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I guess I am being wilfully obtuse, but how can a book so full of angels be promoting atheism? When I read the books, I did not pause to think about stuff like religion or God or atheism - it was just an amazingly absorbing yarn, really well told, chock-a-block with ideas. It certainly struck...

Couldn't agree more with you, Anamnesis. I thought the book stilted, full of gratuitous violence and endless lists of designer labels, and ultimately boring. The movie struck me as very black comedy, with a subtlety the book clearly does not have (or strive for).

Are readers better persons than non-readers? If yes, in what way? I am an enthusiastic reader, and I watch next to no TV. Some of my friends are enthusiastic TV watchers and read next to no books. Difficult, all this.

The only one I can recommend whole-heartedly is A Hundred Years of Solitude. I couldn't agree more with RedGlazzies, though: do not buy stuff expensively that you can very easily buy for a fraction elsewhere.

I agree that reading encourages the thought processes in some way. Having said that, we (i.e. our brains, our intelligence, if any, our thought processes) have evolved without the written word, and a majority of people manage their entire adult lives, as they have always done, quite well without...

I suspect it's the wrong question - we should rather wonder why DO people read. There is something fairly odd about folks staring at a piece of processed wood, I find. Doesn't stop me from doing it, of course. Could be that it is all about stories. Reading is probably not build into our system...

Great. I have read that - but I'll be damned if I can remember who wrote it. And now I just HAVE to find out. So much for that quiet week-end. Zelazny? Bester? Wolfe? Don't think so. Drag.

I picked it up in a bookstore in Hongkong, I believe, several years ago, brandnew, and as one has to expect in English language bookstores in HK, not a bargain - and I agree, definitely worth reading. Malaria was eradicated from both the US and Northern Europe only in the 20th century - and the...

I am in constant awe of you folks who manage not only to start a list of books read, but to actually keep it up. I tried countless times: little spiral notebooks, spreadsheets etc. - and I keep finding those lists, some of of them 10 or more years without an update. Oh well. The only systems...

Jeremy Leven: SATAN. The devil undergoes psycho-analysis because he has this chip on his shoulder about God always getting all the credit. Douglas Adams, anything. I read is all as an adult, too, without actually knowing very much about it or having particular expectations. I have re-read...

At the time, I thought Notion was a wonderful book. I have never re-read it, though, so I'd have to reserve judgement. Nice movie, incidentially, by & with Paul Newman. What I remember most from both the book and my trip, were the forests of Oregon - green and wet and absolutely wonderful.

Works not just with books: start typing, and one of my cats will inevitably spread itself out on the keyboard... and press down at least one keyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

I traveled through Oregon over 20 years ago, on a bicycle. I loved the place. Certainly taught me a lot about rain. I always wanted to ask an Oregonian (is "Oregonian" the correct term?), especially one who clearly has an appreciation of rain, about Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion: is it a...

I read the book quite a long time ago. Couldn't put it down, but it made me wonder why I would want to read about a life like that. I guess as a reader you're always something of a voyeur as well. Haven't seen the picture, though.

"Slightly chilling" is understating it somewhat... Pardon my ignorance: who is Philip French?

My office colleague keeps bringing Dan Brown novels for me to read - he thinks they are the hottest thing since sliced bread, and because he knows I read books, he wants to share... I can't bring myself to tell him what I think about Dan Brown. I can't help having my own thoughts about his...

Red Dragon (Thomas Harris). At the time, I couldn't believe I'd be scared by a book. I had no idea when I started reading the book what I'd get, and then suddenly I found I had to turn on all these extra lamps and stuff. Neither of the 2 filmings comes even close.

The Smiths: "Girlfriend in a coma, I know, it's serious". The critics keep drooling over Morrissey's lyrics, though, so I might have missed an important point.

Sometimes it takes a while until somebody answers... I enjoyed FLICKER tremendously. A must read for anybody claiming an interest in movies, conspiracy theories. Dan Brown should not be mentioned in the same breath as Roszak. Come to think of it, Dan Brown should not be mentioned at all...

Theodore Roszak: Flicker Richard Fortey: Life William Hallahan: The Search for Joseph Tully