Good holiday reads?

Hey folks, was very sorry to miss Sunday's event. I was stuck on the couch with ice on my forsaken ankle. Boo hiss.

As you all are prfoundly aware, I'm going to Australia for work/holiday and have some serious travel time to fill with things other than the work that i need to do.

Any good book recommendations?????

Note - Kingdom Come is hardback, which means it ain't holiday friendly, especially as holiday = backpacking through Oz for three weeks.

I randomly picked up a book called Pastoralia ('cause I liked the cover and 'cause it was recommended by my local waterstones seller). It's by George Saunders and sounds rather kitsch.

In Pastoralia elements of contemporary life are twisted, merged and amplified into a slightly skewed version of modern America. A couple live and work in a caveman theme-park, where speaking is an instantly punishable offence. A born loser attends a self-help seminar where he is iencouraged to rid himself of all the people 'crapping in your oatmeal'. And a male expotic dancer and his family are terrorised by heir decomposing aunt who visits them with a solemn message from beyond the grave

What can I say - it had me at hello. It's short stories.

And did you know that Margaret Atwood's got aanother book out? How uber-prolific is that lady? It's called Moral Disorder (I like the title) and it's a book of short stories. We've not done short stories yet.

Anyhoo, I'll see you all when I get back! In the meantime - any good holiday reads?????

Welcome to Booksaurus!

Hello and welcome to the book group blog of us. By this point I will have invited you all to join this blog, and in doing so you will have been made a "moderator". If you completed the process, you have now become a blogger! Congratulations!

I thought we could use this weblog as a (permanent) hub for our thoughts on the books, where we want to eat, reviews of restaurants (if we're so inclined) and other news and things. Like, for example, did you know that they're making a movie of the Time Traveller's Wife?

What being a moderator means is that you have the right to post to this blog, and it will be read by all (of us and the world). Blogger makes it VERY simple - just click "create" in the "posting" menu (or "New Post" on the "Dashboard" - usually the first place you'd come to when you'd signed in), type in a title, and then type the text into the big white box.

If you'd like to add links, you can do so by selecting the text you'd like to be linked and clicking on the little icon at the top left of the big white box that looks like a globe with a chainlink at the top. If you want to add photos, you can do that too, by clicking on the photo-looking icon at the end of that line. When you're done, click "Publish Post" and let the magic happen.

The other cool thing about this blog is that I've added a list on the left-hand side of the weblog called "Books". I recommend that if we come across a book or think of a book in our daily travels, we add it to this list.

To do this, you'll have to log on to another website - don't worry, this process should be a one-time only thing - called "del.icio.us" (our "booksaurus" de.icio.us site is called del.icio.us/boosksaurus). I'll give everyone the username and password when I see you next, and will talk you through the process.

For the future (and don't get freaked out now, I'll explain EVERYTHING in person!), what you'll do when you find a book you think we'd all be interested in or would like to have considered for the next book selection process, you right click on the page and select "tag this link" from the drop-down menu. That'll pull up a form in another window which you can fill in. I recommend typing the name of the title in the "title" box and the name of the author in the "decription" box. The hit enter and voila, your recommendation is added to the list!

Again, I'll explain EVERYTHING in person, so don't get discouraged!

See you all on Sunday!