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Who is the author?

I didn't say I wouldn't read them, it's just at the back of my mind would be whatever terrible thing they've done and it would inevitably lessen my enjoyment of the work. For example, Bertie Wooster's antics seemed somehow less funny when I heard about PG Wodehouse's collaboration with the...

I wish I could do that. The moment I hear something bad about any author I like, it immediately makes me think less of their work. Even when it's something completely trivial, like they hate my favourite flavour of marmelade or something.

If you let me redefine the middle as the point at which you really get into a book and forget that you're reading, then I'd go for that. For some books, of course, this doesn't happen until sometime after the end of the story.

I prefer 3rd person in theory, but I also love books with really distinctive 1st person narrators (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Vernon God Little come to mind). Last Orders by Graham Swift is my all-time favourite use of "person" (is there a better word for this as a...

I'd never heard of the Boston Molasses Disaster before I stumbled upon the Wikipedia article. Real truth-is-stranger-than-fiction stuff. Plus it's a really high quality article, complete with photo, maps and newspaper report.

I think Dawkins is at his best when he's letting religion be and just writing about evolution. The Ancestor's Tale is my favourite book of his - it takes you all the way back from mankind to the dawn of life, and explains how every other species on Earth fits in. It's worth getting the hardback...

I enjoyed it and I think it could be a good poem after a bit more work. First of all, you don't need to be so heavy handed about the subject of the poem. I'd cut out everything between "and whispered/the answer!" and "oh the poets", for example. The sections of questions are fun but they...

You know you're getting old when the Cranberries are referred to as "an older group". :eek:

Pride & Prejudice is a wonderful book - one of the few 'classic' novels I've read that made me laugh out loud (usually from one or other of Mr Bennett's sarcastic remarks). I haven't read any of Austen's others though; can anyone recommend one of them?

Why don't we just assume that Edwina is allergic to penicillin, and the penicillin is ... erm ... smothered by the shopping bags.

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne is one unfunny joke stretched out into nine volumes. I admire Sterne's courage in getting such a bizarre book published though.

As a book of ideas, 1984 has to be one of the best ever written. Even 60 years on every detail feels like it could come true if humanity takes a wrong turn. But I didn't think much of the story - maybe there were just too many good ideas to leave room for good characters? In that respect, I...

I was very disappointed by One Hundred Years of Solitude, all the more so because so many people think it's the most wonderful thing ever written. I thought it was slow-moving and confusing - I know all the characters share the same name on purpose, but by the time I'd met the 17th Aureliano I...

If Deadwood is anything to go by, the way to write a truly great western is to swear as frequently as possible. Mr Wu's dialogue in particular is a work of art.

Well spotted! That's Glottis at the piano in Year 2. I'm a big fan of Grim Fandango.

This was my biggest problem with his books. He likes to focus in on one or two stories at the expense of the big picture, which is fine if you already know the outline of the history, but then why would you be reading a three-volume history if you already knew it that well? As you say, this is...

The movie of The Commitments is fantastic - it captures the spirit of the book perfectly. If it did have budgetary constraints then it doesn't show. The Snapper and The Van have also been made into movies, but I haven't seen them.

For arts subjects, maybe. But you can't get a well-rounded science education from books alone.