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[Larry Paradine]

Mr. Paradine, before you head off to London ( which would make me very, very, very jealous ) as a fellow bibliophile, permit me to offer you two recommendations: the first one is, though I fully agree with your statements on paper v. Electronic books, is that you acquire a Kindle. It is almost, not quite, but almost as good as a normal book. Second, I have gotten many books from amazon.cn...they deliver and you can opt for paying on delivery.

ericthered, please clarify what "almost, not quite, but almost as good as a normal book" means. My main objection to electronic books (apart, of course, from their inadequacies as mosquito swatters and the fact that you can't pencil copious objections to the text in the margins) is that I derive no pleasure and quite a lot of pain from gazing at my computer screen, and assume electronic books would have the same effect on my aged eyes.  If I'm wrong, please enlighten me (here or by pm whichever is more convenient). At the turn of the century, I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the electronic age (my first, very reluctant, encounter with e-mail, which is now as indispensable to me as my morning tea and evening beer)and, even now, I may not be too ancient to make the quantum leap to electronic books, if you or someone else (NOT a salesperson for e-books) can persuade me to do so. 

[Just Like Mr Benn]

Speaking for myself, reading books on a Kindle is just fine. If I was back in britain and had a choice between reading a hard copy of a book or on a Kindle, I would probably choose the hard copy, because here is something satisfying about physically turning a page, and it can be apain on a Kindle if you want to thumb back to an earlier point in a book to look something up.

However, reading on a Kindle is essentially every bit as enjoyable as reading hard copies, and getting one earlier this year has almost ludicrously improved my enjoyment of life because i can now read what I want, including newspapers and magazines from around the world.

It's not at all like reading a book on your computer, which I can't bear.

[ericthered]

JLMB summed it up nicely. Reading on a Kindle is not at all like reading on a computer..I had the same reservations before I got the thing, as I also hate reading on a computer. The Kindle is not back-lit, which makes is basically like reading a normal page.

Now, back on topic...I just finished "Poetics" by Aristotle, "Mythology" by Edith Hamilton and the delightful "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell...now on to Suetonius and Edward Gibbon

[Borkya]

It's not at all like reading a book on your computer, which I can't bear.

Totally true. And the kindle does have a 'highlight' feature (so you can highlight your favorite or meaningful passages) and a 'notes' feature so you ca write your own thoughts.

I am another one of those people who, if I were in America, probably would have never gotten the kindle. But in China it is my best friend and I will definitely use it when (if) I return to the states again. Like you said about e-mail, the kindle is just so convenient and enjoyable to use it has now become indispensable.

[Calach Pfeffer]

I read on my phone.  All this talk of Kindles and torrents was what got me started.  I figured I'd just have a try and see both what the reading experience and the range of books available was like.  It turns out that for me, a 3.7 inch screen (480 X 800 WVGA) is perfectly acceptable.  (HTC Desire, Android 2.3).  I use Calibre to put the book into ePub format and then use Moon+ Reader to do the reading and am content to sit there for hours doing just that.  The fonts, page backgrounds, and available magnifications offer enough alternatives that it was easy to find a nice looking, unobtrusive set up.

Crucial, however, is a page-turning animation.  I found it very disconcerting to touch the screen and have the next page appear instantly.  A proper lift and swish was needed, and found, so I'm content.  I've read more (non-technical) books in the last three months than I have in the last three years.

[ericthered]

Ken Follett is not nice...I just took a break from class reading and began "World Without End" and now I can't put it down...It is a triple killer...good plot, good writing, good characters...

[latefordinner]

just finished Fool by Christopher Moore. sort of juvenile, (where else can one find a convent called Dog Snogging?), but otherwise a bit like Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters. Starting Hessler's River Town, on the basis on multiple recomendations here.

[Borkya]

Just finished "Pear of China" a fiction book about Pearl Buck written from her life-long best friend in China. The best friend is fictional, made up of a number of aquaintances, but the history is real (as is the Pearl Buck history) and it was an interesting read. I didn't really know much about her before.

[The Local Dialect]

Just finished "Pear of China" a fiction book about Pearl Buck written from her life-long best friend in China. The best friend is fictional, made up of a number of aquaintances, but the history is real (as is the Pearl Buck history) and it was an interesting read. I didn't really know much about her before.

Have you read any of Anchee Min's other books? I really love this author, but Pearl of China was not my favorite of hers. Red Azalea is probably her best book imo.

[Borkya]

No, I actually haven't, but I read the "author's bio" on the back and it gave a brief history of her life and mentioned her biography (That's red azalea, right?) and I was definitely interested in reading more about her. You don't happen to have it as a torrent file do you?

[The Local Dialect]

Nope, unfortunately. I'm still in the dinosaur age here with paperbacks and such.

[ericthered]

I don't know if anyone else here has come in contact wit the works of Derek Landy, a young Irish author, but I highly recommend them. He has written a series starring Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain, the former being a skeleton sorcerer noir-detective and the latter his apprentice. The novels are set in Ireland and is jam-packed with violence, magic, fast cars, hilarious witticisms and well-rounded characters. It also makes fun of pretty much every popular novel/series, like Harry Potter, Twilight, The Da Vince Code and others. For anyone who, like me, enjoy the writings of Eoin Colfer, Jasper Fforde, Tom Holt, Robert Rankin and Terry Pratchett, Derek Landy's novels are a must-read.

Now I just have to wait for the shipment containing novels by Rankin and Christopher Moore...How can one not read novels with titles like "The Japanese Devil-Fish Girl" and "The Lust-lizard of Melancholy Cove"?

[Larry Paradine]

Borkya, JLMB, C.P., E the R,(excuse abbreviations), thanks for the information:   a kindle is definitely on my shopping list now. 

E. the R.  Is the "Decline and Fall" available on Kindle?  I've only read the whole book once (the Everymans Library edition),and that was more years ago than I care to remember;  never since have I had enough time to re-read it but, if next summer presents me with as much leisure time as this one has, the stately prose of Gibbon's magnum opus would do much to dispel the boredom.

The last of this summer's reading list, also a return to something I've read before, is Edvard Radzinsky's biography of Stalin. I don't know if I'm unique in having my attitude to reading material affected by the weather, but this second perusal (the first time was 10 years ago) coincided with the wettest, darkest, gloomiest September that I can remember, and the grim story of one of history's darkest episodes is deepening my sense of depression.  I should finish it this weekend, after which, if the weather doesn't improve, I shall have to go through my stock of Terry Pratchett and Tom Sharpe in order to recover my joi de vivre.     

[Borkya]

Just finished three Wizard of Earthsea books. I have to say, they are my all time favorite wizard stories. I know some people think they are dry, or a little too stoic, but I friggin love them.

[decurso]

I've finally jumped on the "Game of Thrones" bandwagon. I just finished season one of the HBO series, and not being able to wait for season 2 to find out what happens next I started on the books. Great stuff...not only does it have some of the most crackling dialogue in recent literary history (Jon Snow: I have no idea who my mother is. Tyrion Lannister:Some woman, no doubt. Most of them are. ) but it's loaded with all the gratituitous sex, violence and girl-on-girl action that the Harry Potter series was sorely lacking.