David Mitchell is one of my favourite authors, along with Murakami and Phillip K. Dick.

Number9Dream is my favourite, followed by Cloud Atlas (which I've heard a lot of people say was hard going, but I found it very easy - especially the future sections).

And guess what? I went up to London this afternoon, and popped into Waterstone's, as I usually do, and what did they have on their shelves? Signed paperback copies of Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green! So obviously I bought them both, even though I had them already!

'wake up sir' popped thru my letterbox yesterday

the first two pages are good

*wants more time and a tardis*

Our book club liked Black Swan Green a lot. I hear Cloud Atlas is the best. Have it on the stack.

Wake Up Sir has been on our possible list for the book club for a while, too.

Anyone have other suggestions? Always looking for good books to discuss. Check out what we have done in the past:

www.booksandbars.com

We have a big club and all are welcome. You can follow along on-line in our forum if not in the Twin Cities.

It's not new, but anyone ever read Body Piercing Saved My Life?

- M

Tim McLoughlin's Heart of the Old Country is terrific. anything by Walter Mosley, George Pelecanos and James Lee Burke. Crime & Punishment, Moby Dick, Trainspotting, mid-period John Irving (Garp, New Hampshire, Cider House Rules, Owen Meany) Vonnegut = no brainer; get everything, Drive by James Sallis, Everthing is Illuminated and my favourite of all time Fup by Jim Dodge (also, any Jim Dodge) and of course, many many more. what makes me truly sad is the knowledge that I don't have the time to read every great book at least twice and many others once.

The Dark Tower anyone?

One of the best series of books ever written.

For real

I read that book on the train ages ago, good book.
I've just finished Lolita which was brilliant and now I'm reading In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories by Delmore Schwartz

I've just looked that up and I think I'll pick that up.

Do that! A bit of warning though, once you get hooked on Paul Auster it's damn near impossible to quit.

I'm a big fan of Stephen King, and I've of course read the whole series. It's truly amazing and as far as fantasy goes, it's one of my absolute favorites. You've just gotta love Roland.

Enjoyed this, best opening page of any book I reckon.

Best book I've ever read? The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt (nothing to do with the Tom Cruise Film). It's about a single mother who raises her son to be a child prodigy, using merely the film Seven Samurai as his male role models. Her son embarks on a quest to find out who his father is.

Sample quote:

I went out the front door. We kept the video card in my pocket because Sibylla tended to lose things, and I had £1.50. I ran all the way to Blockbuster Video just in case he decided to take the pills before I got back
The set-up in Blockbuster was different from the one we went to, so it took a while to find the video. They had Seven Samurai but so many people in it say it's better to die than face certain misery that I thought it would be better not to risk it. They had Ace Ventura Pet Detective which I had always wanted to see but Sibylla had refused to get out; I suspected, however, that this might not be as efficacious as the Wilde. At last I found it. I had to argue for a long time with the girl at the register because our card was from a different branch.
I said
Please. I have to have it. It's a matter of life and death.
She said.
Don't overdo it
I said
No really it's for a man who's thinking of committing suicide he was held hostage and tortured and it haunts him and I thought just maybe The Importance of Being Earnest would do the trick because when my mother feels depressed it cheers her up to walk on the Wilde side.
She said
Really.
I said
Well no really it's for my sister she's doing A-levels and they always ask a question about comparing the play with the film only she never had a chance to watch the film. Our dad's unemployed so she has to work part-time so she never had the time and now the exam is tomorrow, and if she doesn't do well on the exam she won't get her grade for university because English is her best subject and it's too late to do anything about French and Sociology. According to a recent survey in the Independent more and more employers expect employees to have a university degree.
She said
Third time lucky
I said
Well actually it's for my two little brothers. Siamese twins, they were inseparable from birth and did everything together. If one does something the other must too, but unfortunately their heads are inconveniently placed so that they cannot watch the same television screen at the same time. We tried mirrors but whichever one got the mirror complained. A disability allowance from a generous government has covered the cost of an extra television and video set, a single copy of Aladdin, and one towel. One night The Importance Of Being Earnest in the classic Redgrave/Denison production was shown by the BBC; both twins were able to watch, enthralled. Unfortunately my mother did not have two videotapes on which to record the film - foreseeing trouble, she did not record it at all! To no avail, for having seen it once they must see it again - and a pair of Siamese twins, once enraged makes a noise which cannot easily be ignored. In despair did my mother venture forth to our local Blockbuster, only to find that they had but a single copy of the film. Fear not, said I, I will go to Notting Hill and get a second copy of the film; they have few enough pleasures as it is, God knows, and my mother agreed, for she was certain that Blockbuster would not let us down.
She said
Why didn't you say so before
I said
You didn't ask me before
I set off at my five-minute-mile sprint.

and the whole thing was absolutely fantastic.
want more of his stuff now

He seems almost too obvious to mention, but god, I love Terry Pratchett's books - smart, funny social satire, but without the meanness that seems inherent in a lot of satire. He's got a new one coming out in September called Making Money and I got an advance copy from our HarperCollins rep (who is a shining jewel among reps ) and read it TWICE over the 4th of July - once on Tuesday and again yesterday. It was that good. If you haven't read him, Going Postal is a good book to start with, since it's a stand-alone (he has several sub-series).

Just finished reading Lucie's Long Voyage by Alina Reyes and Camus' The Stranger - the former is highly recommended for its erotique and general weirdness.

After having seen the movie Zodiac, I immediately bought the book: "Zodiac" by Robert Graysmith.

I finished reading it last night, and I thought it was great. He may not be a literary genius or anything, but he sure seems to know how to solve murder cases.