That banned book list is full of wierd titles - like Harry Potter... And puberty guides... I can't imagine the puberty guides make anything up so what IS people's problem?? I don't see how any book can be banned cos the images and disturbances come from your own head. Ok well maybe banned for bad language I suppose. But Stephen King's The Dark Half (is that the right title, with the writer and his pen name...?) made me squirm more than most of the really graphic horror stuff he writes!
I've recently been to a bargain bookshop and picked up a load of cheap classic books. I'm going to start reading more Hardy, should be nice and uplifting for the winter nights I also bought "Confessions of an Opium Eater" Which I haven't got round to starting yet!
I got Adrian Mole and The Weapons of Mass Destruction last week. Have you guys got Mr Mole over there? It's really really good and with a nice happy ending AWWWW! I read it in a day, so not one to get if you really like a good *chew* with a book!
A book I did like and it took me a long time to read was Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I read most of it in the bath. Once I was in there so long, I had to re-fil the bath TWICE cos the water had gone cold!
Mauv one book you might like is Billy Morgan by Joolz Denby - if you can get it over there.
She is a punk poet/authoress - she used to have red coloured hair and Justin O'Sullivan from New Model Army (UK band) was/is her partner and was married to a guy in a biker gang called Satan's Slaves. In this story Billy is a 40 or so year old woman looking back on a life of murder and mayhem. It is a bit greek tragedy but has funny parts too. I don't mean it is greek - it is set in Bradford as I recall. The character has a not too good relationship with her mum but all the characters are believable.
Reading an interesting book by Annie Proulx (author of the Shipping News one of my faves) called "Postcards" so far it's interesting. I love that she writes in a sort of 1940's farmer dialect, it's really great but sometimes hard to read. So far it's really great.
Hubby and I went to bookstore heaven, also known as Powells bookstore in Portland Or the largest independent bookstore in the world. Imagine a store that takes up an entire city block, where each section (like arts/crafts, sci-fi, etc) is the size of one of those bookstores in malls - umm.. waldenbooks. It was so awesome. We totally spent like 130 bucks there, it was amazing. I am so set for reading now for a while... at least til Christmas the way I read!
Did someone say "Adrian Mole." I've read every one through "The Capuccino Years" which I didn't like as well as the earlier ones. I'll be on the lookout for the latest one but they always come out in the U.S. much later. Have you read other Sue Townsend books? "The Queen and I" was hilarious.
If you like mysteries and Venice, the Donna Leon Guido Brunetti mysteries are great.
i just made a huge zooba buy-it-now order (i can't resist $10 hardbacks with free shipping, so every now and again i get a lot off stuff on my list all at once). it should get here in a few days. highlights:
school days (the new spenser novel)
what einstein told his cook 2
rituals of the season (the new deborah knott mystery) by margaret maron
the truth (with jokes) by al franken
bait and switch: the (futile) pursuit of the american dream by barbara ehrenreich
the cradle roobers by ayelet waldman (her newest mommy track mystery)
the perfect paragon by mc beaton (agatha raisin series)
over her dead body by kate white
i know it's pretty top-heavy with mysteries, but those are my candy books. i'm also one of those people who has a large stack of things to be read. i can't go anywhere without a book; i've even been known to read disposable books (ones i don't mind getting a bit damp) in the shower.
Has anyone ever read Dolores Stewart Riccio? She's got a trio of mysteries/crime fighters out that are all solved by wiccans. Sounds a bit goofy, but they're the most realistic fictional books I've read. Great stories too. I read all three books in 3 weeks, and they're not small (not huge either).
I recently finished "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman (mentioned below) and "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood.
I liked Anansi Boys, but not as much as I liked American Gods. I felt that American Gods referenced more of the background of the various gods/goddesses while Anansi Boys just sort of brushed against that background.
Oryx and Crake was very good. It makes you think about the repercussions of genetic engineering.
I am currently reading "Son of a Witch" by Gregory McGuire. It is the sequel to "Wicked." I think I liked Wicked more, but that may be because I had the whole "Wizard of Oz" precept in my head. It is interesting noting some things from Son of a Witch that I remember from the Oz books. I imagine if I went back and read the Oz books, that i would catch even more references.
I am finishing up a series of books by Nora Roberts. I never read any of her stuff before. It is the "key" series, and is pretty entertaining. Nothing earth shattering, but a nice fantasy-ish set of novels about 3 modern day women looking for a series of keys to unlock a trio of sleeping goddesses.
I just finished Fledgling by Octavia Butler. Vampire book by a sci-fi writer. Good, fast-paced writing, but the end was to much talking and not enough action. Overall, Butler did a great job setting up a universe (sequelsequelsequel). And you'll care about the characters.
Just finished reading Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer. I loved it. I finished it in a few days. It was a very easy, funny read. It reminds me of Good in Bed or In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner.
I got an early birthday present from the boy. I got The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. I can't wait to start it.
I was so disappointed with Good in Bed. There seemed to be so many unrealistic scenarios. Like she talks about how heavy the main character is, but at some point, doesn't she borrow clothes both from her skinny boyfriend and her super-skinny pop-star friend? My thought was, "Where is your editor?!" And it bothered me that the writing in her boyfriend's column, which she was complaining was so bad, was actually better than most of the writing in the actual book. Maybe as a writer/editor, I'm overly sensitive to stuff like that.
I'm kind of torn about what I want from literatur about overweight women. On the one hand, I want a realistic depiction, where she is successful and well-blanced and happy despite her weight. But is that an oxymoron? The majority of women I know who are overweight, unfortunately, don't find happiness and balance while they are overweight. They might not find it when they lose weight either, but it's really tough when you're a hundred or more pounds overweight. It SHOULDN'T be that way, and I hope it's changing, but I think it IS that way. Society is tough on heavy women -- but then again we all know that, right?
I would like to see a film where one of the main characters is overweight -- and it's never even mentioned. It has nothing to do with the plot, she's not the funny but ugly sidekick. She's just another character. Hard to do in a novel since you have to describe characters. But it could be done in a movie or TV show.
And puberty guides... I can't imagine the puberty guides make anything up so what IS people's problem?? I don't see how any book can be banned cos the images and disturbances come from your own head. Ok well maybe banned for bad language I suppose. But Stephen King's The Dark Half (is that the right title, with the writer and his pen name...?) made me squirm more than most of the really graphic horror stuff he writes!
I also bought "Confessions of an Opium Eater" Which I haven't got round to starting yet!
Thanks for the great suggestion - I will see if I can find that author here 
another thing on my to do list!
