The earlier works of Neruda's career, at least as represented by the Penguin bilingual/selected edition I have, are certianly, uh... "born of sincere feeling."

I'm deciding to first read Alexander McCall's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, to see what the fuss is about, or Tony Parsons' Stories We Could Tell, just to see if there might be a time when I could agree with the ghastly Julie Burchill.

Last book I read was an anthology of writings about Cape Town. I'm now very keen to find a 1979 book on the city by one Willem Steenkamp Sr, a journalist who had something like eight sons who were all called Willem and also all journalists (or so it seemed). Steenkamp Sr was a terrible apologist for apartheid army, the kind critical of the National Party but more so of the liberation movement. I was primed to hate his piece, of course, but it was utterly delightful, probably because it had nothing to do with politics.

G-man: dont expect a thriller. Expect a wee story that will hold you, and want to make you continue reading forever, and if you know anything about Botswana, then even more so.

All the better. I'm not a great fan of the thriller novel.

I've started reading the Parsons book. I'm rather enjoying it so far.

I'm keeping with my vow to try and read some more of the earlier classics by reading supposedly the big daddy of them all, Don Quixote.

250 pages in and it's excellent so far. I often tend to think of pre-20th Century humanity as almost a simple, inferior species (because they don't have Wikipedia and the Simpsons) and am always reminded that they are the same as us, with the same brain, capacity for humour and wit. Don Quixote demonstrates that.

Just finished a John Rebus story by Rankin, Set in Darkness. Kept me entertained whilst on holiday and I enjoyed the Edinburgh setting. As I was in the mountains for a few days, Hell of a Journey by Mike Cawthorne was a rather appropriate read although I suspect I had it easier than him, the Alps in summer being rather more welcoming than the Scottish Highlands in winter...Recommended for those who enjoy gruelling tales of man battling against the element whilst feeling at one with nature and pushing his ecological agenda. I certainly did enjoy it.

So, having now read Nudge by Cass Sunstein ad Richard Thaler, I've decided it's not worth strating a thread about. It's not wrong for the most part (except for the short bits at the beginning and end where the authors' megalomania leads them to suggest that their ideas genuinely represet some sort of new form of politics), but not in the least bit interesting. There is some interesting stuff going on in behavioural psychology and economics right now as they apply to public policy, and this is a simple re-gurgitation of it. Can't see how this book is making waves; have all of the reviewers and newspaper editors who have been promoting this book genuinely missed all this stuff before?

I read their op-ed and had a similar reaction. I think that the hype is connected to Sunstein's general "superstar" status in certain circles and an effective campaign by their publisher and publicist.

Finally finished Joseph and His Brothers by Mann. It was dense & extremely prolix (duh) and hugely imaginative. It's supposed to be a vast sort of grand comedy but manages to be even less funny than Die Meistersinger, but is altogether dazzling and mind-blowing with all the sort of penetrating insights and visions you'd personally never have thought of on virtually every page. I recommend it to anyone who'd feel inclined to read a long serious book about a biblical story, very rewarding.

Reading Barthes' Camera Lucida and DeLillo's Cosmopolis. Differently dazzled by both.

I'm halfway through Mark Twain's Roughing It, and for some reason I've suspended that in favour of some tragic relief, and am also halfway through Wilde's De Profundis. Which is predictably harrowing.

On King Lear again. I'm better with the language than ever before, but I'm still thick with plots. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, I'm the bloke in the car park who suddenly shouts "Oh right! Lear's retinue weren't as noisy as Goneril said- she just wanted them out because they threatened her power"

I haven't got to the bit with the rainstorm and about 3 people acting mad yet, so it's quite jolly.

Just finished The Shadow of the Sun, a collection of writings on Africa by otf fave Ryszard Kapuscinski. As usual, brilliant. Better than The Soccer War, I think. The focus on a single continent allows certain themes to gestate properly.

Has anyone read the book that was published posthumously, Travels with Herodotus? How is it?

Now about a third of the way into The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. Enagagingly writren, although it does slither about from "what would happen if weren't here" to "what would have happened if we'd never been here" a bit maddeningly.

I'm currently reading Dashiel Hammet's The Maltese Falcon, and heaving heard it's supposed to be fantastic I'm not that impressed. Some of the turns of phrase a very good however some of it is atrocius.

I'm reading the complete major works of St. Anselm, and a very large anthology of C20 English-language poetry.

About 1200 pages between them, don't expect updates on this thread any time soon...