What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list?

@IceIceBabyBump bring it to the top of your pile! It's getting better and better.

Thank you and @MotherOfCatBoy for confirming my choice of next read, am pleased I know I've got a winner for the next one.

I'm still slightly recovering from reading Perfume a few weeks ago. It really disturbed me and has stayed with me a bit.

I'm doing the 50 book challenge for the first time ever, and I was so enjoying it, until that, and so now trying to avoid another wrong choice!

Am I the only one struggling with The Lumineries? Has anyone read it?

I feel like I really want to read this book - but I've started the book, the TV series and the audio book and never get very far into it.

Is it very dull thoughout or is it worth perservering with?

Its quite unusal for me to just give up on a book.

Agreed, it's up there as one of my top 10 books ever

Hamnet also excellent.

I finished Child of God, beautiful and atmospheric writing as ever from McCarthy but a very disturbed lead character. I do get so lost in his writing though, it really hooks you in.

I have The Glutton on my TBR for next but not really feeling it....

@Everythingwillbeokay also read All the Light - it’s brilliant and accelerates towards the second half, you will enjoy it !

Just bought Kate Morton -Homecoming!

Finished Sophie Hannah’s The Couple at the Table; I promised myself I’d never read another SH book but it was there in the library…. Didn’t enjoy it. Silly plot. I don’t mind a bit of convolution but good grief her plots are unreal. Since when do police gather everyone around and unmask the murderer? Or am I missing something??

David Mitchell-Ghostwritten was fab. Love his style
Now onto another Anthony Horowitz - still have a huge pile of books waiting to be read. A beautiful sight though 😄

Now finished Absolutely & Forever (loved), and started Hamnet. Wonderful so far, story woven around Shakespeare's son, very compelling and beautifully written. I'd read a Maggie O Farrell before and not liked it much, but if you hadn't told me I would never have guessed this was the same author. Strongly recommend!

Next up I think will be All the Light we Cannot See.... don't know if anyone has read?

Just started reading Stone's Fall by Iain Pears. I tried to read An Instance of the Fingerpost but gave up because every time it got going it kept stopping and felt like information was being regurgitated; a clever bit of research almost shoehorned in to the narrative.

The story of Stone's Fall looks interesting. I don't know if women writers do this as well, but I feel like, when male writers invent a female character in a piece of historical fiction, they often make them too modern, an anachronism. They don't ring true. Maybe it’s because they create a female character that they are attracted to? . I hope this won't be the case. Also, I often find, with historical novels. I'm on alert for things that don't ring true to me. I wish I could relax. But then if it's jarring I suppose it's an indicator of a book not being that good?

By the way, I really enjoyed reading A Heart So White. I like reading something that makes me think.

Currently reading: The Instant by Amy Liptrot. I loved The Outrun so was looking forward to this and while I really like her style of writing this book has become a bit navel gazey - I'm not sure what the point of it is really?

Next: Child of God by Corman McCarthy, been a while since I've read any of his books!

Have just started Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey which has already gripped me hard within the first few pages. It's very much a shift away from his usual style as it's set in the 12th century. But so far I have loved every book he's written.

Has anyone read his Pandominium books?

I have just finished Quicksilver by Callie Hart. It's Romantasy fluff so incredibly formulaic (you read one, you read them all) but it was okay. I'm persevering with this genre as both DDs are loving it and it's such a joy to finally discuss books with them (even nonsense ones).

Thunderclap, a study of the powder keg disaster that blew up Delft and Carel Fabritius, the painter of The Goldfinch. It’s absorbing, beautiful but slow.

Next up, The Place of Tides, James Rebanks’ latest, about indigenous life in Scandinavia.

Still enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo, relishing a chapter every day!

Currently half way through The Trial by Rob Rinder. It's, so far, very good. Well plotted, several themes I suspect will all start to come together, and an engaging narrator. And, obviously given his background in law, a thorough knowledge of the courts and how they work.

Jane Casey The Cutting Place, audio book. Fun to listen to whilst doing chores, but there's getting to be an awful lot of plot and Caroline Lennon (the reader) tends to boom a bit.

For Jane Casey fans, what's your favourite?

The Running Grave, the last Strike book. I've been ekeing them out but I've finally got round to it. I'm enjoying it very much.

Just abandoned a couple of Anne Cleeves books. Didn't get on with her writing at all.

Next up is a Robert Harris Officer And A Spy.

Currently:
Absolutely & Forever by Rose Tremain.

Feeling:
Loving it. Engaging from the off, hugely likeable main character, set in the 50s and 60s. A lovely, easy read after reading Held, which was a literary one that was well written, but slightly hard work. This is great.

Next:
Think am going for Hamnet.

I am reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, and really enjoying it (about half way through!).

Next will be The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry or finishing All the Names by Saramago. Then Crime and Punishment (maybe)

Thank you for your comment @feellikeanalien; interesting to hear.

I've read a couple of his books, Berta Isla and Tomas Nevinson. I found them a bit slow to get going and almost gave up on the first one but really enjoyed them once I got into the characters.

I recently finished All the Broken Places by John Boyne. It was a captivating read and very thought provoking at times. It did show how easy it is to judge someone when you can't possibly imagine what you would do in their shoes.

I am also going through a Lisa Jewell phase at the moment . She's very easy to read and I love the plot twists. She really keeps you guessing right until the end. None of this is True left me wondering what the actual truth was.

@JessyCarr i read Homecoming recently and enjoyed even though it took a while before it hooked me - def agree you need some dedicated time to get immersed.

@Oganesson118 i somewhat agree with your Chimimanda comments but still excited for her new novel, hope it is a return to form from ther first two books

Currently reading My Friends by Hisham Mater and enjoying it, very easy to slip into immediately and even though there are short chapters which would make it ideal bedtime reading I’m def letting a few hours go by at a time before u put it down!

also slowly working through Hold Onto Your Kids Co written by Gabor Mate because my mum bought it for me. I don’t usually read books like this because frankly I find them overwritten and boring but I’m trying to just read a chapter every few days and it will take as long as it takes

excited to choose my next book, I had a few Waterstones gift vouchers to use so did a big shop

I’m currently reading Homecoming by Kate Morton and enjoying it. I like her fluid writing style, and the locations in this book are familiar to me. I haven’t really got deep into the meat of the story yet though, and yearn for enough uninterrupted time (possibly on a sunlounger somewhere) to be really transported by it.

Next up: Girl A by Abigail Dean.

But I have also just ordered Babel by Gaston Dorren on the recommendation of @Oganesson118 - sounds right up my street😀

I'm having a bit of a Romantasy spell. Enjoyed ACOTAR and Fourth Wing etc. Am now 150 pages into When The Moon Hatched but really struggling to get into it, I might even DNF which is so rare for me.

To make it even harder, I only discovered yesterday that one of my all time favourite authors, Mo Harder, published 2 more novels I knew nothing about? How did I not know?

So they're now downloaded onto my Kindle and they're calling to me..........