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Yup, Hiaasen is a funny guy. Last time I checked, he and Dave Barry were both Miami Herald staffers for whatever that's worth. I guess it means a high hilarity ratio. Even though I do prefer Carl Hiaasen's novels above Dave Barry's essays generally, I fairly wept on reading Barry's book about...

and guinea pigs. Later,

Louise Erdrich Patricia Highsmith ...to name two as yet uncounted on this thread. Also, the comic writer, Fay Weldon's pretty good in that comic way. Yes, she's chatty and mundane - and murderous and hilarious.:)

I just started keeping tabs on this in June! Now, a fabulous opportunity to use this list other than for my monthly "reads". There are currently fifty-one books on the list from the starting date in June, including three books, undated though, from May and only one completed book this month...

I always start with the introduction on books that have them. Do I always finish the intro? No! I started doing this when I found one or two fabulously written, interesting ones and have never gone back. At least start or skim an intro to see if it will be useful/interesting. I recall one...

For November: The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick Final Poems - Rabindranath Tagore Black Swan Green - David Mitchell Strangers on a Train - Patricia Highsmith Port Mungo - Patrick McGrath Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro Asylum - Patrick McGrath The Penultimate Peril - yes...

I remember being impressed with the design and feel of one of the books I read last month, I think it was Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, US hardcover. Since I read almost exclusively from the library, though, I can't check up on it easily. It was the typeface and a couple little design...

Welcome, Wilco!

Novices don't write screenplays in the UK? Hmm. Why am I skeptical? Moreover, are screenwriters considered to be authors? I was under the possibly mistaken impression that they were under another job title altogether. Yes, screewriter - author - totally different tasks. Each demanding a high...

I speak English and Spanish, but the Spanish is not particularly fluent. However, my accent is so perfect that I can easily be mistaken for a native speaker, even by native speakers, if I can pull out the right phrase. Hence I'm especially familiar with such phrases as, "mas despacio, por...

Beer good, I'm pleasantly amused. I absolutely cannot read an entire book online or on a monitor! I love nipping around the boards for book leads and pleasant amusement, or for entertainment and education, but the pleasure of reading includes a certain set of sensory impulses, and the comp...

I voted against country and western because it's constantly mistaken as interchangeable with my actual darling, bluegrass. I love blackstrap molasses and wheatgerm bread, but I hate that guy's bigass, shiny new truck. I wanted to vote twice since I find techno annoying. But then, it's fairly...

Smilies...some forums I've been to are ungodly packed with nothing but smilies - smilies jumping around, smilies throwing things, smilies taking a cra..uh, you name it. For a while, like Libre, I made the decision to avoid smilies at all costs. However, having had posts misinterpreted for lack...

ickle puppikins gives mummyummys.

Bhala, welcome!

Hi, Poppy! My smilie and I give best wishes to YOU!:)

Exactly so. That's what the book is about, right? I really like that cover. And I'll say it again and again 'til I've gone all hoarse and pained in the throat. Oh - never mind that.

I agree on many of these, with the exception of the cover for The Amber Spyglass. Having seen the cover "in the flesh," as it were, I happen to know that it is well-considered and right onto the theme of the book in the US edition, far from being slapped on from a reading of the first page. The...

What about the short series of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman? They are, in the USA, The Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. This is a brilliant series, loved every minute. Here is a neat link with a two minute video reading by the author, introducing a certain object.

Agreed on the Artemis Fowl. Also, my two older children have recently begun to enjoy all those Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. The theory is they're humorous, though I haven't read them myself. I was surprised that my oldest girl, 19, liked them, even though my son,14, liked them...