I have just finished 'The Long Earth'. I didn't see the point of it!

All those words and the only new concept is the notion of stepping as described.

Like marriage, smmoking and homosexuality - it's not for everyone.

Continuing my novel marathon in my temporary unemployment. Currently... 'The Hollow Man' by John Dickson Carr. I keep hearing Donald Sinden from the radio adaptation in my mind!

Does anyone else remember the fruity Mr Sinden?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2013 02:24PM by EgonSpengler.

I remember Mr Sinden, with his voice pitched in the region of whale speak.

Seen him in numerous TV productions but cannot remember the names of any of them. But he was a murderer in one.


My latest readings have been 'The Wizard with One Spell' - lightweight but pleasant. You've got to read them to discover what they are; and Dorothy L Sayers 'Thrones, Dominations' released post life event and completed by another lass whose name I cannot recall.

Currently reading Ngaio Marsh 'Death at the Dolphin' what I found at the Oxfam shop.

Oh, Mr Sinden!

I'm currently on the Doctor Who novel 'Iceberg' by David Banks and in the uncharacteristically serious 'Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious' by Jung, albeit not very far in. It's fascinating.

Well, as they say, your only into Jung once.

Ouch!!!


Who threw that archetype??????


Finished 'Thrones, Dominations" and have reread parts of trwo volumes of Encyclopaedia Brittanica (for younger fforum members the EB was a paper based precursor to Wikipedia) looking for information on the hat types worn by mediaeval (? cos I'm too lazy to look it up in a dictionary) ladies of class.

Don't ask me why!

Hennin hats, Peasant hats,
Woollen cowls, Barret caps,
Middle-aged, Med'eval
Many a style.

Cavalier Leather Hats
Loose turbans, wide flat hats,
Knights Medieval Hood,
Tossed in a pile.

Embroidered Hood with Fur,
Jack Sparrow Pirate Hat
Naming each type of that
Could take a while.

Just finished "The Long Earth" and the short story which it came from ("The High Megas").

Before I dive into "The Long War! I have started Pete Postlethwaite's biography, a book of Roger McGough poetry and am halfway through "I'm Gonna Live My Life Like a Jimmy Buffett Song" by Anthony Bjorklund

Liked the Long Earth and Long War; can recommend the Ben Aaranovitch Rivers of London series - a sort of hybrid JK Rowling and Neil Gaiman, with a bit of Christopher Fowler's Byant and May books too.

I have read the first of the "Rivers of London" series and enjoyed it. I intend to read some more.

For anyone who didn't get the Waterstones' special edition of "The Long Earth", the short story *The High Megas" is also available in "The Blink Of The Screen".

I have been reading early to mid 1960s Nat Geogs and being highly amused by then artists impressions and the prophecies they made.

The fact that there are odd bits right makes it all so surreal

Digging deeper into Lord Peter Wimsey and Patrick O'Brian. Have run out of science fiction. Horror.

Is there not a Fforde book this year after all? Oh well, there's always Non-Newtonian Rheology instead.

Raising Steam!

Egon, Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.


A very odd book indeed (and well long)


Do you really like horror and sci-fi. I seem to remember you made me cry when you said you didn't like Bladerunner!!

I did read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It was well written, very long, and somehow a little flat.

I'm not a fan of sci-fi in general or any genre. I just cherry pick and look for things which aren't dismally depressing.

Bladerunner the movie isn't great to me, but 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep' was substantially better. You have reminded me to get the Library of America collected Philip K Dicks!

You're right of course, the androids story was perhaps better than the film.

I ought to say different because the film was completely unlike the original. What I liked in the film was the visual realisation of a near future world.

Simon Doonan's Beautiful People - this not Mary Mary's Reading, but it was the 1950s

Just about to finish my re-read of WWDaL. I've been re-discovering the importance of spending time each night reading an actual book (rather than a computer screen or kindle) in being able to sleep well, so I will need to set up some more reading matter in my near future.

Can anyone recommend anything upbeat, imaginative, & well-written? I've just been through all the TN books in a row. I suppose I could re-read SoG & that might get me through another week (reading only in the evenings & on the bus commute) but looking for new stuff too. My tastes in fantasy tend to run either toward Heinlein or modern-imaginative (NOT dragons, sorry) like TN. Not a great fan of Gaiman--I always find his writing a bit flat. Any other ideas?

I like mysteries too, but SO tired of the purely formulaic, & never one for violence or timetable mysteries. Would love to find a series with a good heroine who's not TOO miserable & not obsessed w/ love-interests, & not too gun-happy. Not too demanding, am I? :-) If anybody has ever read the Kate Martinelli series by Laurie King, that's EXACTLY the kind of thing I'd like.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

They're not fiction but Danny Wallace's 'Join Me' and 'Yes Man' are very strong narratively, and I rather bizarrely like Tony Hawks and his 'One Hit Wonderland'. As for female protagonists... That's harder.

The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger is a reasonably upbeat supernatural/steampunk series with a female lead and a love interest kept well under control.

Everyone will be sick of me suggesting them,, but the P.G. Wodehouse Blandings or Jeeves and Wooster stories take some beating for comic writing.

Another suggestion would be the inventor of Far-Fetched Fiction, Robert Rankin. I would recommend starting with the Brentford Trilogy - about six books, I think.

Thanks, EgonSpengler & SkidMarks! FTR, I LOVE Jeeves & Wooster & have enjoyed the recent TV Blandings so should probably try the written version. My non-fiction tastes are a little limited: I loathe bios but adore things like the James Herriot books (I know, somewhat fictionalised) & travelogues. _Parasol Protectorate_ definitely sounds like something to check out, thanks.

One thing ya gotta love about Mr Ff: he writes women like STRONG WOMEN, not like wanna-be men, & not like idiot-savants (a la Heinlein). It's so rare to have a male author who succeeds so seamlessly, & any author who really doesn't play the sex card at all. One of the many reasons I keep coming back to his books.