1000 Novels Everyone Must Read

... as chosen by the Guardian. Click here to see their list. I'm going to print it to see how many I can tick off! I was encouraged to see I had read the very first book, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, but sadly there was a very long gap after that. Lists, checking things off, what's not to like for a cataloguer and book fan?

Clowns!

Does ANYONE like them and find them funny? Apart from other clowns?

I've just read in Foyle's Further Philavery that the word coulrophia means a morbid fear of clowns, and Foyle points out that research research shows visits by clowns to children in hospital has a detrimental rather than a cheering effect! Eek!

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

In progress! It's 600-odd pages so as I didn't start it until 9.00 last night I won't be able to report on this for another 2 or 3 days. So far, so good though: it starts in a very dense, lyrical style, but then the style varies depending on which character is speaking. It's set in 1959 and a minister and his wife and 4 daughters have gone to the Belgian Congo for a year ... what will happen and how will they all get on?