>> Actually, I was thinking if anything I'm likely to try reading the 
>> Harry Potter books [which are also reputed to be well-written].
> 
> They're well-written, but rather puerile in my opinion.

Hooookay then... Time to get the dictionary again. :-}

> Of course, they're targeted at kids, so you kind of expect it.

Well I don't know. The first film is *exactly* what you'd expect from 
every kids adventure film ever made. There was some humour which was 
actually enjoyable, but overall the thing was pretty much predictable.

The second film, however, seemed much darker and more interesting. [Note 
that I don't usually consider those two to be strongly correlated.] Each 
film seems even better than the one before. [Altough, frankly, the 
opening sequence of the Goblet of Fire made *no sense* at all. It was 
all too fast to comprehend.] The last one I saw - Order of the Pheonix - 
well, I have no idea what the book says, but if *I* wanted to make a 
kick-ass film about a wizard, this is totally the film I'd make!

[Except that, obviously, if *I* made it, it would suck...]

> I also read Golden Compass et al, which was actually one of the better 
> fantasy books I've read lately. Surprisingly full of prophesies and 
> magic for a book intended to convince you not to believe in that stuff.

Mmm, I'll have to try that. Actually, the I've got a DVD that has a 
trailer for something called the Spiderwick Chronicles. It looks... 
interesting.

> I suspect, Andrew, you would very much like "Permutation City" by Greg 
> Egan. Track it down and read the description. It's one of my favorite 
> pieces of geeky computer fiction.

Hmm. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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>>> Note to self - raid the bookshelf next time I visit.
>> Oh, I'm sorry - am I making you hungry? :-)
> 
> Huh?

Hungry for a good read. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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>> I won't give the ending away but it ties up a loose thread from
>> Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream.
> 
> Which I've never read...

...OK, I'm going to resist quoting Shakespeare. You'll all just think I 
looked it up online anyway...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:4810d334$1@news.povray.org...
> >>> Note to self - raid the bookshelf next time I visit.
> >> Oh, I'm sorry - am I making you hungry? :-)
> >
> > Huh?
>
> Hungry for a good read. ;-)
>

Not really. I have a whole pile of books I haven't read. It's just that she
keeps saying she'll loan me the book, but never does.

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Darren New wrote:
> andrel wrote:
>> Darren New wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> It's sometimes fun trying to figure out what my wife (who learned 
>>> Chinese first) is asking when she comes across a word she doesn't 
>>> know.  "What's a mig-non?"
>>>
>> Don't know, my first though that it was a very fast flying female 
>> monk, but it is probably english and not dutch.
> 
> I asked her if it had the word "fill-it" in front. :-)  "Yeah! How'd you 
> know?"
> 
> She's great. I'm not making fun of her, but of English. :-)
> 
Why would fillet mignon be english?

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andrel wrote:
> Why would fillet mignon be english?

OK. I'll grant you that one. On the other hand, it's not normally 
italicized, so it's officially imported in some sense.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:38:48 +0200, Gail Shaw wrote:

> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
> news:480fae73$1@news.povray.org...
>>
>> Have you read The Children of Hurin?  I've got the book on CDs, but
>> haven't opened it yet.
>>
>>
> No, sorry.

Ah well, it's read by Christopher Lee, so it should be easy to listen 
to. :-)

Jim

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And lo on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:17:05 +0100, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>> GIYF or more precise WIYF - Phobos the Robot Planet by Paul Capon? Not  
>> one I've read.
>
> Actually, it looks more like "Lost, a Moon". No mention of Phobos in the  
> title. Phobos the Robot Planet was published the same year. I'm  
> suspecting it was the same story published under two names. The cover of  
> "Lost, a Moon" is definitely something I remember.

I've found it rare but it's really annoying when that happens 'Oo look a  
book by my favourite author I haven't got. Oh wait it's just the same as  
one I do have, but with a different title".

> Cool! Thanks!  (And yes, I did google it, but I obviously got the wrong  
> words to search.)

And therein lies the problem with Google. IIRC I did Phobos computer  
extinct martians capture; might have been a science fiction tacked on to,  
but it amusingly led to the Phobos page on Wikipedia

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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Phil Cook wrote:
> And lo on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:17:05 +0100, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> 
> did spake, saying:
> 
>> Phil Cook wrote:
>>> GIYF or more precise WIYF - Phobos the Robot Planet by Paul Capon? 
>>> Not one I've read.
>>
>> Actually, it looks more like "Lost, a Moon". No mention of Phobos in 
>> the title. Phobos the Robot Planet was published the same year. I'm 
>> suspecting it was the same story published under two names. The cover 
>> of "Lost, a Moon" is definitely something I remember.
> 
> I've found it rare but it's really annoying when that happens 'Oo look a 
> book by my favourite author I haven't got. Oh wait it's just the same as 
> one I do have, but with a different title".

That happened so often with me and music (compilation disks of stuff I 
already had) that I bought/wrote software to scrape CDDB and stick into 
my palm pilot all the CDs I own sorted by track and author.

I also wound up with James Blish's "Starship" twice.  Same time period, 
same kind of thing.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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And lo on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:40:41 +0100, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake, saying:

> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> I very much doubt that I've read all the good fiction already! ;-)  
>> There's probably an ample supply of suitable stuff out there. As I say,  
>> the problem is locating it.
>
> I liked one story I read where the main character mentioned at some  
> point he only reads books more than 100 years old. "Doesn't that limit  
> your choices?"   "No, not really."   Two chapters later, you find out  
> he's a millenium-old vampire.

I think I'd have found it more amusing if an apparent 25-year old said  
they only read contemporary books, with the same continuation and  
revelation.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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