Sharon - If you're struggling to find great fiction,may I recommend Jim Crace.I am equally drawn to non fiction but,if you want to read a wholly original novelist,I think Crace is out on his own at present."The Devil's Larder",a collection of short stories,was exceptional - has anyone else read his work?

Howard

I read exactly the same on holiday that I would at home. But then I don't really get the whole concept of holidays, to be honest! I haven't had many of them and I'm always pleased to get back to my home comforts and not have any more sand in unwelcome places!

The holiday I've just had I read Augusten Burroughs' Running With Scissors which was fantastic. My laughing out loud had all my holiday mates clamouring to borrow it.

I took a pen and paper with me in case I felt inspired to continue my novel. Needless to say, I didn't (I prefer typing), but I did pen a silly poem about our holiday adventures. I've stuck it below in case anyone's interested....

Stansted Airport bleary-eyed, Francesca’s friends from far and wide. Lots of caffeine in full flow To help us get to Alghero. Cath’s suitcase required a crane But we still made it aboard the plane. We lay back and we tried to sleep But we were flying for dirt cheap. No sooner had we reached lift-off Than the aircon froze all our tits off. The landing was a little rough But the Sardinia men were looking buff. The heat hit us and we all said ‘aaaah’. Then we went to hire the cars. Lastminute.com are a bunch of tossers* But we hit the road and cut our losses. We thought we’d soon be having a ball But the journey took 21 hours in all. Once we’d recovered we were thanking Fran For beautiful food, wine, sun, sea, sand And views to take our breath away. Then Thursday was Francesca’s day. She had hit the age of 30: A great excuse to get drunk and flirty With the waiter in the pizzeria, While the food and wine flowed even freer. Oh, the food on this holiday. Better than sex, some of us would say. Pasta, cheeses, peaches and pears, Coffee to give your chest more hairs. Fresh and gorgeous and organic. It was pretty damn close to orgasmic. But it wasn’t all sun and laziness And stuffing our faces to excess. There was yoga and chanting and poetic endeavour And some wet and stormy weather. That was when we hit the beach bar; Our favourite holiday haunt by far. Better than the other place With Alessandro the caveman on the case. Determined to charm an English chick With all the subtlety of a brick. But Nick protected his harem** And shattered Mr caveman’s dream. Friday’s priority was topping our tans So off we went and hit the sand. Three went to explore the rocks Then Linda returned and the sunbathing stopped. “It’s Sandira,” she said. “She’s hurt herself”. So some of us went to try and help. Panic and confusion followed But we got in the car and drove down the road. Sandira appeared all pale and in shock. Her arm had taken a nasty knock. Then there was an exclamation of “oh fuck!” We realised that the car was stuck. Sand covered the entire front wheel. Can this much bad luck be for real? But never fear we found a hero: A man with a jeep by the name of Diego. Then Sandira was safe in the hands of Fran’s dad Whilst the rest of us marvelled at the day we’d had. Someone had a solution: “Let’s get pissed!” And we drank a toast to Sandira’s wrist. After that things can’t get worse by much, Only cuts and bites and a bout of thrush, And blown away towels and a missing shoe. But that won’t stop this Sardinian crew. The good things still outweigh the bad And tonight there’s a party to be had. Drinking and dancing with some cool new friends And I might write some more after the holiday’s end. *Lastminute.com completely cocked-up the car hire ** Nick was the only male out of 9 of us

I read exactly the same on holiday that I would at home. But then I don't really get the whole concept of holidays, to be honest! I haven't had many of them and I'm always pleased to get back to my home comforts and not have any more sand in unwelcome places!

The holiday I've just had I read Augusten Burroughs' Running With Scissors which was fantastic. My laughing out loud had all my holiday mates clamouring to borrow it.

I took a pen and paper with me in case I felt inspired to continue my novel. Needless to say, I didn't (I prefer typing), but I did pen a silly poem about our holiday adventures. I've stuck it below in case anyone's interested....

Oh no! I'm really sorry! My PC just went mad!

Thanks Howard. Just had a look at him on Amazon and he looks interesting.
Sharon

Skippoo - How mad is that? Seems your PC would find a happy home in the Burroughs household.I thought "Running with Scissors" was terrific too.Weird and interesting,as my friend Jim might say,with some very funny lines.A book you could read in pretty much one session - compellingly awful and awfully compelling in equal measure.

Howard

Sharon - You must read "You're an Animal,Viskowitz" by Allessandro Boffa if you haven't done so already.Clever,witty,original and strongly recommended.A masterpiece of a different kind is "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino - in fact,pretty much anything by Calvino is a pleasure.Also check out Robertson Davies,an underrated author,and,if you need an epic,"I,Claudius" by Robert Graves,takes some beating.

Howard

I, Claudius I read many years ago and I agree it is a great book. I read Italo Calvino's 'Six memos for the next millenium' once, (not that I can remember much about it) but I've never read any of his fiction.

Trouble is, I like intelligent treatments of sci fi themes (among other things) but with realism and fully realised characters. The only writer I've found who does that adequately is William Gibson. I'm sure there must be others, but I haven't found them. I read Dan Simmons' Ilium recently, which hooked me with the idea of a future archeologist being given the opportunity to observe the Trojan war, but it all went a bit silly after a while and had a whole thread that I thought it didn't need. (And lots of continuity errors)

My favourite books over recent years though have been Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy.

The Boffa sounds like fun! And Robertson Davies looks like he covers some areas I might like. Cheers for those; I'll have a look.

Sharon

<Added>

What non fiction grabs you, Howard?

Howard,

Have you read Dry by Burroughs? Just as terrific - and frightening. He has a new book coming out later this year, I think.

Cath

Cath - It's already out - I'm just waiting for the paperback version!

Howard

No, his new book isn't out yet! Dry is still in hardback, I think. Is that what you mean??

Sharon - I'm afraid that sci fi themes are not a speciality of mine.I know of William Gibson but I've never read any of his work.I'm reliably informed that Philip Dick ticks all the right boxes for afficionados of this genre but I expect you knew that already

Non fiction is too wide a subject to do justice in this thread.I have books on all kinds of subjects,some rare and arcane,others rather more predictable.Essays and journalism are a favourite as are interviews etc.Writers who stand out include Robertson Davies,Studs Terkel,JK Galbraith,Roy Porter,George Plimpton,Bertrand Russell,Neil Postman etc.Also,as an aside,pick up a copy of "Divorce among the Gulls" by the American entomologist,William Jordan.It's a great study of animal characteristics and the parallels one can see in human behaviour.

Why not read an article I uploaded,entitled "On the Shelf" to give you a better idea of where I'm coming from? I'll shortly post a sequel on this theme.Let me know if it helps!

Howard

Cath - I think you're right. Sorry about that - an overdose of books sometimes causes my head to spin!

Howard

Howard
PK Dick thoughtup great storylines; his stories make great films, but his books are ditchwater as far as I can taste.

That's the trouble with sci fi: it has the capacity to explore all kinds of themes in novel ways, but so often the tradition that the plot and the technology/fantasy world are the only important things in sci fi means that the characters are plastic star wars figures. I read (bits of) a book on how to write sci fi and it actually said DON'T write rounded characters. (Whereupon I chucked it.)

You sound, from your article, as if you have you have a major book problem there! Myself, I only buy books when I can't get the title from the library. Kent library has just put it's catalogue online at last, so I can browse and reserve what I need. If I can't get it,I buy it from Amazon, and then, I quite often put it up for sale on Amazon marketplace when I finish it. But it might be as well for you to stay away from Amazon; you might kill your postman.

Sounds like you're a good person to ask 'do you know a book about...' when I need to know something for research. You can be the Write Words search engine

Talking of Postman, I read 'Amusing ourselves to death' and thought it was excellent, although I didn't agree with his points in many places.

Sharon