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!

Chelle, and the dingoes...my son's fave nursery nurse is planning to visit Fraser Island this summer/winter. Personally I wouldn't fancy any wild dog's chances against our Kelly but I am still a bit anxious for her.
Janh, he NEVER. Is Bill Bryson REALLY Evan Hunter?

marina - nooooo! were you joking? ed mcbain is evan hunter!!!! bill bryson would have had to write blackboard jungle at the age of about 3!!!

Janh, I have a scrambled brain today due to lack of sleep. I know, me and the rest of mumsnet, but that's my excuse. Ed McBain/Evan Hunter still makes for an intriguing double literary life!

My favourite books are "Touching the void" by Joe Simpson and "To kill a mocking bird" by Harper Lee. Joe Simpsons book is a true story about a climbing accident - doesn't sound very exciting I know, its a love it or hate it thing - I read it twice a couple of years apart and couldn't put it down either time.

I haven't been able to stay with a novel for ages, I keep reading biogs/autbiogs and am currently reading Alan Clarks diaries, they make me laugh because he was sooo full of himself.

I've just finished Alan Clark's Diaries, too. Didn't he just love himself (and other women, too!)?? But it's a fascinating insight into Westminster and I was really touched by his obvious love for his children. He seemed to worry about them nonstop.

The best (only??) books I've read recently are : "Genome" - this is lots of small chapters (perfect before you pass out with exhaustion) and each one is really, really interesting. It's all about the human genome and is fascinating on how we became what we are, disease, ageing etc etc. Something very different is "My Life On A Plate" (by Arabella Weir ???). One Mum, Two boys, a husband who does nothing...it's very funny and as soon as you've read it you want to give it to your best friend to read.

I think "My Life On A Plate" is by India Knight - she also writes columns in various places and can be quite funny - anyone who's ever just HAD to buy that cute little dress from Jigsaw will have empathy with her! I've just read "Paula" by Isobel Allende in one evening - I stayed awake until one o' clock because I had to finish it - it's an autobiography merged with a letter to her daughter who is in a coma due to complications of a rare genetic disorder - absolutely mesmorising.

I am currently reading Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes. Travel/autobiography type thing about Liguria in Italy. I am in one of those 'I want to go and live somewhere warm and mediterranean because English weather is too unpredictable and crap' moods and this book is not helping. It sounds a wonderful place and makes me want to buy a rundown place and live the simple life. Hah - like it would be so idyllic!

I am a massive bookworm so have been making avid notes - I have had to join our local library to keep up my habit as I can only read a book once then I give it away and I was spending a fortune as I read a book every week (last week I managed to read a book in one day 'Cradle and All by James Patterson) as I was stuck on a train going to Ipswich.

I recommend all the James Patterson 'Alex Cross' books and Cradle and All was silly but so well written. I have started to read more 'grown up' books recently (instead of my usual feed of Clive barker and Clive Cussler adventures!!)

Would highly recommend Captain Correlli it took me two years and many attempts before cracking it and oh boy is it worth it. he actually wrote the book in my local library (Earlsfield) and it is mentioned in his acknowledgements!! But be warned there is a major weepy bit and I was very grateful that I was at home and on my own when I read that.

Vinters Luck by Elizabeth Knox is fantastic it is about an Angel who falls to earth and befriends a Vintner and the growing relationship over the years - strange but very beautiful book. Have recently read a very intriguing book called Crooked Angels by Carol Lee which I think is a semi autobiographical book about an illness and how she discovers the root of it and eventually a cure.

Alisong if you like historical detective books I have just read a book by Robert Goddard which I think is called Caught by the light about the history of photography and a really good mystery
It is the first one of his I have read and i really enjoyed it.

I will read anything by Patricia Cornwell,Kathy reichs etc and I love Val McDermid - do read james patterson if you like her. Also I prefer Richard North patterson who is a more intelligent writer than John Grisham but in the same vein.

I am currently trying to read C: Because Cowards get Cancer too by the late brilliant John Diamond. I was a massive fan of his columns in the Times and decided it was high time I should have read his book but it is harder going than I expected - probably not helped by the fact that my husbands best friend is battling liver cancer having made a miraculous recovery from Pancreatic cancer...

Finally my all time favourite book which I have read about three times is Imajica by Clive Barker it is absolutely mind blowing and that mas has to have the best imagination ever. It is a fantasy book and I think it is loosely based on fantastical second coming.

Phew anyway am off to read more books now...

I gave my husband "The Assassin's Cloak", a big anthology of bite-sized diary extracts from famous and not so famous diarists throughout history, perfect for reading for 10 minutes each night and then passing out, as others have also remarked. I have not managed to wrestle it off him yet (BIG book).

Harrysmum, what a coincidence, I'm reading Mother Tongue at the moment too. I've read all Bill Bryson's books and happily admit to laughing out loud on the bus while reading them.

My luxury is going to bed early and reading before hubby comes up to bed and watches telly.

My favourites are by Elizabeth Jane Howard, the Cazalet Chronicles. There are four books which follow a family growing up through the second world war. It revolves around three generations and their relationships with each other. The first one is The Light Years, then Marking Time, Confusion and lastly Casting Off. Funnily enough I was reading the Sunday Times yesterday and Joanna Lumley and her production company have turned the first two books into a television series called The Cazalets, which starts on the 16th June.

Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood...I just wondered if anyone has read it and what people think of it. I couldn't wait for it to come out it had such good reviews and it won the Booker but I can't seem to get beyond the first 100 pages!! Alias Grace was wonderful and I love her other books. I am reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith at the moment. It is wonderful. I may try Atwood again now I seem to be getting back into reading. Thanks everyone on this thread I feel inspired once more!

I'm re-reading The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein - amazing!

Midge
if you liked touching the void you would love into thin air - it's about climbing everest

Tom

It's funny I've been thinking about re-reading that one too as it is many years since I last read it and I don't think I fully understood it then!

Winnie, I loved Blind Assassin but then I have always enjoyed a spot of science fiction - (usually written from a woman's perspective, one of my all-time faves is Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, not to mention MA's own Handmaid's Tale). My sister hated Blind Assassin and like you has remained stuck near the beginning. All I can say is, keep going, the science fiction bit diminishes in importance and there are some amazing plot developments.

Message withdrawn

Marina, I will be attempting to reread Blind Assassin. The sci-fi didn't put me off, I think I was simply too post-natal...brain like fluff etc., As for Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time was great. That was the era of Women's Press books!!!

Winnie, I've come over all nostalgic. I loved the original batik cover of my very battered old copy c 1983, the reissue is a pretty tacky design in comparison. Still at least what's inside is as original and moving as ever. I think she's a wonderful writer. Have you read Body of Glass or Gone to Soldiers?

Emmam, I love the Cazalet Chronicle too! I think they would be my "desert island" books. I am wondering what the TV version will be like - I've built up pictures of the characters in my head and don't want to be disappointed!

I've also read "My life on a plate" and enjoyed it. Anyone read Meera Syal's books? "Anita and me" is semi-autobiographical about her childhood in the Midlands and "Life isn't all ha ha, hee hee" has a lovely description of a pregnant woman's belly when the baby kicks!

Marina, I have read Gone to Soldiers but not Body of Glass. Have you read The Longings of Women? Not her best! In fact I was rather dissappointed. Vida, Braided Lives & Small Changes were all good in their time (all along the lines of Marilyn French's The Woman's Room). It is interesting that other than Woman on the Edge of Time all the others were published by Penguin. I wonder why Penguin didn't publish WOTEOT?

Winnie, a friend working in publishing at the time told me that Penguin for some reason thought WOTEOT too "niche" (and look at some of the formulaic claptrap they publish now!), but did not feel the same about the fantastic Vida and Braided Lives. I have a feeling they had her labelled "gay interest" as well, after The High Cost of Living which I also have in WP edition.
There's one other book of hers that was published by someone else (Vintage?): Fly Away Home, the one with Daria and Rusty and the insurance scam. Another engrossing read. I too thought The Longings of Women was below par, and was bitterly disappointed with her recent one about the women of the French Revolution. Did you read it? Did you think that Hilary Mantel got there first with A Place of Greater Safety? This one is definitely on my all time top ten.

Cheers Marina - finally managed to find a hardback copy of the "The Assassin's Cloak" just in time for hubby's birthday. He is a complete diarist obsessive and this book seems to have passed him by....

Bells

On the plane today I read "The Big Bad City" by Ed McBain-it was a perfect book for the flight. Thanks Harrysmum! I just started "English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale tonight. Thanks for reminding about it FMS.. I read review of it a while ago and then completely forgot about it. It's good so far!

What books are you going to read but are not looking forward to? Mine is "Gravity's Rainbow".. everyone says what a great book it is and my husband bought it. I think it sounds a bit tedious, but it's just sitting on the shelf mocking me. What books do you refuse to read? My list includes anything by Ayn Rand.. tried it and hated it, sorry to offend any fans!