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I thought of another, since you like fantasy...what about the Gormenghast triology by Mervyn Peake? One of my favorites when I was your age, and still is now, lo these many years later. If you like language these books are wonderful, at times more poetry than prose. If not, then you might...

Any suggestions for good summer reading? I'm between books right now; just finished Carolyn See's "Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America", which I liked very much. I notice that when I've really enjoyed a book I have trouble getting started on another one, because I have this feeling...

One of the things that I like to do when I'm traveling is go to book stores. I live in Southern California, where most of the book stores are of the Barnes and Noble/Borders type - big chains that all have the same stuff. Some exceptions to this of course, but I love discovering off the beaten...

Well, I actually did email him and let him know the story - his email address was on the flyleaf of the book, if I recall. And while he didn't buy me dinner, he did send a personal reply that was pretty funny, and we emailed back and forth for a short while. Seems like a very nice man, and...

I didn't like "The DaVinci Code"...after all the hoopla I decided I should probably read it, and I'm glad I borrowed it rather than shelling out money for it. The story line is somewhat interesting, but the writing itself is prosaic and not very good. Also, the whole premise is far-fetched to...

Love, love, love Cat's Cradle - I've read it probably 20 times and never tire of it. "My God! Life! Who can understand even one little minute of it?"

Oooooh, one of my all time favorite authors. People read Tom Sawyer and think that he's a relatively simple story teller, but if you pick up Huckleberry Finn you find out that he's much more than that - his insights into the human condition, and specifically slavery, are incredible. I love...

Hi, my name is Janine and I'm addicted to print. It started small, just a quick paperback at the airport, or thumbing through a magazine at the doctor's office. Nothing I couldn't handle - I told myself that I could stop any time I wanted to. Before long I was carrying a book in my...

I like him too, but he owes me dinner: On my birthday last year I was reading "Gone for Good" and nearly done, and I was so caught up in the story that I had to cancel my birthday dinner date because I could not tear myself away. Be warned!

How about "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon? If you like comic books (or even if you don't), this is a fictionalized account of the golden years of the comic book. Chabon is an awesome writer - you might like his "Wonder Boys" too. "Angels and Insects" by A. S...

Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama". It makes no sense whatsoever. It ends with something about how "Ramans to everything in threes" as though that explains everything, but it doesn't. It's a fairly long book, and infuriating that such an otherwise fine writer would turn out such a...

I learned how to speed read in school; I took a class. As one of the exercises, the teacher would flash a word on a screen very fast, and the only way you could assimilate the word was to remember it as a sort of picture. It was far faster than you could ever actually read something, and you...

Sarah Woodruff from "The French Lieutenant's Woman", which is coincidentally one of my all time favorite novels. I love that she is such a proto-feminist, not afraid to be who she is at a time (Victorian England) when women weren't allowed to be anything other than wives or domestics. I also...

I think it's a losing battle, since no matter how long I may live I will never be able to read everything that I want to - especially since my tastes change over time. Had I stuck to the Russian writers that I loved so much as a teenager, I would be an expert by now; as it is, I jumped ship...

Maybe the connection is that reading is a solitary activity, and people who like to read a lot tend to be those who like to be alone. While I wouldn't say I'm depressed, I am definitely not a "joiner" - I don't like committees or group activities or team sports or crowds of people. I don't...

A man once broke up with me because I had too many books....that wasn't the only reason, of course, but he was exasperated that he had to move piles of books every time he wanted to sit down. He also did not understand why I spent so much money on books, when I could be buying other things that...