read any good books lately?

[Candy]

Hi everyone!
I was wondering what you are currently reading or have read recently and enjoyed? Having just read several by Joanne Harris (Chocolat and Blackberry Wine) and two history books by Giles Milton (Nathaniel's Nutmeg and Big Chief Elizabeth) I'm stuck for what to read next. Any suggestions much appreciated!

Reading, as in more than a magazine? ha ha ha! I'm lucky if I manage to read all the sections of The Observer before the next Sunday.

anything by maeve binchy, joanna trollope, alison lurie, margaret atwood, mary wesley...women write the best books mostly.

Books by any of the following might interest you.

Margaret Forster, Anne Tyler, Rose Tremain, Amy Tan, Marika Cobbold, Sebastian Faulk, Annie Proulx, Carole Shields, Kate Atkinson, Helen Dunmore, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Janet Fitch, Rebecca Wells, Anita Shreve, Nick Hornby, Hilary Mantel, Shyam Selvadurai, Ian McEwan.

Emmagee,your post made me smile. I could have written that! Once I was an avid reader with a passion for books who worked in the booktrade. Now I've got a baby and have to physically take myself out of the house without the baby in order to read! Sad but true! The pile of books I acquired before my maternity leave began all remain piled up each with a book mark at chapter two (or os)...

I read heaps whilst breastfeeding when my baby was tiny - that doesn't really happen now that he is almost 8 months and v lively. However, once he is in bed then escaping into a book makes the world of difference when spontaneity and popping out on the spur of the moment no longer happens. Books to read? Mother Nature (Sarah Hrdy), East of the Mountain, anything by Isla Dewar and absolutely the Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood. Oh and I have a secret passion for crime (Ed McBain and Val McDermid top the list at the moment).

Helen Simpson: Hey yeah right get a life (short stories about the "joys" of being a mother); Robertson Davies: The Salterton Trilogy and The Cornish Trilogy; Jonathan Coe: The Rotters' Club; and, like others, anything by Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood, Anne Tyler and Marge Piercy. Emmagee, Winnie, the answer is to have a foul commute by Connex "sod the customer" SE every day. I am always chucking out unread papers at home and used to be an avid reader (I'm a librarian, so it's only to be expected. For insomniacs I recommend the Library Association Record without reservation).

Emmagee, Winnie, I'm exactly the same - am trying for the third time to read Captain Corelli's Mandolin (prompted by the film I guess) and am hopeful of getting beyond chapter 5 this time.
Pre-baby I was an avid reader, but would always find myself re-reading my favourites, particularly To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) and A Severe Mercy (Sheldon Vanauken).

I've just read The Hacienda by Lisa St Aubin de Teran. A wonderfully evocative account of her 7 years on a Venezuelan sugar estate, while the husband she married at the age of 16 slid ever further from reality and sanity.Her account of her caesarian in a filthy hospital with incompetent anaesthetists made me feel very grateful for my efficient and tranquil emergency section.A glorious book.

chairmum and marina, i forgot anne tyler, and nick hornby whom i consider to be an honorary woman (intended as a compliment!!!). i used to have a passion for ed mcbain - i had loads of green penguins - went off him though. (too much blood!) i still like margery allingham and josephine tey.

when your kids get past the infants (school, i mean) you'll have more time for reading again...and i found a gite holiday gave a lot of spare reading time while dh was off with the kids (he's the active one, i'm the inert one!)

Re the Hacienda, If Lisa StAubin de Teran really suffered that much with her husband, it's a bit surprising that she chooses to hang on to his aristocratic name after their separation.

Have just finished White Teeth (Zadie Smith) which was almost worth the hype. Again it's a slow starter but gets going. Makes you feel you've got a brain reading it... not cos it's difficult, just cos it's clever if you know what i mean?

I'll second all the recomendations to read Rebecca Wells, I'm just finishing Little Altars Everywhere and it's blinding. Also, a bit feminist, but Marilyn French's The Women's Room is great, and I and my friends found an awful lot to relate to in it, both as girls and mums. If you're after a really good story, then TC Boyle is worth checking out. Now that my son is sleeping through, I've got back into half an hour reading time before dropping off - I make myself do it, plus it keeps my brain going. I'm always looking for new stuff, so any more ideas very welcome!

Thanks for all who have gone before me, and given ME some ideas, too! There is only one book I would recommend that I think, has yet to be mentioned. It's called the "English Passengers", but have lent the book on, and cannot recollect the author (it's a "he"); it's been shortlisted for the Whitbread, and is in the bookshops in paperback now. It does take a bit more concentration than, say, Joanna Trollope, but is well worth it, very funny in bits, and you learn something about the history of Tasmania.

(Has anyone read the new Joanne Harris book called "Five Quarters of an Orange"?)

Harrysmum, could you recommend a book or two from Ed McBain and Val McDermid? Preferably one in which it's not necessary to know all the characters and their quirks already. My secret secret vice is sci-fi. (I feel like I should have admitted that on the "Hairy Armpits" thread.. not because of the posts, just because that's where people seem to admit embarrassing things. Just realized that could have been misinterpreted!)

The last book I read that I liked was Duplicate Keys by Jane Smiley. It's a murder mystery, kind of and easy reading. The Booker shortlisted books I usually find interesting, too.

harrysmum, does ed mcbain still include steve carella, meyer meyer etc? or have they finally got older or even died??? (i used to read them 25 years ago and they were all always the same age then....)

Thanks everyone! I've been meaning to read the two Rebecca Wells books and now I hear how good they are I'll definitely be getting them! Has anyone read any Isobel Allende? Has anyone else decide that Kate Atkinson is too clever for her own good? Is anyone else going manic waiting for the next Harry Potter - oh and has anyone read Artemis Fowl?

Sorry -just read that again - of course I meant decided, not decide! Apologies for blatant illiteracy in a discussion about reading!

Just started "Lord of the Silent" - the latest Elizabeth Peters, and lined up next is "The Body in the Bathhouse" by Lindsey Davis - I am a mega fan of both authors. I love historical detective stories - but also early 20th Century detective stories, especially Margery Allingham and Patricia Wentworth.

Jj - Some by Val McDermid include The Wire in the Blood and A Place of Execution (both stand alone books) and she has 2 different heroines : Lindsey Gordon (Union Jack, Report for Murder, Booked for Murder) and one whose name fails me (Star Struck). I like her books a lot.

Janh - Meyer Meyer and Steve Carella live forever ... Also Matthew Hope (There Was A Little Girl, Gladly the One Eyed Bear) (he's another detective, not author, in case that was misleading).

I really liked Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson - clever and entertaining unlike Zadie Smith whom I thought dreadful. Bill Bryson keeps me lightly entertained too - currently reading his book on the origins of the English language - manages to teach you whilst making you laugh (out loud; not so good in public places!!).

I'm about to start rereading Love in the Time of Cholera which I read a long time ago and have good memories from it.

oh! yes! bill bryson, how could i have forgotten him, candy - go out immediately and buy or borrow notes from a small island and notes from a big country, both are wet-your-knickers-in-public-places funny!
thanks, harrysmum, for the 79th/87th precinct (i forget which) update - i'm amazed that they're all still going strong, in fact i'm amazed ed mcb is, he started them in the 50s didn't he? maybe he died and a syndicate write them now...in fact i'm off to look him up on a search engine!
(he used to write as evan hunter too, didn't he? blackboard jungle and all that?)

Harrysmum, I used to read while breastfeeding too. Couldn't have done it with my first baby when my nipples were sore and I had to get everything at just the right angle, but with the second and third babies I used to prop them up on a pillow across my knees, put the book on the sofa arm, and read happily for ages.

Bill Bryson - yes love him Mother Tongue is one of my favourite ever non-fiction books

Suew - the spiders aren't really that bad! It's the snakes you really have to worry about.......and the coneshells.......and the blueringed octopus.......and the box jellies........and the crocodiles........and the sharks......and.......