Massive stash from library help me choose which book to read next .....please

[Imnotok]

Just about to finish "No tme for goodbye " and have got loads from the library which are

Watermelon--- Marian Keyes

Broken --Daniel Clay

Atonement --Ian McEwan

Notes On a scandal--Zoe Heller

A perfect match --Sinead Moriaty

I am Charlitte Simmons ---Tom Wolfe

So what should I read next I am spoilt for choice .

[LadyThompson]

Atonement or Notes on a Scandal best in that list but haven't read all of them

[ninedragons]

Notes on a Scandal is fabulous.

I am Charlotte Simmons is diverting but a bit empty.

haven't read the others but with NOAS you are really in for a treat.

[janeite]

I have only read "Attonement" and "Notes On A Scandal" and hated both of them, so am no help to you I'm afraid.

[hana]

Atonement - sooooo much better than the movie (although was pretty close to the book)

[AbbaFan]

Loved Atonement (bit hard going to start but don't give up)

Liked Notes.

Not read the others.

[peachsmuggler]

Same here. Notes was ok. Atonement was brilliant, though there is a gory bit in the middle part of the book which caused me to faint on the tube. Euuuuwwwww.

[squilly]

Watermelon made me laugh like a drain...out loud...on public transport. Marian Keyes is often dismissed as chick lit, but I think she's very smart and hilarious.

I'd read the watermelon first, like an appetiser or an amusee bouchant. Then you can read the more highbrow books later for your main course.

Happy literary dining...

[Imnotok]

I started watermelon and it is already making me laugh out loud ,I am loving it .

[LadyThompson]

You might have induced me to try Marian Keyes. I have always been a bit snootypants about her books without ever having read one. But sounds like I am missing out!

[claudiaschiffer]

Oh don't be snooty, Marian Keyes is fab. Really lovely and snortingly funny and great.

I would also vote for notes on a scandal - it is also really fab. The film is good too.

Marian Keyes is exactly as squilly describes, a perfect appetiser. She is great to read as a break between smarter books. Not to do her down, I do think she is smart - just very light and funny and incredibly readable. I HEART her in a big way.

[LadyThompson]

Right then, Ms Schiffer, consider me told! Going on mat leave in a month - which are the best ones to start with? (Sorry for hijack, OP)

[wheresthehamster]

ooooh - didn't realise Tom Wolfe had written another novel. Have just ordered Charlotte Simmons from Amazon. Thanks for staring the thread!

[wheresthehamster]

or starting even

[Imnotok]

Marian Keyes is very funny ,I have done some really heavy reading lately and I think I needed something a bit light and easy to read .

The first Marian Keyes I read was the other side of the story it was so good and I was gutted when it finished put a synopsis here just to tempt you LT
www.mariankeyes.com/books/theothersideofthestory/index.html

[claudiaschiffer]

Well . . . >sits down with cup of tea and strokes chin thoughtfully< . . . her early works are lighter and more frilly; her last This Charming Man although funny is quite shocking in parts - it's about wife beating so not an amusing subject in itself. I would recommend any of her books tbh, they are all deliciously light perfect for mat leave when all you can do is lie on the sofa and just about haul yourself off to the loo/make tea/turn a page.

Am jealous Lady T, would like to read them all afresh.

[sockmonkey]

I heart Marian Keyes. I got "anybody out there" for christmas a couple of years ago, and went on to read her entire back catalogue.
She covers some serious stuff, but is very very funny.

[LadyThompson]

Ok, I will put all preconceptions firmly to one side, and stock up!

In turn may I recommend Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicle, to those who haven't read them. Four books, beeyootifully written, autobiographical and higly evocative posh family drama which starts off in the 1930s and ends after WWII. The characters live and breathe...and the houses and clothes are all so lovely...I felt bereft when I'd finished the fourth book.

[claudiaschiffer]

Oh Lady Thompson, now I am anxious that you will hate Marian Keyes and think we are all low-brow dimwits.

Thanks for the recommandation off now to look her up on Amazon.

[Imnotok]

Ohhh LT I am off to put that on my library list I love the sound of that .

They must hate me in the library I never go in to browze just to pick up the books I have ordered online .

[TillyScoutsmum]

Rachel's Holiday was the funniest Marian Keyes for me I think

Notes on a scandal is fab

[bundle]

notes on a scandal

[Imnotok]

Browse

[LadyThompson]

I will SOOOO not think you are 'low brow dimwits'! The first book in the Cazalet Chronicle is The Light Years.

[midnightexpress]

Loved Atonement, haven't read the others, but I heard Notes on a Scandal when it was serialised on the radion and wasn't impressed.