Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, wow, any similar recommendations?

[MrsSpoon]

I have almost finished Case Histories (going to see if I can sneak away and finish the last 50 pages this afternoon) and have found it amazingly good, one or two unexpected turns. My only complaint would be that there are an awful lot of characters to remember who they are and what role they play in the story.

Are her other books equally good? Are they similar, crime investigation? or Does anyone have any recommendations similar books?

Case Histories highly recommended!

marina, cloud atlas isn't worth the effort imo. have you read any others of his - ghostwritten is excellent. i really like kate atkinson though haven't read case histories as it looks traumatic & i'm a wuss!

other books i've recently enjoyed are sleep with me by joanna briscoe & pigs in heaven by barbara kingsolver.

Hm, I wonder if I can offload it on MIL
Thanks HC and MrsS
She really was though wasn't she moondog terrible singleton polly filla nonsense!

MrsSpoon, be careful with Julie Myerson, not all her stuff is good; but I'm going to try 'Something Might Happen' myself now that Blu's recommended it.

You wouldn't be referring to that book about games at school would you Fauve - the reviews for that stank. Liked her one about the house, but am steering clear of Something Might Happen as I find fiction about the death of children/losing a child really touches a nerve. It was the one reason why I didn't just love Case Histories outright

No, it was a book called Laura Blundy, which I bought because the damn bookshop didn't have Something Might Happen, which I was after. I was so appalled by LB - gross, badly structured, fey, crappily written - that I never pursued SMH or any other of her books. But maybe I should give her another chance now. God knows how she got Laura Blundy published.

I can't understand people not loving Notes on a Scandal - and I'm not a mate of Heller's! I've just read her first book - Everything You Know - and feel that that is similarly well crafted. It's just that she seems to be able to be bothered to really work at editing and structuring her own writing.

Mrs Spoon, if it's crimey/psychy thrillery stuff you're after, how about Barbara Vine? Very dark, though, none of KF's feelgood redemptive stuff.
Or for police procedural, almost anything by Henning Mankell. A series about a detective in rural Sweden.
(Also enjoyed, if that's the right word, 'Something might happen'. It's much better than the rest of the stuff JM has done. Less wet.)

I got Everything You Know free with a magazine and also enjoyed it, so did dh. After her dozy broad columns I just could not believe, as you say from a properly informed perspective Fauve the difference between her newspaper writing and her novels.
I have never even heard of Laura Blundy btw

I think she's been trained, Marina. I can't even remember her columns very well, except she did seem very young and naive.

Hopefully Laura Blundy has been pulped.

marina, bits of Cloud Atlas are v good but I read it v selectively and am encouraging dh to do the same. we are having We Need to Talk About Kevin at bookgroup tomorrow..which I thought was terrific (but not for everyone). i have the time traveller's wife too and am avoiding it for some reason.

Sounds like it's worth plucking up the courage to read Something Might Happen. Will also have a look at Barbara Vine (although sounds like her books might be a bit scarey ), it is more the "crimey/psychy thrillery stuff" that is appealling just now rather than Police procedural.

DH is reading Case Histories just now and is just not getting it.

Haha, my dh was indifferent about Case Histories, too - but then he normally is with books I rave about.

i'm reading paradise by a.l. kennedy at the moment, really good, but requires an awful lot of concentration.

Oh, yes, Laura Blundy was AWFUL!

Worst book I read this year: Elizabeth Costello by J M Coetzee

think you would like

• the Sculptress by Minette Walters
• the Memory Game by Nicci French

Picked up Behind the Scenes at the Museum in a charity shop today. Keeping all your other recommendations in mind for an Amazon order (hopefully in a couple of weeks).

I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Just finished We Need to Talk About Kevin. Anyone else read that yet? What do you think, is he evil from birth or was it the result of his rearing? If so, I'm a bit concerned that as usual it's the mother's fault. Am I being simplistic? Have to say, I was surprised at how moving the book was, in view of its subject.

If you liked Behind the Scenes at the Museum try Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido. Read quite a few of hers and she seems to be a love her or hate her author.

oh, barbara trapido is wonderful

I've got Frankie & Stankie on the bookshelf, IIRC bought after recommendation here. Everytime I go to pick a new book I always discount it, it's been there well over a year.

f&s is quite different to her other novels. it's much more autobiogrphical. i'd reccommend starting with temples of delight, followed by juggling then temples of delight as they all have characters in common. oh they're fab, i'm jealous you have all of them to read!

Don't be jealous I had the misfortune of 10 years where I barely read a novel, what I did read was good but I had lost the joy in reading and have in the last 18 months rediscovered it (now I can't go out without putting my book in my bag, just in case). I feel like I am playing catch-up, everyone else has been reading fantastic books over the last 10 years, I carry round a list in my head of books that I have heard others raving about and try and look out for them at bargain prices.

Also trying to keep up with the best of the new stuff.

DH is actually enjoying Case Histories now that he has got into it !