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Adios Sheherazade, by Donald Westlake. Which is one of the funniest books I ever read, too (about a porn novelist with writer's block).

That IS a great title. I will check it out. One of my own favorites: Another supposedly fun thing I'll never do again.

I haven't seen it, but I guess I shall have to, after so many people have already recommended it to me. I guess you are right about all actors having a blunder in their resume. It just puzzles me a bit to learn he co-wrote this particular blunder.

Well put. I am always puzzled as to how readily liking - or disliking - an author can degenerate into a religious question. With certain authors, there cannot seem to be any shades of grey, either: every word he wrote must be pure gospel.

What a hoot! I used to think of Edward Norton as an intelligent actor.

There is no original piece of writing by any of the classic Roman or Greek writers - ewomack is certainly right, books are anything but eternal. The only reason we even know about those guys is that Arabic scholars copied them. Later, European monks copied those copies in turn. Rather funny...

When I read, I walk through the jungle without fear of mosquitoes, travel to the moon (or further) and meet monsters face to face which would scare me witless if I met them in person. Escapism, in other words. Nothing like fiction to get away from it all.

I have always hated the sound of lawn-mowers. But I have to admit, I am not entirely sure I prefer bleating. Or is it only sheep which bleat?

Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus. And, of course Douglas Adams, Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Checking up on your links (thanks for the links - I really appreciate that about your posts in general, by the by), I might have to get that companion book. Did you see all 3 series? 1978 seems positively antediluvian, by science standards.

Sounds very intriguing. Except maybe for the use of the word "gestalt", which should have been banned a long time ago, together with "synergy" and pro-active".

Isn't that just a re-run of the old saw about escapist literature? That we read fantasy, sci-fi, crime novels or, in this instance, historical novels, because we refuse to face up to reality here & now? Spoilsports. Personally, I think the best of historical fiction manages to do what...

I cannot really see how anything in the lives of Newton or Einstein would make the slightest bit of difference to the way gravity works. Physics and the understanding of its laws have nothing whatsoever to do with the physicists involved. Having said that, science classes could be a lot more...

I am with you on Simenon. Not that I would single out any one book of his. As far as Westlake is concerned, why not try something really far out: Adios Shererazade. The narrator is a porn writer with writer's block who gets in trouble with his wife's unsavoury brothers. If I had to choose...

Forgettable characters should be, well, forgotten. The ones that refuse to be forgotten, I would really rather not warm up.

I have always been in 2 minds about I, Claudius. It is basically a soap, Dallas set among the First Family of ancient Rome, lots of scheming and backstabbing and intrigue, but really not all that much history involved. Still, the book is a very good read, and the BBC TV series is breathtaking.

Perfectly put. Everything comes at you as if through a megaphone. In person ( or rather on those TV shows I have seen him) he is hilarious, but somehow that does not really work in books. Considering how well his books sell, that might be me, though.

Does he keep it up? I agree, that is a great opening paragraph.

Try GRIDLOCK. Books don't get any more politically correct than this. If you like this kind of comedy, you might find it worth your while checking out Hugh Laurie or Stephen Fry: just as funny, both pack rather more of a (dark) punch, imho.

I couldn't agree more, especially, but certainly not only in The Diamond Age: an absolutely riveting book, great story, wonderfully told, and then it just sort of fizzles out.