Is there ONE book....

[tobee]

that you wish you could read for the first time again? Off the top of your head. Or is that too hard? For me, tonight, it would be Diary of a Provincial Lady and subsequent volumes.

HollowTalk, don't be scared, Cold Comfort Farm can take it !

Behind The Scene At The Museum by Kate Atkinson.

I am currently reading A Fine Balance for the first time. It's wonderful. I'm almost afraid to finish it because I don't want anyone to have an unhappy ending.

Ok. So. Rosamunde Pilcher and Georgette Heyer come up a lot, this and other threads. I've looked both up on Amazon etc but can you explain a bit more what they are like? I had the impression Rosamunde Pilcher was a bit Aga saga and Georgette Heyer historical romance, maybe a bit Mills and Boon. I think I must be wrong. I'd love for people to give me their personal descriptions, please!

I'm reading Georgette Heyer right now - the Grand Sophie - my first. Yes it's historical romance, reminds me of Sense and sensibility but don't let that put you off. It's funny, good characters, great language. This morning I discovered the word betwattled. Which I love, and must be the derivation of twat.

I read both The Grand Sophy (Heyer) and The Shell Seekers (Pilcher) in the last couple of months. The Grand Sophy was very humourous and I enjoyed the story but it hasn't made me want to read any more of Heyer's books (sorry to all the lovers out there!). The Shell Seekers was a book that I looked forward to picking up not because it was fast paced and lots happens, because it doesn't - but I was interested in the characters and it is written beautifully. I do recommend you read both if you have the time but if I had to choose I would go with Pilcher.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I cried when I finished it because I didn't want it to end.

Thanks for those opinions maisy and Dame!

Ooooh I'm going to get Shell Seekers thanks Dame

The Time Travellers Wife.

Oh yes Shantaram! And A Fine Balance. Love them both.

All the Heyer fans, do you know theres a book out recently with some new short stories? Apparently, some are in other collections, but there are a couple taken from magazines so 'new'. Haven't dared read it yet in case they don't live up to my hopeful excitement!

The Grapes of Wrath.

Pallisers nobody I talk to has ever read Gilead.
I love it, it's so beautiful.

Lord of the Rings (although three books). First read when I was 13, nothing can beat that first falling into Middle Earth. Over the years my visual interpretation has become influenced by the films. I have read it several times and have several different editions. It's a book I'll never read as an e-book it has to be an actual book.

Little Women and subsequent books
Heidi s/a
The Hobbit
LOTR
Watership Down

Yes yes The Grapes of Wrath.

And flowers in the Attic. But I think I'd have to be 18 again.

Pallisers nobody I talk to has ever read Gilead.
I love it, it's so beautiful.

I agree. The sequel is lovely too (story is told from his wife's perspective) but Gilead is something else - I think it is actually "the great american novel" (in the unlikely event that the american literary establishment could accept a woman writing the great american novel)

I ordered A Kind of Loving from the library today - thanks MNs!

There is a novel called Morningside Heights by Cheryl Mandelson which I absolutely love. I'm not sure it is even published in the UK but it is a wonderful warm, interesting, plot-driven novel about good people figuring out how to live. She wrote 2 more in the series which are just as good. I often wonder why she didn't become better known.

Three Men in a boat.

I did read it a second time and it was till hilarious but it won't ever be as funny as the first time when you know what's coming.

Pallisers
I have the two sequels but I have been sort of... wary somehow to read them because I love Gilead so much!

Rebecca, and The Color Purple.

Pallisers I have just been off to order Morningside Heights ...

Pallisers I have just been off to order Morningside Heights ...

Oh Willow I really hope you like it. (I so want someone else to read and love this book). The second in the series "Love Work Children" is also lovely - she writes so well about good people (especially good people who value kindness, the life of the intellect, art, music etc. - all the things my country seems to have rejected in the presidential election) and her books reward the good people too.

Rebecca. Far From The Madding Crowd.

A Prayer for Owen Meany