What are you reading now and next?

Love this thread, love reading, never get the time...

I am currently reading 'The School For Husbands' by Wendy Holden, not very high-brow, but I don't always want to read heavy stuff. I can also read one in two evenings and not have to think too hard.

Next on the list at the mo but subject to change at a moment's notice is 'A Great And Terrible King' by Marc Morris, a biography of Edward I. I have a long list of Sharon Penman novels to read.

thanks janeite, time to flex my library card...

Well, tbh, not many of King's books are outright blood and guts, as it were.

You could try Bag Of Bones, which is really interesting: there is one particular scene in it which still makes me shiver, even though I haven't re-read it since it came out and can remember v little else about the book as a whole.

The Dark Half and Misery both play with the idea of writers being manipulated, by a character in one and by a fan in the other - both are dark and creepy but not full on 'horror'.

Personally I like The Stand best, which is a vast post-apocolypse novel.

brief hijack...

i loved insommnia, so which s king are as good? i liked the way that, in inommnia, you got slowly drawn through "the is this man psychotic/are there strange things going on" ....i prefer that to outright blood and guts

Oh I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I think that the Dementors are copied from Steven King's the Library Police, personally: they suck the happiness out of children's eye sockets iirc.

Just finished two of Anita Shreve's titles - Body Surfing and A Wedding in December, and the Guernsey Potato one. Now reading The Whaleboat House by Mark Mills.

Jane - half a yellow sun is fab. I won my RL bookclub with it (we score and highest score wins) as everyone raved about it.

I am currently reading Twilight to see what all the fuss is about. Is (obv) an easy read but not particularly gripping me yet.

Next.. hmmm might be my book swap book if it arrives in time. Or the latest Patrick Gale I think.

Just started Half Of A yellow Sun - v good indeed so far.

I've just read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and really enjoyed it. I've asked for Wolf Hall and the A S Byatt (The Children's Book) for Christmas so am looking forward to getting stuck in to those. At the moment, I'm reading The Jane Austen Book Club - picked it up at the station when I realised I'd left my book group book behind (Random Acts of Heroic Love, which I've already read), and so far it's alright, although a bit light.

purpleduck have to admit, American wife is getting better, love the uber mil

WilL. I need a new keyboard -

and a new brain.

Wil stick them both in a parcel for you then and smile sweetly at dp!

Missed that message - I do want to try another austen, but won't get a chance to read it until at least feb

Flame - the good news is that dd1 finished it tonight, so it's here waiting to be packaged up. Do you want me to send you another Austen too?

I finished reading the Kirsty MacColl book - very interesting - the writing is a bit uneven. Jean MacColl or as she's better known Jean Newlove sounds like an amazing woman herself, she's written this book in her 80s and seems to have carried on working in theatre and dance well into her 70s.

I've raced through the Anne Tyler quite quickly despite spending a lot of the last few days with two sick children, it's a good read yet with more depth and as usual with her books I want to read the books I haven't read yet (two of her three previous ones I think - Digging to America and Back When We Were Grown Up) - and reread the others, most of which I read about 20 years ago.

Flame, I think Alias Grace is the only Atwood novel I haven't read in print, I listened to an audio from the library but felt I need to read it properly myself, though again I'd like to reread her earlier books as it was a long time ago. The bits I remember of Alias Grace made it sound very interesting. I have her newest novel watiting for me at the library - dp will probably pick it up on Tuesday, so I'll need to read that soon as I expect others will have reserved it and be waiting for it.

Kushiel's Dart followed by mystery book from Janeite Both are book swap ones.

Really enjoying KD - nice bit of fantasy and sex, what more could you want?

I re-read Arcadia (Tom Stoppard)before that, and have Alias Grace & something about a knife dancer as my handbag and bathroom books....

foosa
I just read American Wife, and I really enjoyed it. Had to consciously make myself believe it was fiction though.

pipsqueak a friend of mine lent me The Other Hand by Chris Cleave and I struggled through it.

Gave it back to her and she asked what I thought. Trying to be polite I said "er, it was ok - not great IMO" to which she replied "that's exactly what I thought!"

I was at her having recommended a book that she didn't think was FAB!!

just reading the other hand by chris cleve - v good and have jsut read the stieg larson trilogy which i loved - great thread for inspiration !!

Lucky you - Persuasion is one of Austen's finest (though they are, of course, all fab!) - I envy you.

Just finished the latest Dick Francis, have just started Persuesion by Jane Austin and will probably read a Tess Garritson book recommended by DH next.