Desperate plea: need a cracking book to read...

did you ask what The Gargoyle was about there lady T? this is what it says on the opening page.

"The nameless and beautiful narrator the The Gargoyle is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and wakes up in a burn ward, undergoing the totures of the damned. his life is over. he is now a monster.
but in fact it is only the beginning. On day Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly burned mercenary and she was a nun and scribe who nursed him to health in the famed monastery of Engelthal. As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion and related equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life and finally to love"

it sounds a bit twee there, but really isnt. its a great read and really beautifully written. i really enjoyed it.

Here's one I always recommend - Woman's World by graham Rawle, I think.

Very funny in parts with a fast-moving, funny but at times quite painfully sad plot. A rollicking read.

The Forgotten Garden (just fab)
The Wedding officer (makes me want to go to Italy for the food)!
The Island (Makes me want to go to Greece for the food)!!
A Thousand Splendid Sons
The Kite Runner

yes, anasi boys var good

Gaiman - 'Anansi Boys' is my favourite but 'American Gods' good too and "Miss Wyoming' is the best of Coupland's imho. And another one too but I can never remember which one: it may be Life After God.

One day I think Coupland will write an utterly perfect book (if he stops trying to be too clever, as he has been doing in his most recent ones) - he hasn't yet but he deffo has the potential as he has just the right mix of scathing urbanity and tenderness.

Anything by Douglas Coupland is worth reading I think (esp All Families are Psychotic and Miss Wyoming) and also David Mitchell's stuff. Neil Gaiman has written some good books too but the only ones I can remember are Smoke and Mirrors (short stories) and Stardust (now filmed and on tv last week). All my books are still boxed since we moved last year and I miss rereading them

don't you just LOVE finding anew author you really connect with and finding out he/she has 4 or 5 books for you to pile up by the bed, pure reading bliss!

anita shreve is fine, good stories and often linked plots but that doesnt distract if you haven't read any others. But Anne Tyler is much better for relationship books (Nick Hornby says she's the best woman writing today).

For short stories try alice munro - really wonderful, little vignettes (i think?) of life. wonderful stuff you have to soak up her sentences and long for the book not to end.

I second Granta, we had a sub for years and years and keep about 15 on rotation in the loo - wonderful writing even about stuff you never knew you were interested in and often has new stories from writers you already love or introduces you to someone new!

I've got The Rapture on my to-read pile. Jensen's 'The 9th Life Of Louie Drax' is v good.

yes to Ken Follet - not great literature by any stretch of the imagination - but good stories. CJ Sansom for better written mediaeval stuff - oh and his 'Winter In Madrid' is v good too.

I was disappointed with 'Revolutionary Road' - I thought it had style but not a great deal of substance.

I liked 'White Teeth' and yes, yes to 'The Moonstone' and to Wodehouse.

I would agree about 'On Beauty' being more mature, but if you didn't like White Teeth maybe it is one to skip. I'm prob a bit biased as I even enjoyed The Autograph Man, which most people seem to think is Smith's weakest.

Two of the best books I've read this year have been Little Stanger by Sarah Malters and The Night of the Miraj ( or "Finding Nouf" is the american title) by Zoe Ferraris. Both are beautifully written but easy reads and gripping.

Little Stranger-Ghost/ supernatural story set just after World War

Night of the miraj-A 16 year old girl in Saudia Arabia goes missing and is later found murdered. A bedouin guide originally hired by her family investigates the mystery of what happened to her. Amazing depictions of a womans life in Saudia Arabia.

'On Beauty' is a bit more mature than 'White Teeth', more disciplined and less cartoonish. But the central female character in both is kinda similar.

Some more suggestions (though maybe you've had enough by now!)

What about some short stories? Jumpha Lahiri's 'Unaccustomed Earth' is lovely. It's mostly about family relationships so will probably make you cry a lot in your current state. The writing is also beautiful - very spare. Short stories might be the way to go with the post-baby sleep deprived short attention span.

I've also just discovered Granta which I'd always assumed would be too high brow, but actually, it's quite nice to have something you can dip into.

Have you ever tried any PG Wodehouse? I wouldn't bother with the Jeeves books, but the Blandings ones are very funny, and perfect for when you are feeling under the weather.

Sorry, not sure what happened, try here

I'm halfway through Ordinary Thunderstorms, very good. You can dip into any http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/qid=1268323788/ref=sr_st?rs=&page=1&bbn=266239&rh=n%3A266239%2Cn%3A%211025 612%2Cp_27%3AWilliam+Boyd&sort=salesrank William Boyd I'd say. Of his recent ones Any Human Heart is good, also Armadillo, not so keen on Restless.

I've never read any William Boyd either - what's a good one to start with?

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd is excellent.

Just finished Richard Yates? Revolutionary Road, but definitely NOT one to read while you?re pregnant.

Another vote here for Marina Lewycka ? Two Caravans even better than A Short History Of Tractors?

When I was pregnant I enjoyed rereading some old classics like Wilkie Collins "The Moonstone" and "Lady in White"
Do you like historical fiction? I really enjoyed The Pillars of The Earth and the sequel World Without End by Ken Follett. Lots of characters, lot of plot and satisfyingly chunky books.

Yep, On Beauty is great. For something emotionally gripping, try Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. For elegantly written and funny, Good Behaviour by Molly Keane. And if you have time before the baby, and haven't read Anna Karenina and Middlemarch, do it while you have the chance. I've read them both twice, and am looking forward to reading them again some time.

Spot of Bother, even!

I'll second Donna Tartt - there's The Little Friend as well as Secret History - and Half of a Yellow Sun (and there's another one by this author, unspellable name, still on my bookshelf).

Comic with a brain and a heart - if you like the Short History of Tractors in Ukranian, there are 2 more by the same author, very similar cover styles. Also Mike Haddon - A Spot of Both and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

I've just read Zoe Heller The Believers, which is a good intelligent read, Notes on a Scandal excellent too if you haven't read it.

Andrea Levy's Small Island? Zadie Smith's On Beauty (her best in my eyes)?

Anything by William Boyd

Thanks overthemill! Must work on my short term memory! I also read A wedding in December (I think) and it wasn't that good so I suspect I would agree with your summing up.

I've just read 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' trilogy - brilliant (but disturbing and v violent in parts)

If you like Vampire things 'The Night Watch' books by Sergei Lukyanenko are good, and a bit different