Still enjoying the Wodehouse.
Started "Terminal Man". Never having read any Michael Crichton, I thought I'd give him a read. So far, so good. Lots of research obvious. Writing style and characters so-so.

I like Crichton, but don't think much of Terminal Man. Have a go at The Andromeda Strain, much better.

Will do. Ta, Phil.

Spent way too long reading Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum", although it was well worth it. He's got to be one of the most intelligent writers living.
Took a nice stroll through Saroyan's "The Human Comedy". The good-natured characters and that small town were so refreshing!
Just finished Bill Bryson's examination of the English language and its history, "The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way." That was very intriguing and a highly interesting look at a subject that could easily be made boring by the wrong writer. Bill Bryson is most certainly the right one.
Just started (finally) Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and I can tell I'm going to like it!

quote:

Spent way too long reading Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum", although it was well worth it. He's got to be one of the most intelligent writers living.

That sounds familiar! I loved Eco's NAME OF THE ROSE, and have been plodding through MYSTERIOUS FLAME OF QUEEN LOANA (on and off) for quite some time. Eco's books certainly are long-term commitments, but always rich, rewarding reads.

Lake Wobegon Days Garrison Keillor

One of the best-written books I've read - and one of the funniest.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doug Spaulding, 09 June 2008 02:10 PM

Yeah, good stuff. He's quite a raconteur. I got to be in the audience years ago when "Prairie Home" did the show in San Jose.

It's even funny without the extra 'n'. We get it transmitted here on Radio BBC4 (that's the posh channel).
Heatwave in UK and boy! you should see the skinny white legs on show. Mr Tinkerbell is positively embarrassing.

I know- I was in Wales a few summers ago when there was a heat wave, and I've never seen so many sunburned people!

I've finished "The Egg and I" and am now reading "The Science Fiction Century" (ed. David Hartwell), a tome of stories by many authors, but not Mr. B! Each story has an intro/ bio bit and he is mentioned in several of these. I got it so I could read "Enchanted Village" which was discussed earlier.

quote:

Originally posted by tinkerbell:
It's even funny without the extra 'n'.

But funnnier with!

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
I got to be in the audience years ago when "Prairie Home" did the show in San Jose.

And I was in the audience here at the Hollywood Bowl when they were doing the tie-in show to the fillum. Streep was there, Madsen, Reilly, etcetera.

They were here again last Friday night but I couldn't make it, alas.

Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier with an introduction by Ray Bradbury.

jkt, you'll enjoy that! I read that only a year or two ago myself. I think it's "Green Dreams" that was the story upon which "Little Shop Of Horrors" is based.

I'm on my second attempt at 1491, by Charles C. Mann. A fascinating attempt to get to the truth of what the Americas were like before Columbus.

(Why the second attempt? I started reading this on a plane two years ago, and it kept me riveted through a five-hour flight. Flight over, book went on shelf. Life took over. I recently decided to start it again, and am riveted once again.)

Incidentally, 1491 would be a good read for anyone interested in first-contact science-fiction stories. And, of course, there are some parallels between The Martian Chronicles and the European colonisation of the Americas.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
A fascinating attempt to get to the truth of what the Americas were like before Columbus.

Who would know?

quote:

...there are some parallels between The Martian Chronicles and the European colonisation of the Americas.

Yeah - a lot!

Riveted is a good word.