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Original poster

Autumn(Book)watch - What Are You Reading?

90 replies

expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 20:53

I'm reading 'Cold Mountain' and it's very, very good.

I've got 'The Last King of Scotland' for afters.

NEXT!

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Original poster
expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 21:02

No one is reading?!

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cowmod · 03/10/2006 21:03

saturday mcewamn have started
a hev read alodas recently alan bennet, war reposrting fo cowards, a weird hting called " leep with me2 A THRILLER HTING

Sophiev73 · 03/10/2006 21:03

Ukranian tractor thing. Not as 'laugh out loud' hysterical as the cover suggests. Unless it's got a really big twist I haven't spotted yet.

SherlockLGJ · 03/10/2006 21:06

Just off to read Anita Shreve in the bath.

Rowlers · 03/10/2006 21:07

Finished Ukrainian tractor - liked it.
Just read a crappy American crime by Tess Gerritson (sp?) - fodder really but easy to read.
Just about to start something new but not sure what. John O Farrel perhaps or maybe that Kite Runner one.

cowmod · 03/10/2006 21:07

agree not so funny
canrt rememerb a twist at all tbh

Sophiev73 · 03/10/2006 21:09

Sherlock, would like to like Shreve (have the same problem with olives) but just can't be doing with her. Any rec.s to change my mind?

Original poster
expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 21:10

John O'Farrell's got that 'May Contain Nuts' out that looks nice and light.

Think I might try 'The Summer Psychic' after I finish these two.

I'm rippin' thru 'Cold Mountain' b/c it's stunning how much a man can love, if only on paper. He catches my breath, that writer.

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SherlockLGJ · 03/10/2006 21:11

Well no not really.

She really pissed me off with the Pilots wife, a lazy lazy contrived ending.

She is on her last chance with Weight of Water.

Yeah like she cares....

Original poster
expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 21:12

I can't get into Anita Shreve myself.

Ditto Maggie O'Farrell, who just makes me want to curl up in a ball and weep.

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Rowlers · 03/10/2006 21:12

I can't read Anita Shreve. I don't like her book covers. It really puts me off.
How shallow?

Sophiev73 · 03/10/2006 21:13

Bet she's crying into her Egyptian cotton sheets... Expat, did you see the programme on romantic fiction last night? Quote of whole thing was 'romantic fiction created heroes we know can't possibly exist in real life...!'

Original poster
expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 21:14

That's the entire force behind their success, Sophie. Of course. A tale as old as time. A magic wand to make all your troubles go away.

I've fallen in love w/fantasies. Far, far better than the reality.

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Sophiev73 · 03/10/2006 21:16

True.

Soph slinks off in a waft of scented air, to stroke the downy heads of her darling children who lie dreaming in a spartan room decorated only with her own hand-painted portaits of them...

kikidee · 03/10/2006 21:17

Currently On Beauty - Zadie Smith and before that Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld which I loved.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 03/10/2006 21:17

Btw, I used to write romantic fiction. It's easy enough if you were once a romantic fool but know better now .

When I hear bodices ripping, it's as musical to my ears as the sound of the till, rolling over and over w/the cash flowing on through.

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Marina · 03/10/2006 21:18

Last King of Scotland is brilliant, you'll enjoy that expat.

I've just been raving about Sarah Waters' The Night Watch on its own (little) thread - finished it last week and it was the best thing I'd read in ages.

Am currently on Gerard Woodward's August - matter-of-fact account of suburban eccentricity in the 1960s/70s. Weird, touching, scary reading. I think he is a very talented writer indeed (the sequel, I'll Go to Bed at Noon, was Booker-nominated a couple of years ago).

Then I have The Historian and the Ukrainian Tractor woman lurking in a holding pattern over the bedside table.

Sobernow · 03/10/2006 21:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hermykne · 03/10/2006 21:20

sophie i loved that programme last night, saw the 3 of them.
just finished the island - arghhhh, slow and dull for my book club.
before that
vernon little god - excellant, challenging read yet disturbibg but witty, just good.

proposing "my mothers other lovers" for our next book on friday, i think thats the title , herad the authour on mariellas prog.

also reading edward de bono - how to have an interesting mind
kathy lette but not that grabbed by it
and have
esme lennox - m o farell to read but isee some dont like her hmmmmm

EmmyLou · 03/10/2006 21:31

Life of Pi. Enjoying it, but at page 70 something still feeling like I'm waiting for it to kick off in some way.

Anita Shreeve leaves me cold. Read Fortune's Rocks and found I disliked the heroine and her lover too much to care - no one seemed to be morally accountable. Don't like 'happy' endings that leave me feeling that the main characters are taking the piss.

Gillian76 · 03/10/2006 21:35

Can't be bothered with Anitea Shreve. Know what you mean about wanting to like her. Got halfway through Wedding in December but never gone back to it.

Have just ordered one recommended by Miaou recently...

Never Let Me Go?

EmmyLou · 03/10/2006 21:43

Who is it by, Gillian76?

turquoise · 03/10/2006 21:44

A freebie I got with some magazine recently - "Sophie's bakery for the broken hearted". Only on about chapter 4 and I'm sure it will end up chick lit, but so far is a very accurate portrayal of grief.
I heard bits of "Small Island" on R4 last week and really want to read that next.

Gillian76 · 03/10/2006 21:45

here it is

Piffle · 03/10/2006 21:47

I'm re reading all my Anita Shreve books