What are you reading now, beginning of 2012?

The King is worth sticking with but by no means one of his best.

I have managed to get my hands on a proof copy of "The Mother of All Journeys: Coming to terms with having a baby" by Helen Bells. It is excellent reading and I can totally empathise with the author about how hard she found it to adapt to being a mum. Took about 1 1/2 hours to read and I think it would be particularly helpful to those who have had or think they have PND. Not sure when it is going to be released but this is the website for it: www.themotherofalljourneys.co.uk Highly recommended!

Sorry, i mean 11.22.63 by Stephen King. (i think of it as the JFK book)

Can someone convince me to stick with JFK? Not really gripping me, but have heard great comments. It's so BIG!

I've read Middlesex by Eugenides (brilliant) The Snowman by Nesbo (ace) and The Emperor of Lies by Steven Sem Sanberg (very hard work) since Christmas. I'm tempted to download another Eugenides but will probably do a Shardlake as a quickie before then.

'Dorian Grey' and 'Northanger Abbey' both excellent - v of you reading them for the first time!

I've just finished 'The Gate at the Stairs', which was good - not one I'd have picked up normally. Sad, though, about little kids, so not for everyone.

I'm reading The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton which is good fun; that's on my kindle. Also reading Memories, Dreams & Reflections by Carl Jung. It's tough to get into and a bit weird but I really want to read it, especially as my mum bought it for me for Xmas. It's a nice old version too!

I'm about half way through A.L.Kennedy's The Blue Book.

I chose it because it has a lovely blue cover with a golden hand and the very edge of all the pages are dyed blue.

Like it a lot so far and it's quite different to what I usually read.
Wish I had more time to read. Have compiled a list from this thread.

I loved Wolf Hall and The Childrens Book too - desperately seeking something like them ...
This year I have read latest Shardlake (good, but not as good as some others by him - reliable), My Sister lives on the Mantelpiece (brilliant first novel everyone should read), Netherland (not getting on with it - think its weird - and I love cricket), Pigeon English (devastating and good too - preferred it to the Julian Barnes), started Jamrach's Menagerie but wanted something easier (had flu so needed trash) but looking forward to going back to it. Had a good voice. And a couple of Georgette Heyer's as trash ...

I'm reading "The book of Spies" by Gayle Lynds. It's a bit like The Da Vinci code if anyone likes that kind of thing.

dubaibaby, I read that last year but I didn't see it on TV. I quite enjoyed the book.

MandyT68

The Personal History Of Rachel Dupree by Ann Weisgarber

I loved this book too.

I'm Kindle reading "The Slap" by Christos Tsiolkas. After missing the televised version before Christmas and hearing how gripping it was I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about.

Pretty good but I think it probably works better on screen (or maybe I just have a short-attention span/get interrupted too much!). I seem to find all of the characters annoying so far... hmm.

I've just finished The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and it was superb.
I am now reading something by Nina Bawden. I only knew of her as a writer for children, but I am really enjoying it. It's called Time for a Change, I think.

Just finished a book with Rachel DuPree in the title and devoured the Dickens biog b Tomalin but am bewitched currently by Pigeon English - a wonderful central character.

I thought I'd be put off by the present tense in Wolf Hall, which generally I hate - it's very modish at the moment and I suspect a lot of younger writers use it because they think (wrongly, in my view) that it makes things seem immediate and exciting. BUT I have to admit it didn't bother me at all because the writing is so good.

I am a history graduate who usually steers well clear of 'historical fiction' - but honestly, it was gripping. I think you do need to be sure of having time to concentrate on it, though; it's not really a 'dipping in' sort of book.

SkiBumMum, I'm just about to start that Roald Dahl biog!

I've read Wolf Hall - which I loved - wanted it to keep going forever, and The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry - which is very sad.

A Greater Love - Olga Watkins. About love in WW2 - tis rather good.

I've just begun Philip Roth's Nemesis.
Just finished The Provincial Lady in London.

Storyteller - the Roald Dahl biography. It's very good.

I read Finkler last year and was unimpressed. Not dreadful, but I have read many much better books in the past year. It was the first Howard Jacobsen I had read, and I really didn't see why it won the Booker. Certainly didn't make me laugh out loud once. Maybe you have to be male/Jewish/living in north London/working for the BBC to find him funny? Though oddly I saw him talk at the Hay Festival (I read the book just before that, but after booking tickets), and in person he really was funny. Though I did bristle at his description of himself as 'the male Jane Austen'.

Wolf Hall has been lurking by my bed for more than a year now. I've read some of Hilary Mantel before and really liked it, but I'm not a historical fiction fan. Can you promise me I'll really like it? Maybe I'll move it to the top of the pile, where it can hide the two volumes of IQ84 for a while.

Just started reading A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French. The book I read before this one was Room by Emma Donoghue, which I thought was brilliant!

For those with Wolf Hall on their book pile, I'd like to second NoWayNoHow's recommendation - one of the best books I've read for a very long time. I agree with Carrie - give yourself time to get into it, and if you can sit and read it in big chunks not little bits or you might lose the thread!
Can't wait for the next part to come out.

What did people think of the Finkler Question - I've just finished it, personally I found the central characters rather irritating and the whole thing very self absorbed, with too many contrived, pseudo-intellectual, not very funny jokes.
Maybe that was the point and I missed it!

Terpsichore Wolf Hall (also can't can't wait for next one, it is going to be a trology apparently) and The Children's Book have been two of my absolutely favourite reads recently. What else have you liked? Any recommendations? Have you ever read This Thing of Darkness - saw it recommended on here once. It's about Darwin's voyage on the Beagle to South America, but really more about the ship's capitain and his relationship with Darwin. Great book IMO!