Truck Stop: About stuff I like.

Things I like in general...

I wrote this in 2000. It's not been updated since so take it as an old document.

As of the 10th of August, this page is nearly finished but don't expect to see a complete web page yet!.

I have finally given in and written a page about stuff I like. Since it has taken me about six years to do this you probably can't expect much in the way of coherence. Like the rest of the site I will just chuck it all in together and see how it comes out. I doubt it will tell you that much about me, there's a few wrong things in here deliberately and a few things missed out - I guess I can never get over being a security consultant!

I know pages like this are sad and nobody ever reads them but I am bored. Anyway, next time people ask me what sort of music I like, or what my favourite film is, I can just point them here so in the long run it saves me having to think which is an excellent thing.

It is unlikely there will be much consistency on this page, different sections will get a different approach. I like lists sometimes, I like straight prose sometimes so I guess they will just mingle.

Books:

I can't really be bothered to put them in order so the following are a pretty random selection, along with some occasional narrative. I am not going to point you at Amazon or anything to try and make a few extra cents, to be honest their affiliate scheme must be one of the crappest in the business and anyway, their "one click ordering" case was just plain silly. If you want to buy books, go to http://www.abebooks.com/ instead.

Non-fiction:

Fiction:

Ummmm, this one isn't easy. My favourite fiction author is Martin Millar by a long way. Dreams of Sex and Stagediving and Milk, Suplhate and Alby Starvation being my favourites. I am trying to talk him into writing a book about Lara Croft and Fairys but he hasn't done so yet.

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery is an amazing book. If more people read and took notice of this, I suspect life would be a lot happier for them all. Whilst we are on this one, I'd like to add Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie), Never Ending Story (Michael Ende) and The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum) - All in book form, forget the movies on these ones.

I like quite a bit of horror, Brian Lumley's first vampire series was good and I have to admit to liking Anne Rice's vampire series too. Stephen King used to be good though he went through a weird phase of writing about authors that was a bit weird.

Tom Sharpe is an amazing author, everything he has written has had me in fits of giggles; the South African ones are just lovely. Jerome K Jerome's "3 men" books (3 Men In a Boat and 3 Men On a Bummel) must be over 100 years old now but seem to be as insightful as they ever were.

Tom Clancy is good, though I am convinced he still works for the CIA in public relations. Patriot games and the follow ups have probably done more good in clearing the CIA's name and making them look like the good guys than anything else ever would have. I like Agatha Christie and probably strangely lots of kids thrillers such as the Three Investigators, the Hardy Boys and (ok, so it's sad!) Enid Blyton's various series. I like Forsyth, Ludlum and Maclean, but they all write too much to keep up. Robert Harris is brilliant, so far he's done Fatherland, Enigma and Archangel each one superb. I suspect he's actually in my top 3 authors. I have never read anything else by Terrence Strong but if you see it and are in anyway interested in either bomb disposal or the Irish situation then read The Tick Tock Man. Thomas Harris (no relation to Robert, I assume) with his Silence of the Lambs books is also worth reading, the books are better than the films (psychiatrically) as well.

Ummm, some others... Conan Doyle, I like... John Wyndam I like. Sue Townsend, I have to admit, I ususually find amusing oh, and I like the Larson "Far Side" cartoons and whoever writes Bloom County too. Aaaah, and don't forget Peanuts! John Hegley's poetry is jolly oh, and I also like Ben Elton's books for some reason!

Another sad admission... I love "books for women temps to read on trains". Bridget Jones Diary got me started on these, Catherine Alliot's books made me decide to try others and Freya North's books made me decide that some of these "crappy women's books" were actually really good and really well written. I can't see me ever quite reading a Mills and Boone but I have read a Black Lace book once because it was written by a friend.

I don't much like Science Fiction but there are a few I have read and have liked. Harry Harrison's stuff is usually good, especially the Stainless Steel Rat. Asimov, I like pretty much all of, same with Arthur C Clarke. Fredrick Pohl I like but I think he's more political than SF anyway. I keep meaning to find the "Unorthadox Engineer" book I half read once but I can't remember who it's by now.

I am bored of prose now, so have a list of various others I do really like.

Films:

Order in this one means nothing, I just popped down what I thought of.

Telly programmes:

Adverts:

Cartoons:

Music:

As you have probably gathered, my tastes are weird, especially musically so, rather than try and list things I will create what would be on my perfect extra long CD.

Games:

I can't play computer games at all. I don't have the required mentality and I hate losing to a computer. This means that this is actually a short and full and complete list of games I like.

Heros:

I am not sure I have many heros as such, but there are people I admire and try and steal a bit of for myself

Shops:

Food and drink:

Favourite Eating or drinking places:

Ikea items:

Cars and the like:

Stuff:

Michael Lawrie's 'Lorry' homepage. Email: lorry@lorry.org