The Heinz Kruger Palace of (57) Varieties

[SupermassiveLBD]

Strangers are friends you just haven't met, yet. Even when they are baddies and drive science-fiction-y submarines, wearing a smart grey lounge suit.

Evening all, I have just bought a new bookcase but not for us but for Smallboy Major who goes through books like nobodies business and likes to get whole collections of books (such as all 48 books in the hideous Beast Quest series). Our own books are quite well culled as I recycle novels and only keep architectural books or other nice coffee table ones and a set of encyclopedias that no one ever reads. I get a lot of books from charity shops andthen either pass them on or give them back as I rarely read a novel more than once.

I do wish I had the charity shop option, i always donate my discards when I am over in the UK. but here on the island all I can do is just bung them in a bin-bag and chuck them-- I have tried and tried over the years to find ways of bestowing them on the Community, but never succeeded.

And most of my books are hardly Heritage cless. There are just an awful lot of them..

Kindles certainly look the way to go for the future

Trials and Tribble-ations indeed, Lady V.

Does the island not have an English library for the hedification and heducation of the islanders, Massive? Would the grateful island populace not wish to read your discarded tomes?

No they don't, Maud, unfortunately. To both questions!

Well, that must be your next project, Massive. A mobile library offering the best of English litter-achure. You could drive it around the island, announcing your arrival with the tinkling of a merry bell, like an ice cream van.

While we're on books - has anyone's older offspring read the Artemis Fowl stories? DD is eyeing them up after seeing them advertised on TV (she heard the characters described as 'techno-fairies' and that was that), but they are aimed at 10 plus.and from the info on Amazon don't sound very nice.

And no one would be in the least bit interested, Maud. Tant pis. Most of them think I am a loon anyway. Even without knowing what goes on here at the Academy.

Massive, I feel for you. To live somewhere where you can't even give away a perfectly good book....?

I hate throwing books away. In fact I can't think of when I last did that. I would only do it if the book was unreadable in some way. But I try not to let that happen. Even when my son dropped my daughters school library book in the bath and I had to buy the library a new copy, I separated and dried out the pages of the old copy very carefully, and we still have it on our shelves!! It's not exactly in good condition, but still readable.

Girl hasn't read the Artemis Fowl books, Spiro. They're the sort of thing I dangle in front of her, thinking that she'll like them, and she rolls her eyes and looks at me as if to say puh-lease. She's currently reading an Alex Rider book and My Family And Other Animals. She reads several books a week and is the best of all three of us at getting rid of surplus books. Even so, she has two bookcases which are full to bursting.

Do you read in Islandese too, Massive?

Nothing wrong with crinkly pages Lady V. Only a very few of my childhood books retained their flat pages iirc!

I've still got some though - all my original Adrian Mole's, The Diary of a Teenage Health Freak & it's sequel, and I'm sure I've still got Forever somewhere ! Am trying to get hold of one I used to love for DD at the moment - anyone else remember Flossie Teacake's Fur Coat?

Maud - I'm not sure that my DD is quite old enough but will for them subject wise yet anywabut will def keep them in mind for later - got to be an improvement on bloody Rainbow Magic - grrr!
We've nearly finished James & the Giant Peach and she wants to start the Narnia books next. She hasn't got a look in with JATGP though, as I've been having far too much fun reading it and doing different voices for all the characters !

Never going to happen but I would love to read audiobooks for a living.

Yup, Maus, I read Islandese but don't enjoy it as much because I am so much slower.

Spiro, don't think I can't see where you are going with this audio-book reading malarky

Am v. impressed with your being able to read in the native lingo, Massive.

I'm genuinely not going anywhere on the audio book front - I love reading and am quite good at voices - would be nice to get paid to read.

Oops, sorry, there, Maud! How inadvertently rude of me. Uzi got quite excited there

Massive, maybe you could read audiobooks in Islandese???

No, I was just wittering on about Girl's reading habits. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the same things for anyone else. She loved the Roald Dahl books and has just re-read the Narnia books (unlike me, she does re-read books) after we gave her the dvd of the most recent film for her birthday.

If MissSpiro likes Roald Dahl, you could try the film of Fantastic Mr Fox which has the mellifluous voice of George Swoonsome Clooney is very well-made.

Only kidding, Spiro. Just wishfully imagining you doing a Collaboration Reading one day, you see. What would you pick?

Heh heh, Lady Venetia, with my funny accent I sound like the Islandese version of the comedy French people in Alo Alo

From my own point of view, I think I'd like doing kids books.

For a fantasy collaboration - tricky, can't see RA doing chick lit, somehow. I do like Jane Eyre on the classics front, and this I read years ago and is one of the few novels I've kept.

Perhaps I better crack on with my own novel - then I could read that!

Or Gone with the wind - have never actually read or seen it but I believe it's quite a lengthy story...

Or the female characters to his Uthred I'm the other 5 Bernard Cornwall books in the series.

Or this

Ok, now I'm just being greedy !

Oooh, Mr Rochester... That other one looks interesting though, I shall have to look into that.

How is the novel coming, any progress at all?

GWTW is a must read, Spiro, you really must have a go at it, fantasy audiobook reading aside. It is the height of scrumminess. I wasn't that keen on the movie, the moustache put me off.

RL has been rather pressing of late, but am hoping to get back into it over the next few weeks.

La Cucina is really good - must be 10 years since I read it but have kept it. Is not typical chick lit at all - it's a mix of love, food, history & a bit of intrigue.Linda Greens is really good on the chick lit front - a bit edgier than most, like some of Marian Keyes darker novels.

I've read some of Linda Green's. Not bad at all. GWTW is really chicklit writ large, you know. That and The Thorn Birds . How do you rate Maeve Binchy, I find she's good when you need a fluffy blanket and cup of cocoa sort of book.