My annual 'what shall I read on holiday' question

[BelligerentGhoul]

It's J, for anybody who knows or cares.

You know how picky I am and how many books I've already read so if you can still be bothered to think for me, please tell me what to get to read on holiday (only one week this time, so it should be a bit easier!).

I've got:

Jane's Fame - How Jane Austen Conquered The World

Mr Pip

A non-fiction one about the Roman Empire that I've been meaning to read for about five years

Paxman's book about Victorian art

I'd like some big fat historical mysteries or something like that - or anything really but not chick lit and not pretentious literary twaddle (ie no Sebastian Faulkes or Ian McEwan!).

Have you read Pillars of the Earth? Reading it at the moment and throughly enjoying it.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb is on my summer reading list. I've had Lindsey Davis recommended to me several times but have yet to read anything by her yet.

try cutting for stone by abraham verghese...it's a family history mystery story which starts with a nun having twins in an ethiopian mission hospital and follows their lives...the story really drew me in and the characters stayed with me for ages

Don't like Lindsey Davis. Have read and liked Pillars Of The Earth and the follow up. Will look into the others, thanks.

Blind Faith by Ben Elton was the last fiction that I read and I loved it (Quick synopsis - the logical conclusion of the celebrity/ reality TV/ social networking obsessed world in which we live, set in the near future and following flooding of low-lying areas of Britain. Individual thoughts and privacy regarded as weird and very suspicious)

Am reading A Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England at the mo (non-fiction) and it's vair, vair interesting!

Am ploughing through 'New York', another large paperback by Edward Rutherfurd. Not as good as 'London' but interesting to read about New York before it became a world city.

Thank you. Have read another one or two of Ben Elton's but didn't like them. The Time Traveller thing sounds good and I will look up Rutherfurd as I've never heard of him.

Can someone tell me how to start a talking point page on mumsnet please?

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel?
Certainly fits the big fat and historical criteria.

I might try it. tried another one of hers (something about a medium) and thought it was awful: is this one really good? Thanks.

Any more ideas please?

What I'm after is something like a Sherlock Holmes or The Moonstone but not those, because I've read them!

Going slightly out on a limb maybe but picking up on your detective/historical thoughts.

Have you tried the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler - set during the war, good fun.

Or for an old read (although you'll probably have read them) - GK Chesterton's Father Brown stories. Or Moonfleet maybe (childhood favourite of mine)

Also just read Deaf Sentence, by David Lodge as my holiday read - and enjoyed it very much. But it's a fairly quick read, which is maybe not what you're after.

Another vote for Wolf Hall. It really is very good.

Non fiction, but a very good read.

Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey

review here

It is about the history of an aristocratic family, the Earls Fotwilliam, and their decline in the 20th centur. They owned a massive Georgian stately home (with a facade twice as long as Buckingjam Palace, the pictures of it are extraordinary) and were hugely wealthy, and a lot of their wealth came from the coal mines in the area.

The book is a brilliant story and tells of the luxury of the aristocratic life, and contrasts it with the poverty of the coal miners living just down the road.

A very easy read and absorbing, a perfect holiday read imo.

Oh god sorry for typos.

One Day - David Nicholls. It's contemporary but not overly light. I'm really enjoying it.

How about Iain Pears latest, Stone's Fall? A historical mystery for you. It has good reviews and it's my next read after 'New York'.

hello j - going anywhere nice?

Have you read woman's world by graham rawle? Var funny, a romp (but not historical mystery).

You read Arthur and George? Tis good.

Do NOT under any circumstances, despite its title, buy Holiday by stanley middleton. Awful. Have you read any middleton? I hadn't heard of him and he has written a vast number of books.

I found the first third of Cutting for Stone boring and unnecessary. Then it picked up a lot.

Hello you! Not seen you for ages. Have read and loved Arthur And George and you have just reminded me that I wanted to read more JB, so I will get some. Loved Flaubert's Parrot too.

Just read 'Stone's Fall' and wasn't overly impressed. Wasn't overly impressed with that other one of his either - Fingerpost or something.

I willlook into some of the other ideas, as they sound possibilities.

Any more?

Oh Poncey - am going to Greece again.

I just finished Mr Pip & I loved it, so hope you enjoy that!!

What about Adrian Mole? I recently read The Prostrate Years & WMD, both good and quite touching.

Do you like short story collections? I reread the Agatha Christie short story collection & discovered Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance by Matthew Kneale.

Anyway, hope you have a lovely time

I loved JB's History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters and am also currently enjoying his 'Staring at the Sun'. Have a lovely holiday. Greece

Thanks both. What is 'Staring At The Son' about, Kurri. Sounds like something to do with Camus or The Cure!

Just had a blitz on Agatha Christie, Tilly - but liked the Poirot novels better than the short stories. Thanks for reminding me though, as I don't think I've read them all.

Can I add my penny's worth?

If you want an historical whodunnit, based on a true story, you might like "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, the Murder at Road Hill House"

Set in the Victorian era, Mr Whicher was one of the first Detectives from Scotland Yard and was called to Wiltshire to investigate the murder of a young child.

Reviewed here

Son? I meant Sun!!!

JGB - Thanks. Have read it though.