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Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh Unless - Carol Shields The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
FlossieT, how does The Wasted Vigil compare to The Kite Runner or are they totally different reads?
The Secret History ~ Donna Tartt His Dark Materials ~ Philip Pulman The Quincunx ~ Charles Palliser Atonement ~ Ian McEwan The Kite Runner ~ Hossein (can't remember author and have lent book out) Birdsong ~ Sebastian Faulks A Very Long Engagement ~ Sebastien Japrisot Gormenghast ~ Mervyn Peake
@Jajas, funnily enough, I hadn't read The Kite Runner when I picked up The Wasted Vigil - am reading it now, but I'm only 100 pages in.
They address different time periods, and the style isn't really the same - Wasted Vigil is much more imagistic (not in a pages-of-turgid-description way but in a briefly-described-but-incredibly-striking sort of way) and less 'plotty'. Probably a very interesting one to go on to, but then I haven't finished Kite Runner yet.
I devoured all of Antonia Fraser's history books when I was breastfeeding, also all the history books on the Tudors, especially Elizabeth the first, I could lay my hands on, and then onto the Stuarts and the English Civil war and restoration, then I moved onto the french!
I also recommend taking up a language on audio, and a friend of mine swore that War and Peace on audio saved her sanity when she was b/feeding!
Ursula LeGuin is a lovely author, and you can't beat Jane Austen.
giddykipper - are you loving it? I thought it was fantastic!
I am reading Alison Weir's Lady Elizabeth. Not bad, but not amazing either. I am continuing, because I am obsessed with all things Tudor at the moment.
Here's the link to the one I recommended - just checked it out, and although not widely read, everyone on amazon has given it top marks! Glad it wasn't just me then - I read it in proof before it came out and hoped it would do well
Persuasion Jane Eyre Love in a Cold Climate Brother of the More Famous Jack - Barbara Trapido (in fact any of Ms Trapido's) Cold Comfort Farm Lark Rise to Candleford Men and Angels - Catherine Fox (this was a beautiful surprise - subsequent books do not disappoint either). Mary Wesley - especially The Camomile Lawn. In This House of Brede - Rumer Godden. Also her 2 volumes of autobiography. Monica Dickens Mary Stewart for comfort reading (not the historical ones though). Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner, very poised and beautifully written. Maya Angelou's autobiography - several volumes, very readable. The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald, just beautiful. A Mislaid Magic - Joyce Windsor Diary of a Provincial Lady - E M Delafield
I am reading Simon Kernick's The Business of Dying.
There's a true story that goes like this. A few years back a thirty-two-year-old man abducted a ten-year-old from the street near her house. He took her back to his dingy bedsit, tied her to a bed, and subjected her to a brutal hour-long sex ordeal. It might have been a lot worse but the walls were paper thin and one of the neighbours heard the screams. She phoned the police and they came and knocked the door down. The girl was rescued, although apparently she still bears the scars, and the perpetrator was arrested. Seven months later he goes on trial and his lawyer gets him off on a technicality. Apparently she takes the legal view thats it's better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent one's imprisoned. He returns to the area where he committed the crime and lives the life of a free man. The lawyer gets her money, courtesy of the taxpayer, as well as the congratulations of her partners on a worthy performance. They probably even take her out for a celebration drink. Meanwhile, every parent in a two-mile radius of this guy is living in fear. The police try to defuse the situation by saying they'll keep a good watch on him, but admit there's nothing else they can do. As always, they appeal for calm.
I have already read the following, so take ur pick as they say lol:
JAN'08 P.S I Love You - Ceceila Ahern The Mephisto Club - Tess Gerritsen 5th Horseman - James Patterson 6th Target - James Patterson Malicious Intent - Kathryn Fox Behind Closed Doors - Sarah Webb Revenge - Eric Brown Holly's Inbox - Holly Denham Where Rainbows End - Ceceila Ahern
FEB'08 Housewife Down - Alison Penton Harper The Memory Box - Margaret Forster The Bone Garden - Tess Gerritsen A Summer Collection - All Sorts The Old Man & the Sea - Ernest Hemingway The Diving-bell & the Butterfly - Jean-Dominque Bauby Kirsty & the Mystery Train - Ann M. Martin Claudia's Friend - Ann M. Martin Jessi & the Troublemaker - Ann M. Martin
MAR'08 Severed - Simon Kernick The Sunday Night Book Club - All Sorts The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Confessions of a Failed Grown-Up - Stephanie Calman 35 Kilos of Hope - Anna Gavalda Adventures According to Humphrey - Betty G. Birney Cherub: Dark Sun - Robert Muchamore Magic Kitten: A Very Special Friend - Sue Bentley Odd & The Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman Doctor Who: Revenge of the Judoon - Terrance Dicks Happy Families - Adele Parks Girl On The Platform - Josephine Cox East End Tales - Gilda O'Neill The Baby Trail - Sinead Moriarty
APR'08 Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter Perfect Match - Sinead Moriarty
MAY'08 Drop Dead Beautiful - Jackie Collins From Here to Maternity - Sinead Moriarty Kisscut - Karin Slaughter Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo
JUN'08 The Crime Trade - Simon Kernick Before I Die - Jenny Downham 7th Heaven - James Patterson Owning Jacob - Simon Beckett Song For Eloise - Leigh Sauerwein Life Support - Tess Gerritsen
JUL'08 The Book Of The Dead - Patricia Cornwell The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett Sleepover Club goes for Goal - Fiona Cummings Sleepover Girls foes Snowboarding - Sue Mongredien Sleepover Girls sees Stars - Sue Mongredien Sleepover Girls in the Ring - Fiona Cummings Sleepover Girls go Karting - Narinder Dhami The Sleepover Club on the Farm - Sue Mongredien Sleepover Girls go Trasure Hunting - Sue Mongredien
AUG'08 A Dog Year - Jon Katz The Appeal - John Grisham Baby Baby - Viv French Nightmare Park - Phililp Pearce Witness - Anne Cassidy Chocolate Moon - Mary Arrigan Devil For Sale - E.E. Richardson I See You Baby ... - Kevin Brooks & Catherine Forde Johnny Delgado: Like Father, Like Son - Kevin Brooks Prisoner In Alcatraz - Theresa Breslin Snakebite - Robert Swindells Crowgirl Returns - Kate Cann A Faint Cold Fear - Karin Slaughter Johnny Delgado - Kevin Brooks Crow Girl - Kate Cann Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella Holly's Inbox: Scandal In The City - Holly Denham Housewife Up - Alison Penton Harper
SEPT'08 Housewife On Top - Alison Penton Harper Bloodstream - Tess Gerritsen The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho Indelible - Karin Slaughter Smile & Other Stories - Deborah Moggach Never Say Die - Tess Gerritsen A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini In The Red - Alexis Hall
OCT'08 Coraline - Neil Gaiman Under The Knife - Tess Gerritsen The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald Beyond Ugly - Constance Briscoe The Black Violin - Maxence Fermine The Fishfinger Years - Fiona Gibson Beautiful Lies - Lisa Unger Changing Babies - Deborah Moggach
NOV'08 The Butterfly Lion - Michael Morpurgo The Sleeping Sword - Michael Morpurgo Toro! Toro! - Michael Morpurgo I Believe In Unicorns - Michael Morpurgo The Last Wolf - Michael Morpurgo Dear Olly - Michael Morpurgo Long Way Home - Michael Morpurgo Fair-Weather Friend - Patricia Scanlan Faithless - Karin Slaughter Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
I would add Marion Keyes' Rachel's Holiday because it is an excellent insight into the world of addicts (based on her own experience as an alcoholic) whilst also being lol funny in places. It was the first Marion Keyes I read and I foisted passed it on to as many people as I could.
Also, if you want romance, Georgette Heyer does a nice line in humorous period romance with stronger heroines (mostly) than Jane Austen - I particularly like Frederica, Arabella, and The Grand Sophie.
Not fiction but I have just finished reading "Blood and Sand" by the BBC correspondent Frank Gardener who was shot in Riyadh by an Al Qaeda cell and paralysed from waist down.It was a truly fascinating book and gives an insight into aspects of the Moslem world.He studied Arabic at university and a lot of the book chronicles his love of all things Arabic,his travels around the Arab speaking world and so on.It also describes his long road to recovery with warmth poignancy and humour.Very interesting.
Yes, he's brilliant. I really feel like I've been to that part of the US having read his books.
More lighthearted crime fiction - enjoyable for totally different reasons - Lee Childs (10 or 11 titles now) and Janet Evanovitch and her Stephanie Plum books, which start with One for the Money.
I quite like Reacher.He is an anti-hero.I often wonder if he changes his travel toothbrush every 3 months,otherwise it must be getting a bit manky by now
Rebus is my favourie detective though.I would like a chinwag in the Oxford bar discussing the Stones over a pint of heavy and a chaser.I hope IR does some more novels though perhaps with Siobhan as lead character.She is shaping up nicely to fill Rebuses boots
nuttymum303 must like books like that - she has read at least 4 Karin Slaughter books as well, books I gave up with after the first 2 because I couldn't stand the level of graphic abuse in them - it still stays in my mind now!
So if you don't like the sound of the one she described, steer clear of the Karin Slaughter stuff too.
Me too! I truly believe that i could tame him into domesticity, though I could not take it if he got involved in near-death experiences on a weekly basis, and would be calling him on his (newly given by me) mobile all the time. "Are you alright?".
You what they say about ur genes lol. Well unfortunately for me, my dad is a Crime freak in the sense he likes Agatha Christie kind of books. I suppose I just took it up a notch & love heart racing kind of books.
I've just finished 'Across the Nightingale Floor' by Lian Hearne. BRILLIANT. I loved it. It's part of a trilogy so just quickly ordered the others and can't wait.
Before that I was reading 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' which was also great.
Am just about to start 'The Old MAn & The Sea' by Ernest Hemmingway while I wait for the rest of Lian Hearnes books to arrive. Oh and I also ordered a book called Apache.
I've been thinking about this and I have to say that in addition to my earlier suggestions, which were:
"Shikasta - Doris Lessing American Pastoral - Philip Roth Gilead - Marilynne Robinson Still Life - AS Byatt Any of Elizabeth Taylor's short stories.
and while we're at it, why not a little something by the sadly underappreciated master of American fiction
The Assistant - Bernard Malamud"
I would really recommend Ursula K LeGuin. I started reading her stuff when I was maybe 12 and over the years I've read pretty much most of her stuff. On reflection, I think of all the writers and all the books I've read (quite a lot), hers are the ones that have contributed most to my own imaginative inner life. I'd feel the lack of them had I not read them and my life is richer because of them.
and have lent book out)
) 
I wouldn't read it if my life depended on it 
.
