What's Everyone Reading in the New Year?

[expatinscotland]

I've started w/Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Have moved on to 'Ransom' by Jay McInerney. So far, so good!

fullmoonfiend, I am on about page 630 and am loving it now

Always cheers me to hear people raving about adorable, astute Jonathan Coe (hunk not the word that would spring to my mind but I have not seen him in the flesh )
got Andrea Levy, latest Hilary Mantel and Dr Strange & co for Xmas, have not started them yet...and SD has reminded me that no-one got me Vikram Seth after all
David Sedaris sounds well worth a look too.

also have Kazuo Ishiguro and Alan Hollinghurst left over from my Book People Man Booker haul...Cloud Atlas remains undisturbed still...

Oh, I want to read the latest Hilary Mantel too, Marina. It's on my Amazon wishlist. I read both Rotter's Club (Rotters'?) and the sequel this summer and loved them both. I'm so intrigued by your comments Pruni- I felt exactly the same, but put it down partly to being the same age as JC. Clearly it's not just that then

Tamum - I heard so many bad reviews from 'real' people as opposed to book reviewers (who all raved about it). We are reading it for our RL book group and nobody else likes it. Omly on p400 but have a nice weekend away with no kids so shall finish it! (poor dh thinks he's in with a chance of some grown up 'quality time' But me, I just see 36 hours to read and sleep

I liked Poisonwood, haven't read anything else by Barbara Kingsolver - the others are good, too?

I really really liked Cloud Atlas, but apparently nobody else did.

Is Jonathan Strange etc a kids'-ish book? I can borrow it from a neighbour ...

fullmoonfiend, I think I am enjoying it so much because I have had plenty of time for reading. I deliberately saved it for the Christmas holidays for that reason; I would never have got past the first few hundred pages if I'd been reading a few pages every night. It has got really gripping now though... Have a nice weekend, you're clearly a girl after my own heart

NQC, I wouldn't call it kidsish really. It's unlike anything else I have ever read. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but people do say it's HP for grown-ups, don't they?

Um, I have read another B Kingsolver and thought it was even better than the Poisonwood Bible. I cannot remember the title though
About a woman naturalist studying wolves in the mountains. Excellent.
WRT to Jonathan Coe's spooky ability to see inside women's heads I sometimes wonder if House of Sleep is in fact autobiographical...

I've read that one too, Marina. It is good, but I liked Pigs in Heaven and the other one even better. Haven't read House of Sleep yet, I will that add that to my wishlist too.....

Yeah, I think describing Jonathan Strange as HP for grown-ups is pretty spot on. I found it slow to start up, but if you persevere past the first couple hundred pages it warms up and has some interesting turns.

It's definitely different.

It's not a fast read, however. At least, it wasn't for me.

Beauty by Zadie Smith - xmas present from dh
Margrave of the Marshes - xmas present to dh
and my bank statement over and over again in disbelief

I really liked Never let me go. The usual unreliable narrator etc. Quite shocking ending.

You know, I think I've read Jonathan Coe. Did he do a book that kept going on and on and on about some tiresome British comedy film, and the events on screen were paralleling the events in the book? With lots of people failing to have sex with each other in a very British way? (Um, in case it's not obvious from the description there, it didn't really work for me. Maybe I'm just too foreign for him?)

Isn't "HP for grownups" code for "Fantasy, but shhhh! we're trying to get mainstream market share!". I will no doubt read it though, it does sound good.

One thing putting me off Never Let Me Go is that I've read reviews with spoilers. Are we really not meant to know the underlying stuff?

Hmm, I appear cranky. Will go try to sort out this back pain, and try not to have a horrible fight with DS1 tomorrow.

Did I mention that DS1's likeabike got pretty much entirely smeared with really bad dog poo today? Gah.

NQC - I don't think it's that important having read spoilers. I am sure I knew that it involved cloning before I read it, and didn't feel that stopped me enjoying it.

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Just finished reading The First casualty by Ben Elton, which dh gave me at Christmas. Never read any of his books before but I had heard him talking about this and sounded good. Really enjoyed it- set in WW1, which I know very little about, so was also interesting.

Back from spending book vouchers which dh also gave me( love love love getting them!) Waterstones have got loads at half price so- Nigel Slater Kitchen Diaries
The Soup kitchen( a soup recipe book! cos we love soup)
Ben Elton Past Mortem
Philippa Gregory The Constant Princess
Patricia Cornwell Predator (don't normally buy her)
Harlan Coben The Innocent
Michael Connelly The Closers

Where do I start, am like a pig in sh** at the moment

Tree Surgery for Beginners by Patrick Gale (love him - a real story teller). Since having dd 11 mths ago am really slow at reading. Before I probably read a book a week now I think I have read 3/4 in 11 mths. Anyone else find this.

Was the same after ds but got inti the swing whe i went back to work.

Snurk Pruni, I had forgot the plinths!
Sorry about your back and your bike NQC. I do think J Coe is a very, very English author. But fair dos - I am prepared to love and adore uber-Canadians Margaret Atwood and Robertson Davies you know

Hmm. Not sure I'd describe those two as uber-Canadian.

My official off-the-cuff list of uber-Canadian authors:

• W.P. Kinsella, but only the Indian books, not the baseball ones.
• David McFadden! He rocks!
• Grey Owl, may he rot in hell. Stupid English fake freak.
• Margaret Laurence
• Michel Tremblay (but only in French)

Hmm, I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them. Margaret Laurence really is quite good.

Oh, Chester Brown, and Joe Matt, if we're allowing graphic novels.

Human Traces - Sebastian Faulks

Hello, can I join this thread?
I'm reading The Accidental by Ali Smith and really enjoying it. It's told in the third person but each chapter so far is from the point of view of a different character. I'm awake most of the time with my 6-month old so am pleased to have a good book to read!