Karsa Orlong

I was in pretty much at the start with Peter F Hamilton (from A Quantum Murder) and David Eddings (from Pawn of Prophecy). I wish I'd discovered Jo Nesbo, C J Sansom, Steven Erikson and probably lots of others sooner but, in a way, I prefer discovering authors when they've been around for a while - then you don't have to wait around before being able to read the next book in a series. I remember the waits between the last couple of books in The Belgariad being agonising, and they weren't even that long

If the trailers are anything to go by it's going to be fantastic. It certainly has some racy scenes but to say most of it was racy might be overstating it a little Anyway, that sort of content doesn't seem to bother HBO in the slightest Only two months till it premieres now ... I'm with the producers on this one - I think it's way too complex and virtually unfilmable, and I'd hate to see them make a mess of it. Same with Steven Erikson's Malazan books.

Oh good, that's another one I can chalk off the list - I'd forgotten I'd read that one

Apparently I'm 45% of the way through Jo Nesbo's The Leopard. It's a lot longer than his previous books.

No, I don't think so. Put it this way, I re-read Dune last year and loved it every bit as much as I did the first time around, which was the best part of 30 years ago. Besides, I hope you really enjoy the sequels, they just weren't for me

A Smart Kid by Porcupine Tree

I thought the first two and a half seasons of the new version were great, then it proceeded to disappear up its own bottom Didn't watch much last night apart from Film 2011. I had made up my mind to hate the new version of True Grit without even bothering to see it (I'm a bit of a fan of the '69 version) but now I quite want to see it

I hope you enjoy it. I love Dune, fantastic book. I read Children of Dune and Dune Messiah as well but didn't think either of them matched up to the original, and didn't read any of the others that followed.

No

That explains it then - in the end I got bored with Galactica as well

I gave up on it after half an hour - so boring!

I think that's a pretty common reaction. I enjoyed the final season but - after the perfection of season 4 - it had a really hard act to follow. I found the end interesting ... In short, my favourite tv series - along with The Shield

Don't know if you're aware, but the third season of The Killing is currently in production. And there was me thinking it was a one-off I'm not sure about the prospect of the American remake (with Michelle Forbes in the lead role), though.

Is that the one that ends up in a farmhouse in the country? Re China Mieville, I too know exactly what you mean. Reading Perdido Street Station made me feel dirty - and not in a good way

Made a start on Jo Nesbo's The Leopard

Now I know what I want for my birthday

Out In The Fields by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott R.I.P. Gary

Ooh, is it this one? Looks great

That's next on my list, too - there's a lovely hardback edition available in the SF Masterworks series that I've got my eye on

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells First serialised in the 1880's, then again in 1894-95, and then finally published as a novella in 1895, The Time Machine is a true classic of the science fiction genre. Every time travel story that has been produced since is indebted to it. I'm guessing most people have seen one film version or another, and so have the general idea of the story. I remember seeing the 1960 George Pal movie, starring Rod Taylor, when I was a kid and being thrilled by it, so it's odd coming to the original story so many years later. I really should have read it long before now. Narrated in the first person by an unnamed gentleman who is having dinner with some friends, the story begins as The Time Traveller tells this group of his plans, and shows them a model of his Time Machine, which he proceeds to make disappear before their eyes. He tells them that he has a full-sized version of the machine near completion. When the group returns to his house a week later, The Time Traveller is nowhere to be found but, as they sit down to dinner, he appears in the doorway, dishevelled and out of sorts. When, a short while later, he sits down with them, he begins to tell his story, and our narrator transcribes the details for us. The story then switches to The Time Traveller's point of view, again in the first person, as he begins to tell of his friends of the eight days he has lived in the future since departing in The Time Machine just that afternoon. Up until this point, if my memory serves, the Rod Taylor movie sticks pretty closely to the narrative, although certain scenes were thrown in for effect (such as his brief stop in a war-torn near-future where he meets a descendant of his friend Filby). Once The Time Traveller arrives in the distant future the stories diverge, to a large degree. We have our first encounters with the Eloi and the Morlocks and Wells used this setting for much social commentary on Victorian society. I found it quite surprising, though, that much of what he had to say could still be viewed as relevant today. Of course, the book has dated, but the urgency of The Time Traveller's predicament, and his musings on how this future came to pass, still fascinated me. Perhaps the only real problem in the book is to be found in the penultimate chapter, where The Time Traveller, fleeing the Morlocks as he tries to reclaim his Time Machine, throws himself even further into the future - by millions of years - and sees the Earth as it nears the end of its life. This part didn't seem particularly necessary to me, but I was pleased that the final chapter was mirrored by the Taylor film. It's a good, and appropriate, ending to a pioneering piece of work. They really don't write 'em like this anymore 9/10

I confess that I gave up on Ben Macintyre's Operation Mincemeat. It's very well written and researched but I wasn't concentrating on it, reading pages while my mind was wandering and then trying to work out what I was being told. I wasn't enjoying it, but I might come back to it again at some point. I guess I prefer reading fiction to fact.

Watched eps 3 and 4. The scene where Theiss and Pernille saw the photos of Nanna's body had me in bits

Yay! I know that feeling - I have to keep forcing myself to put the Kindle down and read an occasional treebook

Yes, they are. The end of the first episode got me quite choked up (in a manly way, of course ). Shall probably watched eps 3 and 4 tonight

Really? I've read nothing but good things about Amazon customer services I think it's often the case with t'internet that the most vocal people are the ones who want to complain, whilst those who haven't had any problems are just getting on with it and enjoying their purchase. I wouldn't be without my Kindle now