Recent content by Abulafia

I would suggest Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates or if on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino.

Oh Publish America are famous alright; they are a glorified vanity press. The Washington Post ran a good article on how unscrupulous they are (read it here) and I am generally disdainful of people who felt they had to release a book through them. Hell, if you want to self-publish then use Lulu...

He's not a plagiarist per se. It's just that he used material from a book that his wife researched for him in the writing of it. I would disagree that it's good - my gripes with the book start on page one where a silhouette is clumsily described as having eyes and white hair - but each to their own.

Can I just call it a boring book? I made it through all but the final chapter of The Fellowship Of The Ring before deciding it wasn't worth wasting any more time over. I should really have stopped at the mention of Tom Bombadil; useless character. Admittedly, I prefer a high standard of prose...

My favourite authors are, in no particular order, Kazuo Ishiguro, Umberto Eco, Richard Yates, John Fante, John Steinbeck, John Banville, Roddy Doyle, and Michel Faber. Of those I would have to say that John Steinbeck is my overall favourite.

Europe, for me. Then Asia, then South America, then Africa (would have been higher if the north wasn't the main historic importance), and then Oceania and North America can battle for the wooden spoon.

None of them looks easy. Barcelona to win it, I think, if they can get past Chelsea.

And gone. :D

I'm really disappointed with Kilmarnock at the moment. They started off the season quite well but have slowly seemed to lack anything resembling football talent. It's all went downhill since Kris Boyd scored 5 against Dundee United. The really annoying thing is that the young winger Stephen...

The worrying thing is that Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, is supposedly basing his next novel on the secrets of Freemasonry which means, like that awful book before it, we're going to get people hanging off every one of his made up/"borrowed" speculations and downright...

I only did history in school but, in a British (or maybe it's just a Scottish) school, history means remember dates and shut up. And, if they didn't want you just to regurgitate dates then they'd focus on something from around WWII which, to me, is too recent for my interests. I didn't take...

If you wait four years you might have another tyrant for your list. :D

A quick feck off usually sorts those buggers out - especially that tall one in Gordon Street.

I've not read the whole thread (only the first few) so apologies should this have been covered before; although a new viewpoint should always be welcome. I don't follow a religion; I believe in God. I don't imagine God as being some bloke sitting out there clicking his fingers to make things...

I believe America is the only 'civilised' country in the world without a National Health Service of some description. So myopic...