What are you reading at the moment? [nosy]

wheelybug, it's all a bit "prince sees fair maiden outside her country home...instant lurve..blah, blah"....the only one of hers i've given up on!

pollywolly - I thought that as I wrote it but thought its all still a bit similar=ish. Is it good ? I didn't really enjoy the Mary Queen of scots one so am now a bit put off.

I finished Fear of Flying last night and I bought 'One Day' today (after seeing lots of recommnendations on here) and started it on the bus home so will be shelving the tudor (and other periods of history ) for a bit.

Just finished The Quantum Zoo by Marcus Chown, non-fiction science that will blow your mind.

Have started the Chuck Palanuick (sp?) one: it's called Invisible Monsters iirc and it is VERY odd indeed!

wheelybug, white queen not a tudor one....and not as dark and rompy!

Agree with Janeite re: 'The Behaviour of Moths'...really didn't like it; thought it bore all the hallmarks of a first-time novelist assembling all her materials very carefully but failing to breathe a spark of life and spontaneity into what she was writing.

I've just finished 'The Ten-Year Nap' and 'The Position' by Meg Wolitzer. Both highly recommended, especially 'The Position' which is very funny in places.

Now just starting 'Sunnyside' by Glen David Gold - enthralled by it so far. Also dipping into David Kynaston's 'Austerity Britain', which is great, but definitely a bedtime-only book, as it's too heavy to prop up except with the help of a supportive duvet!

Am currently reading "East of Islington" and would recommend others not to bother. It is a series of observations of her time in East of Islington ?Hackney and all the people she met there. I would think there's a fair amount of stretching the truth to make it "funny". Part way through and I discovered it was written as a column for some publication.

Will plough on with it, only because I paid money for it, but am not impressed.

Am currently finishing 'The fear of flying' for book club. Finding it quite tedious.

Next up is either Wolf Hall, White Queen or another tudor one that dh bought me (a coincidence that all are similar in subject !).

I've just finished A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. It was a charity shop buy and an absolute triumph. Funny and touching. Short chapters - that always keeps me galloping through a book.

Next up is The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, if that is the third in the Steig Larsson trilogy. I'll have to look out for the new Margaret Atwood.

Duma Key by Stephen King. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to read and this is going to take a while. It took me 3 months to read Under The Dome.

Currently reading "Life according to Lubka" by Laurie Graham and loving it.

I have read several of her books and think she is very good indeed.

Am currently liking Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood's latest, having just finished (and really enjoyed) Wolf Hall - best book I've read in a long time.

For non-fiction, try Race of a Lifetime - the story of the Obama election primaries and presidential election, based on interviews with people involved in the campaign. Lots of gossipy stories interspersed with election tactics and political intrigue.

basildonbond i love the Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther books!
David Downing writes a similar thing set in pre war Berlin.

specialsmasher if you enjoyed The Rose of Sebastopol try The Alchemist's Daughter by the same author, it is very good.

I have just finished Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby and was very disappointed by it.

I have now started We Are All Made Of Glue by Marina Lewycka. I loved Two Caravans and Tractors, so I have high hopes for it.

Just finished The Help (a MN recommendation) which I loved. And One Day - also fab. Just started the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Thanks folk for the recommendations

kurrikurri I read the Quincunx years ago and loved it - it's absolutely labyrinthine and completely engrossing - however, it's the kind of book you can only read once I think

I'm currently reading The One from the Other by Philip Kerr - think Philip Marlowe transplanted into post-war Berlin and you get the idea

Not fiction, but am reading The Secret Life of France, by Lucy Wadham; it's very good, but I'm not sure how accessible or meaningful it would be to someone with no first hand experience of the subject.

Pet cemetary have got The shining to read next

i'd second The Help
also
the other hand by chris cleave about an illegal immigrant and how she came to be in this country and how she came to know an english couple
this thing of darkness by harry thompson..about the voyages of the beagle...full of stuff ididn't know that i wanted to know
the adventures of english by melvyn bragg about the development of the english language
alice in wonderland..interesting to read as an adult...over my head as a child

Georgina - yes, I thought it was well written and enjoyed the first half but thought it got more and more ridiculous and the final quarter was totally stupid. I just wasn't sure what she was trying to achieve and what kind of story she wanted it to be.

I'm on an Iranian classic called My Uncle Napoleon which is a farce about the writer's uncle who thinks he is some battle hero like Napoleon.

I'm reading it in English and the characters translate well as being all completely barking mad and the kind of family that said 'but i took you to the stately home'.

Can't remember who it's by but it's quite different to anything else I've read recently.

Thesecondcoming, have you read Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child? You should read that before Ben in the World because it's about Ben as a child and the second one is about Ben as an adult.