What Are You Reading At The Moment? May/June 2007

[TwoIfBySea]

Just curious, okay plain nosy, but what is everyone currently reading at the moment and would you recommend it or not?

I am reading The Boleyn Inheritance by Phillipa Gregory, I've read her other books and this is quite good even if it does jump between 3 different characters, not as confusing as it sounds. Although I know the ending of these characters the journey is worth reading.

I had just finished Oryx & Crake so this is bit lighter.

just finished two books by Sujata Massey - murder mysteries set in Japan wiht a young japanese american girl as the central character. Very interesting as it mentions a lot of the places I visited when I was there for a holiday.

light easy reads - good when you have little ones and keep getting interrupted. You don't need to think too hard when you pick it up again!

Oryx and Crake, great book. Love Margaret Atwood.

I've got a big pile of books to start reading but there's always something else to do ... like this.

non-fiction but v. good book on fairy tales. Uses 6 different tales and tells several different versions of each (from different times, different places etc). Very interesting, especially as I am interested in fairy tales anyway.

Have big pile of non-fiction to work through as just finished uni and brain is feeling a bit underworked.

Just finished the Kraken wakes. Execellent but very similar set up to Day of the Triffids and not too sure about reading more of them as I think formula could get annoying if it is the smae in further books.

Those murder mysteries sound good. Never sure what to get when it comes to fiction - always too much choice.

I tried geting into Oryx & Crake 3 separate times whilst pregnant but perhaps that wasn't such a good choice when brain cells were at all time low! Currently reading 'The Wedding Officer' about life in and around Naples during the war and the officer's job is to stop british soldiers from marrying Italian girls.
Still can't over how good 'The Island' was.

LM get the audio book out the library for a car journey or cleaning jobs - takes a while to get into but when you get in it it is very veyr good.

thanks for O & C advice - I thought I was just being thick! I just kept on reading the same bit over and over again.
Good idea DT about the audio book from library - will do that and listen whilst DS is at playschool I think (obviously whilst doing the ironing at the same time so as not to appear too lazy).

The Classic Fairy Tales by Maria Tatar (ed).

Retells 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Snow WHite', 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Cinderella', and 'Bluebeard'.

It has essays on each one as well on cultural aspects and similar. And each set of stories has an introduction.

Very interesting just to compare the different stories.

Yes Armadillo, that fairy tale book sounds fab. What is is called? Also don't give up on John Wyndham yet, try The Chrysalids. It is utterly brilliant, by far his best book. (Sorry for slight digression)

Just finished reading Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. VG indeed, even if the political situation in Ancient Greece was a little hard to fathom.

I just finished The Devil Wears Prada and am onto "Is anyone out there" by Marian Keyes.

Gregory is a good author, i love her books, especially the ones set around the Boleyns, i adored the one about their other sister Mary.

Oryx and Crake is a rather bleak novel, I thought it was brilliantly done but prefer novels to have more than one character, there's something a bit grim about the character's situation in the book. Some of her other novels are a bit more accessible - Cat's Eye or The Handmaid's Tale (although latter is kind of disturbing in late pregnancy - I watched the film shortly before being admitted for induction).

I can't settle into anything

I've got "Watch me disappear" which I can't summon any enthusiasm for... The Magician's Guild, The Wasp Factory, Jonathan Strange etc... and yet I keep looking at Northern Lights again

help me someone - what shall I read?!?!?!

Keep threatening Atwood (done Handmaid's Tale)

Just started The Innocent by Harlan Coben. he writes excllent thrillers.
Luciemule, i also loved The Island. it's made me really want to visit Spinalonga. We might go to Crete next year.

I like Sujata Massey but I think no 3 onwards are somewhere in the "spare room" and it could take a while to find them, as I'm compelled to read crime series in order this is a problem.

I just read no 27 in a historical series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and am now reading no 28 - they have a page turning quality which is useful when my reading is so snatched compared to life Before Motherhood(my first baby was born on 4 May). I've been reading mostly crime novels in series I knew I loved since I knew I was pregnant, rather than trying as many new writers, then in the last week I galloped through a couple of chicklit novels. I sort of realised reading might not be easy for my first months of motherhood so two novels and substantial part of a third seems like not bad going.

I finished Oryx & Crake just yesterday. Not the most cheery of books but there was enough in it to keep me going to the end.

I'm now reading Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge. It's about the four days leading up to the loss of the Titanic (so another up-beat story, hehe!) and is quite intriguing. It's short so won't take me long.

Suedonim, we have the same taste (this week). I really liked Oryx & Crake, it was so different. You might enjoy David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, which is on a similar theme and structured in a very unusual way.

The Beryl Bainbridge is good. Won't tell you what happens in the end!

have just finished

digging to america by anne tyler

and keeping the world away by margaret forster

both really good

just started the girls,so far so-so

Ooh, that sounds mysterious, Mumblechum!! I'd better get back to it asap.

I read Cloud Atlas a couple of years ago for my book group. I wasn't that enthralled, tbh, though some of it was okay.

Just finished "Red Azalea" by Anchee Min - about her life in Cultural Revolution China, fantastic read - no where near as comprehensive as Wild Swans but amazing nevertheless. Also nearly finished a PD James "Unnatural Causes" fantastic book. Love a good thriller.

IS the Crysalids good then? Is it same sort of male protagonist telling story after it happened and end of world type senario? Loved Kraken and Triffids - thought they were 2 of the best books I have read but didn't know whether the same sort of framework for another story would work.

Am interested in the MArgaret Attwood one as adored a Handmaid's tale. Is it as good?

I'm reading 'Ysabell' by Guy Gabriel Kay.It's just what I need at the moment as I'm to busy to read something I need to concentrate on. I want to just pick it up as and when I can.

Re O&C by Margaret Atwood, try Sheri Tepper's Decline and Fall

I'm dying to read the latest Tad Williams when I can devote the time and attention it will demand.

Really for light reading I love Nora Roberts, they are formulaic but really well written.

John Connelly is my son's favourite author, I got a signed copy a while back when he was promoting in Newport. i can't read them. i am in a wuzzy stage!

I'm going to Hay at the weekend to the Festival, what should i carry around to create the 'best impression' of my charm wit and erudition?

The Chrysalids is set in a post nuclear war world, about a religious and primitive society which elevates 'purity of form' into a religious and moral imperative. It does have a male protagonist, but is very different from all his other books. I find it the most moving of his novels.

I love reading science fiction from the fifties. It is fascinating to see how the authors are influenced by the time they are writing in - even when dealing with a futuristic theme.