We're moving flat soon and going to be short of space, so this evening's question, as we fill bags for the charity shop, is 'Am I EVER going to read/re-read this?'

Dictionaries and encyclopedias are all going - hello Internet! - but some of the fiction's got us in more of a quandary...

How about you? Do you often re-read books? Are you a hoarder? Do you buy, read and get rid of books as you use them? Are there unread tomes that have sat on your shelves for years?

... whatever the reviews, even if some of their past efforts have disappointed?

My list's dwindling but'd include Don Winslow, Geoff Dyer and Jonathan Coe.

Is anyone else really looking to the 364 sequels?

I´ve spent most of the day reading A Farewell To Arms outdoors. Even if it left me cold, it wasn´t out of boredom (or the weather). I did enjoy the experience.

His myth and legend tend to overshadow the fact that he could really write. Next stop will have to be Death In The Afternoon.

Haven´t got a question as such, just wanted to share. :)

does what it says on the tin
http://www.planetrock.com/Article.asp?id=1710600

Is this beautiful or what?

from http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/

I've been wondering how feasible it is to get it printed as actual wallpaper...

Along with books on music, my favourite genre of writing is travel, however I am out of ideas for new authors.

With this in mind I thought I would ask the most literate and knowledgable bunch of people I know, the Word Massive, to see if anyone has any suggestions.

Looking for something along the lines of Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban and even Bill Bryson. Should be readable (not to dry), humourous is good as long as its not wacky (no travelling around Greece with a blow up doll etc.) and, more specifically, I am interested in eastern central Asia and westernmost China, but anywhere will do.

I have looked at Eric Newby, Jan Morris etc. but they dont seem my C of T for some reason.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Hello, I'm new, long time lurker, first time poster. A comment about Douglas Coupland on the celebs/wankers thread (he wasn't BTW) made me think about the similarities between how I read and how I listen. Just like I buy every Moz album, no matter the quality of the previous one, I buy every Coupland book. Same for Carl Hiassen. Other authors I might just have one or two 'greatest hits', even if I love those books. Are there authors you will *always* read, just because you're a fan?

OK, while there seems to be a support group mentality (all of which is clearly very helpful to some people with some real issues) from the always thoughful massive at the moment i thought I would share with you my dirty little secret.

It occured to me a while ago, lets say about 18 months, that I now spend considerably more time reading about music than I do actually listening to it!

It seems I am increasingly happy to discuss and debate and 'study' popular culture, largely music, but, conversly, am less interested in actualy partaking of the stuff myself.

I will happily spend hours reading reviews for albums I will never own (or even listen to), read discussions on forums, with genuine interest, about bands of whom I know nothing, read and re-read books and memoirs relating to music, the music industry or band biogs (theres not a book by an ex NME/Sounds/RM etc. journo that I do not own for example) and yet I will probably go to 2 gigs max this year, buy 2 CD's and download about another 2 cd's worth of single tracks (not being a freetard keeps a check on that). Even copies of CD's that friends have given me, things that I am sure I would like, rarely make it out of the sleeve.

Even in the car my listening is 90% podcasts (ironically, mostly about music) except when the kids are in it, when I give in to Lilly , Florence and the rest of the gang.

What music I do buy seems to be largely (but not exclusively) copies of stuff I have on vinyl and older stuff that I liked but never bought in the past. I also find that I am genre shifting again, listening to lots more soul again after 15 years in the indie wilderness and albums that I loved 6 or 7 years ago (Flaming Lips, The Strokes etc.), I can barely, scratch that, cant listen to now)

A further confession is my lack of any facility to play vinyl. If I had a turntable again (I know, I know, its on my shopping list after selling the last one after a period of copying what I thought was my essential vinyl onto CD and moving to a high end micro) then maybe I would at least be playing some old Jean Carne albums! Perhaps its a temporary and cyclical thing while searching for inspiration?

I am I should add a regular music radio listener (Robert Elms and Baker on BBCLondon and some 6 music shows) and use Spotify quite a bit so maybe it is sheer boredom with my collection.

Anyway, I'm Art and I'm here because I love reading....

Some recent entries on this forum got me to thinking about the critics I most trust to point me in the right direction for new stuff, particularly films. Whilst I'd love to think that I'd find great new product all on my own, inevitably, with film at least where otherwise you'd rely on trailers or word of mouth, there are some critics I really trust.
For me, I look for a consensus between the BBC's Mark Kermode and Peter Bradshaw from the Guardian - both guilty occasionally of putting me off films I ended up enjoying or encouraging me to see stuff I didn't care for, but I usually find if both like something there's a strong chance I will too. Individually, if one really loves something I will probably give it a go. I also like Roger Ebert (although he has recommended some real drivel, he at least talks authoritively and with passion when he does), and historically the late, great Pauline Kael.
With that in mind, who are the critics you trust the most in the field of movies, TV, music and/or books?

Mr Hepworth asked this question on his own blog this morning...
http://whatsheonaboutnow.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-has-borders-ever-done...
... and he got me thinking because Borders did quite a lot for me.

I worked for Borders for over 10 years. There are a myriad of reasons behind them going into administration, some external and some internal (and most of those available to read in the comments field on thebookseller.com) but whatever happens in the future, there are plenty of good things I remember from the past...

1. Watching Ian Rankin & Hugh Cornwell duet on a karaoke machine at the General Manager conference on Brighton Pier.
2. Terry Pratchett stealing my lunch.
3. Meeting Richard "Pitch" Pitcciotto, a NYC firefighter trapped under the World Trade Centre on 9/11. He wrote a book about his experience and did a book tour. We took him out to dinner afterwards. He did magic tricks at the table and told some rum old tales...
4. Recommending books to people. No bigger thrill.
5. DInner with Ken Follett, when a colleague of mine compared his Pillars Of The Earth with Thackeray's Vanity Fair. I've never seen a man so thrilled. Or a colleague so wrong.
6. Our Kids departments. Not for nothing did Borders win Children's Bookseller Of The Year for 3 years in a row. On a bad day, you'd go help out in the kids department and see the young faces looking up in wonder at the rows of books, picking out something new and realise why you worked there. Not available on Amazon.
7. Hosting a week of Syd Barrett events in Cambridge. People travelled from all over the world to be there. It felt like an honour to host them.
8. The people I worked with. I realised today that two thirds of my friends on Facebook I know through Borders. As well as highlighting my poor social skills outside of the workplace, I hope this shows how close knit the teams were. Sure we employed the odd idiot, but that was part of the fun too.
9. Causing chaos on the launch night of the last Harry Potter book with a tannoy announcement that resulted in several hundred people leaving their place in the queue only to find they were right & I was wrong... the queue should have remained where it was. Oops.
10. Being able to pop my head into the instore Starbucks knowing my tall, black Americano would be sat there waiting. The modern equivalent of a local pub.
11. Catching people shoplifting erotic novels.
12. Opening a delivery and getting to see all the new stuff first.
13. Reading a whole pile of magazines without paying for them. See, not only the customers did that.
14. Choosing the instore playlist. Then somebody wanting to buy what was playing. My record was 3 copies of Donald Fagen's The Nightfly in one night.
15. Learning that, in a lot of cases, you actually can judge a book by its cover. And if one day you decide to fill a table with books that you just like the covers of, then that table will sell like hot cakes.

There are many, many more too... just thought today was the right time to record a few.

Robert Forster of the Go Betweens has put out a collection of his writings on rock'n'roll related topics. Reviews etc.

I understand he wrote also for the Sunday Times as well as Australian publications.

It is a good read.

http://theincblot.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-with-robert-forster-aut...

Stuck for something to read over the weekend, tired, irritable, unable to concentrate and not fancying any of the dozens of books on the ‘to read’ shelf, I turned, yet again, to that old reliable Wodehouse. Within seconds I was laughing – ‘If he had a mind, there was something on it’- and all was well with the world and now I fancy reading again. Wodehouse is infallible like that.

Music-wise, in those increasingly common moments when excess choice and over-exposure leads to scrambled synapses and musical meltdown, the one guarantee, whatever the mood, is Gerry Love of Teenage Fanclub. A blast of Sparky’s Dream, Ain’t that Enough or Going Places works every single time. Job done, enthusiasm and love of music rediscovered.

So, what are your cultural palate cleansers?

A couple of years ago, I remember seeing a novel in Waterstones.

Something along the lines of - a man finds a note under his windscreen wiper, asking to decide which of 2 people should die. As he thinks it is a joke, he ignores it, and both die. He then gets another note...

Does this ring any bells ?

From The Wall Street Journal

"Sony Corp. unveiled Tuesday a wireless electronic book reader that could be the strongest competitor yet to Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle reader this holiday season

Going to get one - or in the face of the endless tech wave do you wish life had, like, a pause, button?

http://bit.ly/1vpL5