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I hope this thread isn't locked. I think it's going to a beautiful place...

Now, I find this! *mumbles*registered on another board for nothing*mumbles*

Not read it myself but 'Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition' by B.R. Burg was recommended as an eye-opener on QI.

Good question. I’ll try and explain my process for buying new books. Firstly, the kinds of books I like have a baring on how I go about selecting them. I don’t read much contemporary fiction, so media hype, glowing reviews in newspapers or recent awards hold little interest. I do buy...

I have the edition published by Harvill Press it contains a list of the 180+ characters in the book. I used it as reference quite a lot. There are another couple of editions out there, NYRB Classics and Vintage. I have no idea if they have something similar. K-S

I would warn that Beevor's book is part history, part biog, so it's not all flowing prose. 'Life and Fate' really is a good way of getting under the skin of what the Russian experience of WW2 was like. It's a truly important book, although it's best to find an edition with a list of characters.

It depends on why you are asking, I guess. If you want a book that does a good job of covering 'The Great Patriotic War' then there are any number of quality titles to choose from. I have 'Russia's War' by Richard Overy which is excellant. If you're asking because you're interested in reading...

This from someone using a simpsons avatar.

I caught the second half of that film on TV, I need to get it out on DVD and watch it all the way through.

Lilya-4-ever is just about the most relentlessly bleak film I’ve ever seen, it makes ‘Come and See’ look like a comedy. It’s also very different from Moodysson's previous film ‘Together’, which I also liked. You’re right about the actress who plays Lilya, Oksana Akinshina. She puts in as good a...

I've included hyperlinks for some of the lessor known authors who shouldn't really be lesser known, and to any reviews I may have written of the book itself. January Books 08. Beyond a Boundary - C L R James ***** 07. Zimmer Men - Marcus Berkmann ***** 06. Confession of a Murderer -...

I love Czech literature. Writers from that region have a wonderful ability to talk about nothing and everything at the same time, all wrapped up in a warm dark humour that reveals a great love of life. Perhaps it’s a twentieth century tradition that stems from the writing of the humorist...

Still no Gang of Four, Josef K or Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry! Has the world gone mad? *prepares to deploy generic music opinion* Of course, I prefer the early stuff...

An excellent review as usual Shade. Vidal has always struck me as an intelligent, witty guy with an inside track on our lords and masters, but also someone with an element of self-satisfaction that rather grates on me. I’ve read little of his work because of that so this may just be my...

To be honest Talinn is pretty but there isn't a massive amount to do and see there. The best option would really be to base yourself in Helsinki or even Riga and take a day trip to Talinn.

If all you do is wander aimlessly round Praha 1&2 then that may be your experience. Get out from the centre and you find the real Prague.

Six got top marks this year: Soul - Andrei Platonov The Party & Other Stories - Anton Chekov A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess War with the Newts - Karel Capek Henry V - William Shakespere Silence - Shusaku Endo They're all exactly as you imagine them, so no need for descriptions.

Tsypkin is discussed at length in the introduction. He did write other fiction apparently, some poems and other short prose pieces. I've no idea if they will ever to published, or indeed if they of a quality worthy of doing so. Given the time I could have written page upon page about this...

Just the three: The Threepenny Opera - Berholt Brecht **** Collected Plays Vol 7 part 1 - Bertholt Brecht *** Scandal - Shusaku Endo - **** No time for mini reviews...

Of all literary techniques, stream of consciousness is the one I have the most problem with. Unless the subject matter and author combine and try damn hard to catch my imagination, it’s all just going to wash over me, however critically acclaimed the work may be. Leaving writers like Joyce...