Favourite Books at 20

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon*
David Copperfield, John Huffamº
Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
The Master and Marguerita, M.Bulgakov¹

*This was still a favourite book at 21 too, because I was still reading it.
ºLOL, in-joke for Gibbous readers.
¹This is still my favourite book.

I used to like Durrell and Miller. Can't remember why exactly.

I have given it some thought and decided 'stream of conciousness' must have been the attraction.

Not the dirty bits?

At first yes. But I found 'stream of conciousness' very liberating. I was young.

I am full of admiration for those (you) authors than can manage it. I've tried countless times and end up writing complete bollocks!

I like Joyce, but I don't call it reading; obviously it's writing, but - I'm probably not explaining this well - it's like the first time you open your eyes underwater in the sea. You want to stay under as long as you can, but you've got to come up to breathe.
So you see, I admire the pyrotechnics in much the same way as I do the coral and the fish in places warmer than Clacton, but, you know, Ulysses took me over a year to read.

Oh dear, I'll take myself off to Pseud's Corner again.

Cynical old me has decided it all gets edited.

Still hard to make it look like it hasn't though!
Damn! Another trick. Altogether now, the party of the first part...

Wuthering Heights - some Bronte bird
The Godfather - Puzo-the-Oozo
The Dandy Annual 1970 - D. Dan
The Pickwick Papers - Shakespeare and/or Dickens
The Sun (Page 3 Christmas special) - M. Inge
The Beano Annual 1969 - S.P. Offer
The Longest Fuse - G.Fawkes
Boot Boys - A. Geezer

For some mysterious PC-related reason, Desperate Dan is no longer allowed to eat cow pie. Or was somebody pulling my plonker and I fell for it?

Not sure but I have the same problem; I find it very hard to concentrate on anything when someone is pulling my plonker - other than the job in hand...

Maybe he's gong veggie now though, which I think is a bit sad. I'm sure the cows are pleased and the cattle...

I've often wondered about that FTSE. It happened around the time of Mad Cow Disease. He also lost his Native American girlfriend 'Little Bear' and no longer shaves with a blow torch. Perhaps his name should be changed to Disparate Dan? Hope this helps.

I think it is crimimal the way that the Irish government have attached enormous V.A.T. on books and comics here. They have taken them out of the price range of kids (and parents).
It's also sad to see such a decline in the 'comic'. It was a starting point for my reading...and relatively cheap. I assume that they were not profitable anymore; shame!

A few years since I was 20, but I remember my favourites including:
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Keep the Aspidistra flying - George Orwell
Travels with my Aunt - Graham Greene
The Hitchhikers trilogy - douglas adams
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham