The MN summer reading recommendations list 2010: share your top summer reads here

[GeraldineMumsnet]

There have been calls for an Official MN Summer Reading List.

So we're starting one.

Please list your suggestions for suitcase-friendly summer reads on this thread.

Same criteria as book club ie no misery memoirs, sleb biogs, yummy-mummy lit, books with more than 800 pages, or books with no punctuation or capital letters.

Your recommendations can be fiction or non-fiction. And if you agree with other people's picks, please say so, so that we can try to come up with a handy list of your top 10 (or 20) summer reads.

And , a reminder that MN bookclub will be back in September. Details to follow presently.

Thank you.

Sorry! Forgot to say that Mission Mongolia author is David Treanor!

Just finished Wolf Hall. It's brilliant. Could easily have wished for another 500 pages. so inspired that I've gone back to the library to get a proper history book, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boelyn, to take with me on holiday. If anyone's got good recommendations on something on Thomas Cromwell (non fiction) , bounce them my way please.

Suite Francaise is brilliant - but not short stories, an unfinished novel (because the author was taken to Auschwitz and murdered before she could complete it).

If it's comedy you're after, Alexander McColl Smith, Portuguese Irregular Verbs (part of trilogy of tales in I think 2and a half Pillars of Wisdom) is great. David Lodge, Therapy, Changing Places, The British Museum is Falling Down, Thinks...most of them really.

Stuff I hate: Jody Picoult! Yeuchh!! why is she so popular?

Freddo (are you someone else in disguise ?) - It was me that harps on about Moloka'i. Will be interested in what you think

i SO wanted it to be good. and it wasnt. was contrived

Tent,Bucket et al was contrived... but in a good way! I suppose I can see why you didn't like it, another book in the marmite camp I think...

No I am just me Wheelybug! I've read your praise of Moloka'i before though and had a look at it on Amazon and really fancied it. I've read a lot of stuff about Fr. Damien and it will be interesting to read something about the island that doesn't involve him. The trouble is whenever I read anything in the fiction threads of mumsnet it leads to spending on Amazon and I shouldn't be spending anything at the moment!

Am currently reading 'The legacy' which seems to be warming up quite nicely.

Maraisfrance - Like you I loved reading Wolf Hall and the whole tudor period. While these books are not directly about Cromwell, I did also read "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Alison Weir which is non fiction and is an extremely comprehensive insight into the lives and background of each of Henry's 6 wives. Thomas Cromwell is referenced throughout this book. I also read another of Alison Weirs books which was specifically about Henry VIII and was also excellent. I hope you find this useful!

Another fiction book to recommend for Summer reading is "Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson or "Old Filth" by Jane Gardham, who is a wonderful author!

Really enjoyed One Day (David Nicholls) and have just read Margaret Forster Isa and May... explores young woman's relationship with her grandmothers. Tresspass (new Rose Tremain) also an excellent book.

Hope you like it Freddo (and apologies if you don't) !

I'll let you know Wheelybug, although it may be a few weeks as I have 'The legacy' to finish first and four small DCs so reading tends to be a slow process! I won't hold it against you if I don't like it though Now I'd best get off this thread quickly as I've already spotted two more books that I'm tempted to look up on Amazon...

The Book Thief (stick with it, suddenly hooks you), The White Tiger, A Fine Balance

I've just finished Natasha Walter's "Living Dolls: The Return Of Sexism". Very interesting, especially if you have daughters.

BTW do these have to bee new books? Because I'm currently reading "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being", (Milan Kundera), and LOVING IT. It's short and great for holidays too!

yy to White Tiger, Half of a Yellow Sun, Homicide, The Outcast, Notes from An Exhibition

Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup (author of book Slumdog Millionaire was based on)

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke. Crime, set in 80s Texas, civil rights movement, corruption, oil, politics etc.

The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan. 50s Welsh village, fey young Welsh lass, family secrets, heartbreaking, there is a disappearance/murder, but not a murder mystery book.

This year I'm taking The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-Steig Larrson, To Kill A Mockingbird- Harper Lee, The Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett, and last but not least, Master Georgie- Beryl Bainbridge.Can't wait!

Just read Enduring Love - Iain McEwan - beautifully written, couldn't put it down.

Last Train from Liguria (Christine Dwyer Hickey) was good for an easy holiday read - don't expect in-depth characterisation but a good yarn nonetheless.

or even Ian McEwan...

I can recommend the following -

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The Lovely Bones by Alice Seobold

The Time Traveller's Wife by Augrey Niffenegger

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Incendiary by Chris Cleave

Hi
quite liked the help but to talk about it in same breath as something like To kill a mockingbird(which I just reread AGAIN)is laughable.
Only book that have read this year so far and really enjoyed was The little stranger by sarah waters. Had to read it 3 times tho before fully appreciated it.
Bought and read today the new adrian mole. funny and quite touching but not a patch on the original.

Another vote for The Help

All of the CJ Sansom Shardlake series are fab. Loved "The Help" and am currently gripped by "The Passage", although at 765 pages it would be a bit heavy to balance with a drink on a sunbed!

Anybody read The Long Song? Loved it, fantastic portrayal of life on a slave plantation (more humoourous than subject matter suggests).

Also agree about American Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry

Gotta be the twilight saga... for all the swoonsome moments drooling over edward cullen, ladies' fave vampire!!

A very heartfelt thank you for this thread. I have been collating a reading list from the recommendations which may last for sometime.

Just finished The Help - Kathryn Stockett and rediscovered the joy of reading until the early hours of the morning - definite page turner.