get quite a few good free ones for the kindle, which also keeps costs down but then you do have the initial cost of the device...

Looking back through this thread now after just finishing the7th and final book in the series. I can't recommend them enough! I disagree with posts saying that The Gunslinger was slow - it is still my favourite of all 7, although the final book comes close. I have never been so 'involved' with a story. I decided that I wanted to take it slow and not read them all one after the other so that they remained fresh and something to look forward to and I think this was the right move. In the end I stuck to a strict one on 3 rotation - so one Dark tower book, then at least one other fiction book and at least one other non-fiction book in between. This meant every time I picked one up I was raring to go and super excited to 'watch' the next part of Roland's journey. The scope of the books is immense, and I think there is still a lot more left to explore in the graphic novels etc (which I can now read without fear that they will have any spoilers in). The final book I read over the Christmas holidays and it really was the perfect indulgence!

P.S. BigWords, I agree entirely. Unfortunately the economic down turn is being blamed for a lot of things. Personally I think the decline in book collecting as a hobby is that people aren't prepared to put the time in to it. I get great pleasure from it though. When I get a book in my head that I know I want, I love the thrill of the chase and will devote hours to locating the copy I specifically want. When you can go on amazon and buy almost any book you like without needing to put too much effort in, that's what people will do. I love nothing more that hunting through auction house job lots, trawling ebay, scouring charity shops for the odd gem or two. About 6 months ago I found a first edition Stephen King for £2 in a Cancer Research shop. I was so thrilled I couldn't buy it fast enough. When I got it home and checked the price guide it was listed as £10 to £20. So not exactly a great find, but it was fun while it lasted. That's what it's all about for me. I think my family think I'm a bit loopy because I will spend hours searching through mass market paperbacks just to find that one hidden edition that might be something special. It's a shame book collecter isn't carrying on. I didn't buy every issue, but I did always buy any that had guides in for areas I'm intereted in... Of course when I want to read the latest trashy novel I will buy it as cheap as possible with the fastest delivery possible, but I think in general people don't have the time to invest in hobbies so much any more...What do you think?

Hi All It's been about a year since I posted this thread originally and in that time I have found a great publication called 'Cemetary Dance Magazine'. It's a US publication so it's quite pricey but it is by far and away the best mag I've ever read. It's packed with short stories, reviews and recommendations and for horror/ sci fi/ fantasy fans like myself it's perfect. I've tried books quartely from Waterstone's and didn't enjoy it, as it was too mainstream (and I don't mean that offensively, I'm just not into regular fictions as much as the fantasy side of things). So if anyone is still looking out there I would recommend Cemetary Dance. You can buy it on ebay or they do have a website where you can subscribe. Perfect for Stephen King, Cliver Barker etc fans. Cheers J

I think I have a crush on Roland. He's amazing! I think the first book is my favourite so far (just finished book 5). The series really is worth the time invested. I'd have to say that The Gunslinger is one of the best books I've ever read. I wasn't so keen on Wizard and Glass but that was really because I didn't like the female character in it (don't want to give a thing away!). I have to pace myself and only read one every other book I read (so a non Dark Tower after each one) otherwise I think I'd go Todash myself!

Just started American Gods last night and it's very refreshing. Tongue in cheek but powerful with it. I like his prose style too, very easy to read.

There is a great big chunk of the Dark Tower that would not be as interesting if you hadn't read Salem's lot so I disagree with the 'avoid' on that on. Also, Pennywise is only one of the many faces of the evil in 'IT' so I think you've oversimplified there. I would encourage ppl to at least try IT. It's quite long and meandering but it does form a foundation to the 'Stephen King Universe' if you will, and many characters pop up in other books too. Christine is actually one of my favourites. That's raw talent in Christine, pure and energetic. From a Buick 8 I haven't read so wouldn't dare comment! It's a bit unfair to write a list of 'avoid' without really justifying it. It may be that you just don't like the style of them...

42 Pages. Since 42 is the meaning of life I always give a book 42 pages before I give up.

Buying second hand certainly keeps the cost of reading down and it makes money for charities if you buy at a charity shop so I can't see the down side. There is a beautiful shop (not a charity shop) in Alnwick called barter books where you can take your old books in and get store credit for them. Win win as far as I'm concerned. They have a fantastic collection and the shop is AMAZING. I once picked up a first edition Stephen King in fine condition at a cancer research shop for

I write down everything I read (books, not magazines, not enough time to keep track of them!) in a little notebook. I also keep a note of anything interesting about the book, like if it was given to me as a gift or if I got it for a great price etc. I give them a score out of 5 and a quick review. If I think I'll read it again I keep it, if I think it's a one read book I give it away, sell it or recycle it. At the end of each year I count up how many I've read, and then either congratulate myself or tell myself to try harder, haha . Keepers and TBR are stacked in neat little piles all over the house, some of them fit in the book cases but admittedly not many anymore as they are full up!

Slooooooooow. For me it's quality over quantity.

Books that smell of cigarettes....yuck!

The problem with Barefoot Gen in the printing I read was that it was all transposed so that it would fit in the left to right format and they did a really poor job of it. The typeface they used was Comic Sans too, which is awful and somewhat detracted from the story. The translation was also poor. I'm not sure why they did such a poor job of it as later translations of his work were much improved. They seem like irrelevant things but when it comes to manga they're the type of things that really matter, and they do effect your enjoyment of it. It's worth a read though, I just wouldn't buy it to add to my collection... Is anyone following Ikigami? I don't seem to be able to enjoy it, I just don't seem to 'get it'. A bit of a cross between Battle Royale and Death Note but without the plot or character development...

Woo hoo a thread about manga! I've been reading manga for about 7 years now and am totally addicted. Having said that, I don't like shojo manga in general, so I'm not a big fan of Fruits Basket. I do like Nana but I consider that my one guilty shojo pleasure. (Oh and Kamakazi Girls was also pretty good). One of my favourite series is Monster, which is by the same guy who drew 20th Century Boys (which is also a classic for me), and Pineapple Army, Naoki Urasawa. He's an amazing story teller and all of his books have great plots and characters. For a bit of fun on a sunny afternoon you can't beat Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh. Sunshine sketch isn't bad either, along with GA, all from the 4 panel genre. I'm also a fan of slice of life manga, so Genshiken and Yotsuba! both appeal to me and cheer me up when I'm down! As for epics, I suppose Samurai Executioner is OK, but the panels are nearly all reversed to fit it into the Western left to right format, which after years of reading the trad style really messes with your mind. (They also sometimes transpose the kanji in the back ground so they're the wrong way round, which gets me annoyed). When it comes to Japanese language versions I like them dark and dirty, mainly because I can read them much more easily than more story driven ones where the language is more complicated. At the moment I'm liking High School of the Dead. I also love those thick little pulp manga's that they publish in Japan with 10 stories along a theme together. They're a good way of finding new series and artists to follow. The only problem with manga is that once you start a series you feel the need to finish it, and it can turn out expensive. I managed to get all the Battle Royale books for

I love the diversity of the English language. I always await the new word announcements for the Oxford English Dictionary with great anticipation to see what gets in there each time. The more variety the better as far as I'm concerned, it would be boring if English was standardised across the ocean, whether that be the American version of the British version. I think it's amazing that one language can diversify, adapt to the environment and develop along totally different lines based on geography, migration patterns etc. It's a truly adaptive medium. You could never standardise that.

My mum once burned a copy of Roald Dahl's 'Witches' in the kitchen stove (the old wood burning type) in front of my sister and I, as it had given my sister nightmares. It was pretty extreme and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

the ones with green covers are dirt cheap but have all the words in them so they win my vote. i got the phantom of the opera at Christmas and the poor quality paper made it very light and easy to hold, lol. lazy reader in the house!

the book case is still standing...just a status update! it did shake a bit when I brushed my teeth looking at all the book goodness the other morning!

if it's in Wales, you could camp. Sure there are lots of cheap campsites within travelling distance...

My book case is hanging about 2 inches off the wall, kind of tilting forward under the weight of my TBR books. I was worried about this, but now that I know that the size of my TBR pile makes me immortal, I don't have to worry about it falling on top of me anymore.

Can I just state the obvious that the Da Vinci Code is FICTION. It is housed in the FICTION section, alongside other FICTION books. That is all, thanks for reading.