You absolutely should, some of it popped up in the films as well, like Isildur being ambushed at the Gladden Fields and losing the ring in the river, and Feagol (?) and Smeagol finding the ring. It is very good backstory, especially if a lot of Lord of the Rings is still fresh in your mind. But the creation stuff, and the Valar and Maiar (Valars servamts? helpers?) stuff is also excellent. Did you know, for example, that Sauron is a Maiar, a powerful one, who was the first lietenant of Melkor (later Morgoth) who was the source of all evil in the world. And that the Balrogs, and the Istari (Wizards) are also Maiar.

I did know most of that, though some of it hazily.

I'm pretty certain the bits about Isildur and Smeagol and Deagol (isn't it?) are recounted in Lord of the Rings, but I'm not sure whether this was in the course of the books or the appendix.

"Fans" of Gobstopper may or may not know that Bob Fischer has written a book about being a sci-fi fan and about going to conventions.

It's out in 1 month and he has his own little mental website.

Fischy Wischy's Bookle Ookle.

I've seen an actual copy of it so I know it's not an elaborate lie.

It is an elaborate lie, you just didn't realise HOW elaborate.

No, not really - it does exist, and I currently have six copies of it in a box in the front room. Thanks mate! If anyone would like to give it a whirl, it's now available to pre-order at Amazon...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wiffle-Lever-Full-...14838854&sr=8-1

(Not sure if putting this link here contravenes any board rules... if so, sorry... feel free to remove it and I'll slink off and watch the tennis...)

I'll buy that for a dollar. Or rather £12.99.

Very fetching cover.

It's far too slim and active-looking to be me, of course. I'm having to go on a crash diet before the launch just so people can work out which one's me.

The other cover was better, but the publishers didn't care for my opinion.

I've seen the pictures in the spine so I won't need to read it now.

It never actually crossed my mind that it was meant to be you! Is Shack the effete looking robot?

I'm sure I've seen that cover somewhere in the last few days . . .

I am ALWAYS the effete looking robot.

That book led me to this book. Why don't I own it?

The Encyclopedia Shatnerica

Nice cover, Bob! I knew it was meant to be you right away.

It was also dead obvious that Shack was the effete looking robot.

Been reading Making Money by Terry Pratchett this week after it came out in paperback. A much more satisfying story for Moist von Lipwig than Going Postal but still just a clever and funny as always. He continues to be one of my very favourite authors and, as with the other Discworld books, I found this to be an absolute delight.

I've just bought that, it is near the top of my "to read" pile.

I've been re-reading a lot of Robert Rankin over the last couple of weeks - The Armageddon Trilogy, The Book Of Ultimate Truths and Raiders Of The Lost Car Park, Nostradamus Ate My Hamster and now about to start the Brentford Trilogy (all 8 books of it).

I read the first of the Brentford Trilogy and quite enjoyed it, but couldn't get into the others. They seemed very samey.

Is that the series with a character called Rogan Josh and a sentient sprout?

I get where you're coming from, but I quite like that - it's really the characters that do it for me.




It does feature Barry The Time Sprout, yes. And Elvis.

I read one of his books once, but I'm not sure that is it.

I think Christ was in it with his sister Christina, and there was a sprout and a character called Rogan Josh, and I seem to remember something about people living in a converted cinema(?).

It was a long time ago and I can't remember much else about it except that I didn't like it.

I finally finished Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino that Craig bought me an age ago - another beautiful fantasy story by Calvino with a much more conventional storytelling narrative than the other works I've read by him, but still beautiful and bizarre.

I have finally picked up Norweigan Wood by Haruki Murakami after being reminded of my intention to do so by stumbling upon a documentary about him and his work the other week on TV

I am nearly finished and I have enjoyed every second of it. Will be picking up more of his books as soon as I get though re-reading The Lightstone quadrilogy now I have final installment. If I bother to read it, the third failed to keep me interested so I will see how I feel second time around.

I saw that, Imagine last Tuesday, wasn't it?

Very interesting, and I too am intending to pick up a copy of Norweigan Wood off the back of it!

Excellent! I'm glad you liked it.

I think I'll always love a Calvino. I just adore his writing style.

I'm taking Romola by George Eliot with me to the Catskills - it's a big'un, but I love 19th Century lit so I wanted to keep plowing through all the classics. Daniel Deronda is one of my favourites.

I just finished Everything That Rises Must Converge, a collection of 9 short stories by Flannery O'Connor, an early 20th century female novelist. It was really good stuff, full of lovely turns of phrase and focussing on the racial tensions in the southern states in the early '20s. A couple of really chilling endings aswell, the finale of the story 'The Lame Shall Enter First' was excellent but harrowing at the same time.

I amd now reading Engleby by Sebastian Faulks on strong recommendation from both parents. So far, so OK.

Yeah it was, it is a good book too.

I saw that Imagine special as well and it reminded me of how much I love his work, as well as how odd it is (Norwegian Wood aside, which is fairly straightforward, being largely autobiographical and all).

I'd highly recommend picking up Kafka On the Shore or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Both are excellent, even if they are a tad obtuse.

Again, I'd recommend After Dark as well - which has just been published in regular paperback.

I picked this one up today and it is already so different from the type of read 'Norweigan Wood' was. I am enjoying it.

Following on from this, my own favourite hairy tossflake will be doing a book signing in London in a few weeks.

Scroll down a bit. He's drunk with power

He'd love to see any Londoners there. Pip pip!

Yeah, that's more typical of the type of stories he tells, with the notable exceptions of Norwegian Wood and his non-fiction work. It has to be said, I've rarely got so much pleasure reading novels where I have absolutely no idea what's going on most of the time.

Picked up Danny Wallace's Friends Like These and Dave Gorman's America Unchained on offer recently, along with The End of Mister Y by Scarlett Thomas 'cause it sounded rather intriguing.

I read this recently and it is a cracker. I liked it so much that I am staying in the same treehouse resort in Oregon on November.

Eeeyyy, wicked! Looking forward to reading this muchly. Ought to purchase the Doovdé too, I reckon.

Oooh I meant to do this when I finished the book and it totally slipped my mind. Will be purchasing shortly! Ta for the reminder.

Shame I don't have a spare £270...

I badly want a spare £60.

You've just found my birthday present.

I bought that for Colin last year - it is absolutely beautiful

We have that, and the complete Far Side. I'm very glad that our bookshelves are nice and strong.

I had already read All the Pretty Horses a couple of years ago but I've just started Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. I highly recommend ATPH but still haven't got onto the next two yet.

Bit off-topic, but I was sad to see that a local (to me) second hand book shop is closing down. I don't go in there that often, but it's always been busy when I have, and they have a good selection of new and old paperbacks.

On the plus side, everything is 25% off at the moment . . .

I read Neverwhere again when I was away in the caravan. It's even better the second time around.

Read Day of The Triffids by John Wyndham last week and I thought it was bloody excellent. However, I do feel that I read it in too close a proximity to Jose Saramago's Blindness, which not only has a similar plot but also deals with a number of similar themes and goes much further than Triffids in examining them. I was comparing the two as I was reading and that was an unnecessary distraction. Still, a classic of English science fiction (it really feels like it, too, especially since the first choice of refuge for pretty much everyone ended up being the pub) and I can see where Alex Garland and Danny Boyle got some of their inspiration for 28 Days Later.

I'm now half-way through Imperial Life In The Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran and it's been fascinating so far. The sheer number of blunders made by the American-led coalition in the immediate post-war period in Iraq is, quite simply, mind-boggling. Rajiv's even, non-judgemental tone helps underline how obvious some mistakes were, how they could have been avoided, and how neo-conservative ideology helped to scupper what chances the coalition government had of getting Iraq back on its feet. Essential reading.

I stormed through The Average America Male while driving home from New York the other day. It could very easily have been written by Zoe as a continuation from a story she posted here a while ago. So much so as to actually be a little spooky. With the exception of the narrator's insistence on constantly referring to women as 'bitches'. It was an interesting, if a little disheartening read.

I've just finished a set of short story collections.
The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin
I was a little worried when I set out reading it as the last short story collection of hers that I read was The Orsinian Tales, which I did not like, but I really liked this. My favorites were Old Music and the Slave Women and Paradises Lost.
I Dream of Microwaves by Imad Rahman
This book was awesome. It was hilarious and really interesting to read an entire collection starring the same character. I really loved it.
My Date with Satan by Stacy Richter
I had read this previously a few years ago and I really liked it and had been looking forward to rereading it but I found that it almost did not stand up. I still enjoyed it, but I felt that there was almost not enough explaination of the characters, like the author would only take you so far into thier world and then leave you stranded.

Very surprised you hadn't already read this. Look how surprised I am >

I know, my face looked like that for the entire time I was reading it. I'm very disappointed in me.

I've actually owned the book for about two or three years, it's just one of the many that I haven't got around to yet.

My friend just bought one of these and I had a bit of a play about with it yesterday. They are a bit pricey at the min, but it's impressively nifty, and for someone who reads as much as he does its a really cool gadget.

I don't know about The Iliad but you can download lots of books from teh interweb. The only problem is reading them from a screen which leads to insanity or printing them out which costs more than buying a paperback. My advice, get a library card.