last month I read Sister, Room and Water for Elephants - what shall I read this month?

[deaconblue]

enjoyed all 3, thought Water for Elephants was the best read. Am currently reading The Crimson Rooms, good so far but I don't have anything waiting on the shelf. Some suggestions please :)

In the past year among other things I've read The Slap (which I enjoyed but seems a bit marmite for others); When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelsohn - easy and enjoyable; A Heart So White by Javier Marias which I found quite a challenging read but ended up really enjoying; Wolf Hall which, again, took concentration, but was worth it.

A Visit from the Goon Squad was good. I also enjoyed Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah but I have a real weakness for psychological thrillers.

I HATED The Slap and gave up halfway through!

Ooh, and I did like the Long Song by Andrea Levy.

sophie hannah

or

harlen coben

or

The bridges of Madison county

Try Slammerkin (by Emma Donoghue who wrote room) - a very bawdy historical novel but also heartbreaking and much better than Room IMHO.

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber is a great thick read about an unusual prostitute and her lover in VIctorian England and is due to be dramatised on BBC2 shortly.

If you like the Brontes - then Jude Morgan has recently written a fantastic fictional biography about their lives called A Taste of Sorrow - very sad.

I read The Slap right through as I had to review it - but was aghast at the misogyny, violence to women and racial sterotyping in it - a nasty book.

I really enjoyed The Slap too although judging by the book club thread lots of people didn't. I thought the author's comments on that thread were interesting. Hearts & Minds by Amanda Craig also good and deeper than it appears- like a modern day Dickens. I loved Bel Canto by Ann Patchett which I read recently too.

I loved Florence and Giles by John Harding. It's a really thrilling read, virtually impossible to put down, about a governess and two children in the 1890s. The thing that makes it special is being narrated by Florence, a 12-year-old girl who makes up her own special language so you really feel you're right inside my head. Definitely one for those who like, say The Woman in Black.

Oops, meant to say 'right inside her head'!

I just read "The Elephant Keeper" by Christopher Nicholson and it was truly wonderful; a really beautiful story.

fantastic thanks, that gives me a great list to be getting on with. Have decided not the try The Slap as my friend said there's a lot of swearing and pornographic sort of bits in it and I'm an old prude really. Really love the sound of the fictional Bronte biography thing.

Mass market paperback, trade paperback, hardback, buy or borrow?

You could look at current or past Orange Prize longlist books.

I liked Hearts and Minds, and recently I've loved Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (teenage alligator wrestler has lost her mum and her sister has eloped with a ghostly lover, weird but great). If you like historicals, Sarah Waters? Or I've recently loved My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, a WW1 set historical by Louisa Young, but that and the Russell are quite new so may be tricky to borrow from library and too expensive for you (depends on how you get your books).

I've read Confinement and A Way Through the Woods by Katharine McMahon and would recommend Confinement if you can find a copy.