I am reading Basil by Wilkie Collins. This is my third time through; the last time I read it was about 30 years ago.

Marian, I LOVE Wilkie Collins. Not sure I've read Basil. I have a complete collection on my Kindle so I'll have a look.

I'm still working my way through a re-read of The Discworld series, currently on The Last Continent, which is about an adventure of the hapless Rincewind on the Discworld version of a continent that is suspiciously Austraiia...ish. It is hilarious.

Hagatha, I hope to read some of his lesser-known works over the next couple of years, such as Poor Miss Finch, Man and Wife, and The Law and the Lady. He is definitely one of my favorite Victorian novelists.

Marian, my older sister and I, when we were children, used to buy the old Classics comics, which were condensations of classic novels. Reading those invariably led to reading the actual books. I think I first read The Moonstone and The Woman in White when I was about ten. My parents never censored what we read; we were a family of readers and anything was fair game.

Marvelous.

Sounds a lot like my family - when I was 13 years old, my aunt got me the complete works of Jane Austen for my birthday.

Recently finished the craziest John Scalzi yet, The Android's Dream, including an amusing introduction about how much he enjoys writing the occasional unplanned/unexpected book (as this was) among those encouraged by his publisher and/or readers: also pleased to see that he is putting out another volume in The Old Man's War series in September.

Now half way through The Life Impossible from the amazing Matt Haig: quote for today "if you want to make wonderful discoveries, as any good armadillo knows, you eventually have to remove your head from your bottom and look out at the bright, confusing day."

I read the condensed One Thousand and One nigths as a kid. Then ventured into the main section of the library and managed to borrow the full book. Very adult, partly.

I'm currently reading Head On by Scalzi, the second book in the Lock In series. I love his characters who are wrapped up in a good mystery topped with humor and social commentary that's not preachy.

I finished books 6-10 in Louise Penny's Gamache series. These include Bury Your Dead, A Trick of the Light, The Beautiful Mystery (a favorite because I love Gregorian chant), How the Light Gets In, and The Long Way Home, a sad one. They're very addictive.

I also read Fair Play by Louise Hegarty. The author explored the different levels of someone's real grief alternating with a Clue-like series of who-done-it episodes. I understood what she was trying to do because we lay blame, especially when a death might be suicide, but it didn't quite hang together for me.

I have been toying with the idea of trying to read at least some of the 1001 Nights. Penguin Classics now has a three-volume unabridged set. It seems like quite a daunting undertaking, though. Maybe I will just buy volume one at some point.

Probably good to start with one volume. As I recall it I found large chunks of it boring/slow and will not try re-reading. But it is also interesting reading.

My comics were more mundane (mainly Eagle and various war/western yarns), but my mother encouraged us to read and I fairly rapidly moved from Enid Blyton to Leslie Charteris, Hammond Innes, Alistair Maclean and John Buchan, later also enjoying John Steinbeck: however, I never read many of the classics, I think basically being too impatient and wanting more instant gratification, and preferably plenty of action!

I think I succeeded in becoming an unashamed literary (and musical) philistine at a relatively early age...

Once I have started a book, I usually persevere even if it does not immediately grab me, but increasingly I am training myself to ditch books which I am not enjoying... on the other hand I also find my tastes becoming more eclectic (not least because I mainly use a well-stocked digital library, allowing for mistakes at no cost).

We also read the books my parents had when they were young. I remember reading a series of books by E. Nesbitt beginning with The Five Children and It (the Psammead Trilogy, it's called). I can't remember what "It" was, but they were early fantasy novels. That was from my mother's side.

From my father's side, which had a lot of German influence, there was the notorious Struwwelpeter, a book of cautionary tales for children that were really quite grim.

My father was a sci-fi reader so there was a lot of 1950's and 60's science fiction around, too.

I didn’t know there was a new Old Man’s War book coming out so that’s very good news. And from the sounds of things I must read some more of Scalzi.
Am currently reading my way through Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. Am on the 3rd of the 8 novels and so far so very good. If I get to the end it will be the longest series I have read.

I have read The Gunslinger (first book in the series) twice in the last 20 years and have yet to read the others. Go figure!

Book 2 is completely different Marian and was what encouraged me to keep going.

I have heard that from a lot of people over the years. I need to read The Drawing of the Three.

I liked the first but couldn’t imagine 8 volumes of the same story. The second book hooked me in.
I may ultimately give it away but remain invested to date.

I read the series years ago and loved it.

I hope you continue to enjoy it, flotsam!

Good to know, Connie.

I finished Basil and am now reading Daisy Miller by Henry James. I am really enjoying it. It's not very long and is more of a novella than it is a novel. I looked on Amazon and it told me that I bought the book in July 1999, so it has only taken me 26 years to get around to it. Better late than never!

I'm still working my way through the Discworld series. So enjoyable.

Hagatha,
I'm currently putting together a jigsaw puzzle of all the Disworld characters. Many of the characters are easy to identify, but it comes with a large poster that shows who is who on the back. There are many I don't remember, so I guess i'll have to schedule my own reread for later this year.

That sounds like quite some jigsaw LadyK: I used to be quite keen on jigsaw puzzles, especially the proper wooden ones, but it is some years since I did one other than on screen.