What are you all reading atm? And is it any good?

[MrsDanversBites]

Just finished The White Queen which was piss poor frankly...unlikeable characters, overplayed motif

now a third into Alias Grace which is much better, Atwood is just brilliant isn't she

Not sure what to read next though, hence thread...

Have just read "The elephant's journey" by Jose Saramago. So good. Cried at the end for some reason.

Now reading "My life as a fake" by Peter Carey. It's good and draws you in. Don't know what's going to happen next.

Still to read: "The tax inspector" by Peter Carey (DH says it's very good), and The shipping news.

I love charity book shops! So random.

I loved "a suitable boy" but I am exceedingly ashamed to say that whenever it went into too much detail about the political situation (you know, kind of one of the main themes of the book!) I did switch off a bit...

I am reading

Ilium - Dan Simmons - Wowzers !!!
The Hyperion Omnibus - Dan Simmons (sensing a theme here ?)

What happens now ? - Jeremy Dyson - Quite like it so far.

The great perhaps - Joe Meno - Ok, but a bit "what's the point ?"

Horns - Joe Hill - great !

The church of dead girls - Stephen Dobyns - very good and strangely like "Midnight in the garden of good and evil" style wise..IMO anyway!

I love, love, love the Dan Simmons ones. Fantastically inventive and gripping. His imagination must be virtually inexhaustible (I hope)

Reading The Tenderness of Wolves, which I am really enjoying - good train book.

Next on my list is City of Thieves (did somebody recommend this on here?) on the siege of Leningrad which looks very lively.

The Daily Mail. I love it.

Ray Bradbury's Illustrated Man ... not very far in only about page 30 or so.

I finished reading Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore last week and that was quite good and amusing...

I'm considering starting the Owl Killers but its too big a book to cart around this weekend so will finish the Illustrated Man before I start that...

Just read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane someone-fabulous if you like novels like Jane Eyre/Jamaica Inn etc-real gothic style novel and I was gripped...just started American Wife and enjoying it...also loved Kate Mortons Forgotten garden and House at Riverton

Seriously, Housewife2010?

Thanks for all the ideas everyone, will be keeping my library and amazon busy for a while :)

I have read some of the books herelisted, like the whicher book (which I found really hard to read, but managed to get to the end of); Songbird; Attwood's Alias Grace (whcih was divine) and a couple of Attwood books that I really struggled with, but I have recently read lots and lots of junk, because I'm on holiday...

Tad Williams Shadowrise
Laurell K Hamilton Guilty Pleasures
All the Artemis Fowl books (on a DS flip - made me want to buy a Kindle but I've got too many books to read and dh won't let me buy one til I've read them all :().
The Left Hand of God, Paul Hoffman (great sci fantasy)
Agatha Raisin The Vicious Vet
Ben Elton's book with the pig on the front

I've got several worthy tomes lined up, but God it's been great to chew on some mental chewing gum for a change. Looking foward to some textual enrichment now I've had my junkfood break :)

oh definitely, got to have some junk reading material sometimes

A year ago I got through the Twilight books in about a week ansd half...enjoyed devouring them really quickly but felt a bit sick afterwards, sort of like Macdonalds(!)

I like Ben Elton books, last one was 'Blind Faith'(so funny and bloody scarily accurate), don't consider his stuff junk...but maybe it is?

Love your name MrsDanversBites. I'm torn on whether he's junk or not. In some ways I think it's well written and wry, in other ways, it's goes down too easily to be 'proper' literature. But then, maybe I'm being a snob??/

I loved High Society and Chart Throb was so 'real' I couldn't help but interchange his characters with Louie, Simon and Cheryl. And I never watched X Factor much, but even when it hits the news, now, I find myself drawing comparisons. I must get Blind Faith next...

The new one, Meltdown is definitely a burger of a meal. Couple of bites and it's gone, but still, very enjoyable and satisfying.

I have just read Jessica[ Bryce coutnay], I loved it, I find myself still thinking about it, which is unlike me, only a few books have ever made me think about reading them again.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver was my favourite holiday read. Historical, well written and moving.

Thanks huffy, ikwym...it does go down easily but I think you can detect his sharp intellect there nonetheless - maybe that's why I don't think of it as junk?

Also enjoyed High Society, Chart Throb & Past Mortem (though read CT before the Cheryl days!)

Heard good things about 'The Lacuna' but have got it into my head that I must read The POisonwood Bible first... Ihave no idea why.

Am reading 'The girl who played with fire'

Before that I read The help and The girl with the dragon tattoo - loved both.

I tried Wolf Hall but just couldn't get into it. I could see why people loved it, but the writing style irritated me too much and wouldn't allow me to relax into it.

Currently reading The Slap. I'm enjoying it and finding it interesting. I'm not sure that I like the characters as such, but I appreciate the way they're not two dimensional.

I second whoever said they're enjoying Nora Roberts currently - I have a couple on order from the library as I've had a bit of a hard core reading period with lots of "worthy" tomes and want something light again.

Just read Stephen King Under The Dome, following it up with The Letters of nancy Mittford and Evelyn Waugh, I read beofr that Operation Mincemeat and have on my iPod to walk the dog to, Our Man in Havana.

Love Alias Grace, struggled like LaV with Wolf Hall, hated loathed and despised the Slap which was bought in a moment of madness for a train journey.

Currently reading the Nine Tailors by DL Sayers which is comfort re-reading on account of horribly painful tooth. Just as easeful of pain as Nurofen Plus and should be marketed accordingly.

Just 50 odd pages into The Slap - liking it so far - even though the characters are all hideous people.

I went to get a winter coat and bought these instead: The Help, Room, Three cups of tea, Shades of Grey, Generation A (surely can't match Generation X??), La Lacuna (note that many posters hated this who loved Poisonwood - hope I'm not going to be one of them - it sure is BIG though....).

Like a pp - I also like the random element of charity shop finds. But I am feeling the need for New Stuff.

Last read The Gossamer Thread - great read for anyone interested in psychology/psychotherapy.

Reading 'Woman on the Edge of Time' by Marge Piercy - this has been on my bookshelf for literally years, but I never read it before, found the cover offputting for some reason then just forgot about it. It's amazing, everyone should read it.

The Lacuna was OK, loved Poisonwood Bible more though.

I am reaching the end of East of Eden by Joun Steinbeck which I'm enjoying. I'm dubbing it 'a saga with soul'.

Before that I read the last one in 'The Dragon Tattoo' series in about two days whilst on holiday! Again I liked it but I not how the ending was neatly tied up with a bow.

And before that I read Middlesex which I found quite tough going, what with work and a toddler to contend with, but all in all enjoyed it and find myself thinking about the story and the characters now, appreciating it as a good book.

StantonLacy - I also love Dan Simmons! I read the Hyperion series over 10 years ago and one of these days am looking forward to reading them all again.. I also enjoyed Ilium and Olympus though not as much as the Hyperion books. I agree, what an imagination!

I love these threads - they always give me new ideas for what to read next.. :)

Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell, and it is really good. Sometimes I find it hard to become so involved in a book I hardly notice how far I've gone into the story. This time though the rather prickly and awkward main character, who isn't at all like Wallander, has me turning every page wondering what is next.

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol
Readable but forgettable.

Keep making a list of books I want to read and then lose it. End up wandering aimlessly at waterstones picking up anything.

Non-fiction book about the plague - not really grabbing me tbh.

Gone With The Wind - also not really grabbing me yet.

Re-reading Lord Of The Flies, as I'm teaching it for the first time in about five years - love it!

artifarti ? I just finished Cutting for Stone. I loved it.

BelligerentGhoul ? stick with Gone with the Wind, it is so worth it!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. I quite like it.
Last I read My Tango with Barbara Strozzi by Russell Hoan, which was very meh.
Next on my list is When Skateboards will be Free, by Said Sayrafiezadeh.

Not sure why I'm on a teenage boy angst kick, probably a necessary antidote to the Russell Hoban book (shudder).