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Original poster

Whats the best book you've read this year???

110 replies

Love2bake · 12/06/2008 11:17

Mine would be The Kite Runner.

OP posts:
pollywobbledoodle · 15/06/2008 21:22

the book thief...superb

QuintessentialShadows · 15/06/2008 21:19

Mengele Zoo by Gert Nygårdshaug. Bloody brilliant, shame it is not in English Translation. Has been voted book of the century, before both Ibsen and Hamsun here...

motherinferior · 15/06/2008 21:19

The new Amitabh Ghosh is extremely good.

TurkeyLurkey · 15/06/2008 21:18

I've just read The Electric Michaelangelo, about a tattoo artists life. Its just brilliant. It starts off in 1907 in Morecambe and spans his life through to the 70's..think its by Sarah Hall.

hifi · 15/06/2008 21:17

no country for old men cormac mccarthy
the road cormac mccarthy

MalikaAndMungo · 15/06/2008 21:13

Agent Zigzag - BRILLIANT stuff.
Also, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Both good feeding books!

janeite · 15/06/2008 21:09

Oh yes, Rebecca is fab! Ian McCewan is one of the main areas of argument in the Janeite household. DP thinks the sun shines and I think he's over-rated, over-written crap.

MaryAnnSingleton · 15/06/2008 20:25

funnypeculiar - how refreshing,what you say about those 2 books- people usually think I'm mad no to love them as they seem to do !

funnypeculiar · 15/06/2008 20:11

Found both 1000 splendid suns & half a yellow sun a bit unengaging tbh. This year, I have mostly been reading :
Anna Karenina
Rebecca (how had I not read this before??), blardy fabulous bit of page-turning
Chesil Beach. Having found the last few Ian McEwan's a bit dull

margoandjerry · 15/06/2008 20:08

Maryann I was in two minds about that book too - thread here

Loved Ukrainian Tractors.

Best books this year: A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry and one I've just read and really enjoyed - Salt by Jeremy Page.

MaryAnnSingleton · 15/06/2008 20:03

didn'r rate Half of a yellow sun either

janeite · 15/06/2008 19:20

SilentTerror - I have the Andrew Taylor on my wanted list as I loved "The American Boy". I don't like his usual detectivey stuff though.

I seem to have read an awful lot of rubbish this year unfortunately (including some of the ones mentioned on here - I loathed "Attonement" for example) but I did enjoy The Caliban Shore.

I was a bit disappointed with "A Thousand Splendid Suns" - think he needs to extend his repertoire a bit.

sophiewd · 15/06/2008 19:13

Notes from an Exhibition, fantastic

mollysawally · 15/06/2008 19:11

If you liked kite runner and a thousand splendid suns then you should read 'half of a yellow sun'.

Absolulty fantastic, one of the best books I have ever read, if not THE best.

hockeypuck · 15/06/2008 19:07

the brand new Jodi Picoult, but can't remember the name of it. V interesting, all about the death penalty and really got me thinking

MaryAnnSingleton · 15/06/2008 19:05

elasticwoman at Ukrainian !!
I read 1,000 Splendid Suns too but curiously not as crazy about it as everyone else, similarly Kite Runner before that...

Elasticwoman · 15/06/2008 19:02

Mingming, Kite Runner is about the friendship between 2 boys of different class who are friends in Afghanistan. It's about love, war and betrayal.

dil77 · 14/06/2008 22:53

really into lesley pearce at the mo, best book this year,'remember me'

cocolepew · 14/06/2008 19:26

All the Stephanie Plum series. I laughed like a drain.

LoveAndSqualor · 14/06/2008 19:21

John Updike's Rabbit series. Absolutely superlative - some of the best writing I've ever come across.

Miyazaki, I'm just about to read A Tale of Two Cities! Have it on the table to start after I finish current book - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - also very good indeed.

mousemole · 14/06/2008 19:20

the other boleyn girl, fascinating

DonDons · 14/06/2008 19:16

The post birthday world - Lionel Shriver - very good.

Kite runner also

JDBfangirl · 14/06/2008 19:14

Kill Your Friends by John Niven

The main character is horrible but yet compelling and in places very funny. I really enjoyed it and could quite easily read it again.

Secret Diary of a slummy mummy is next in the pile so good to see it it getting a good review

noonar · 14/06/2008 19:06

1000 splenedid suns. best book ever, not just this year.

i really , really wanted to enjoy atonement, but found that briony's rambling thoughts went off at such tangents that i kept losing my concentration and hence lost the thread.

did anyone else find that about the first chapters of atonement?

MarsLady · 14/06/2008 19:05

Sky Burial by Xiran! Completely absorbing and mindblowing. Best thing I've read for ages.

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