Picoroco

[Picoroco]

Hullo all. Picoroco, as you may have guessed, is not my real name (people usually call me Sean) - it's the Spanish name for a creepy looking shellfish I came across some years ago in Chile. I just liked the sound of the word in case you're wondering.

I hail from Belfast and and have an eclectic taste in reading but Joyce and Hardy are my first loves.

Looking forward to some interesting reads and discussions ahead.

[Joanna]

Hi Sean! Welcome to the group! So when you say eclectic, how much so? :) Who do you like besides Joyce and Hardy? Hardy... Really? Why Hardy? I mean he's ok but I don't really see the appeal, elaborate some more on that? Please? Pretty please? :)

[Keith]

Nice to meet you Picoroco!

Having never read Joyce or Hardy, I'm looking forward to our discussions..lol ;)

[Picoroco]

Thanks all for the welcome.

@Joanna - for 'eclectic' read 'undisciplined'. I'll read anything as long as the idea of it takes my fancy at the particular moment that I pick it up (if that makes sense!). Currently trying to work my way through all of Gore Vidal's works - not a great fan of his novels but his autobiographical works and essays are sublime. Also, I never thought they would appeal to me but the Napoleonic seafaring novels of Patrick O'Brian have really caught my imagination. As for Hardy, for me he is the consummate storytelle. No need to worry about postmodernism, magic realism or unreliable narrators, just good old fashioned boy meets girl, boy and girl can't handle moral strictures of Victorian society, all ends in misery and despair kind-of-fare. Lol. What more can a reader ask for?