I need a recommendation for a fiction and non fiction book........................

[lilibet]

and can't be bothered posting on two seperate threads!

The six of us in my book group are each nominating two books and we are going to read all twelve over the next year.

To give you an idea we have loved

Woman in White
Rebecca
Prayer for Owen Meany
Star of the Sea
Tale of Two Cities
The Soldier's Return
I Capture the Castle
Persuasion

And really, really hated

The Notebook
French Lieutenant's Woman
Any "I have had a crap childhood" books
The Lovely Bones
Little Women
Reflections in a Golden Eye

and there are lots of others that as a group we were ambivilent about.

So, suggestions?

I've recently read

The Island
The last King of Scotland
Atonement
The Bolyn Inheritance

and liked all of them

The End of Mr Why - the maddest, most compelling book I have read in ages. I think it would generate a good discussion.

thank you

anyone else?

Kiterunner - I loved this, as did most of our group

For non-fiction how about "The good pub guide"?.
Seriously though, what kind of non-fiction do you want, things like biographies, or reference

recently read:

Half a Yellow Sun
On Chesil Beach
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Night Watch
Digging to America
Last King of Scotland
Blind Assassin

all good in their own way

Agree with Panda aobut the Kiterunner, I used to be in a reading group and we read that, and George and Arthur (or Arthur and George) was quite good, but I got a bit fed up in places with it.
have also remembered "The Interpretation of Murder" by Jed someoneorother, it was suggested to me on MN and it was good

One of my mates is going for a Bill Bryson for the non fiction

that I didn't think of that first!

Memoirs of an Average American Male. one to avoid, misogynistic adolescent fantasy dressed up as literature.

richard dawkins, the god delusion?

Snowflower and the secret fan by Lisa See

Non-fiction

Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner
Examines questions such as why do drug dealers still live with their mothers and why do prostitutes earn more than architects.

When did you last see your father by Blake Morrison

alan bennett's diaries are good

Book groups I have been in have enjoyed the following for non fiction:

The Aristocrats
Georgiana
(by Amanda Foreman and Stella Tillyard, can't remember which way round)
biography of Samuel Pepys by Claire Tomalin
(can't remember what it's called)
and one no one admitted to actually liking but gave us a good laugh for one evening's discussion,
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (John Gray).

Fiction:
I'm re-reading The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, as we've just been to Poland.
Might be interesting for the group in the light of the biggest peacetime shift in population from eastern Europe at the moment.

DH got this for Christmas last year and really enjoyed it.
here

1.) The Abortionist's Daughter (R&J book club) v readable...fiction.

2. A Lover of Unreason: The biography of Assia Wevill (mistress of Ted Hughes). Amazing story....non fiction obviously!

2.) Piers Morgan: Don't You Know Who I Am? (v funny. fiction probably but officially non fiction)

The Undercover Economist - non fiction, lightweight look at current issues.

No Logo - Naomi Klein - non fiction, readable 1990s classic call to action against global economic exploitations.

Some really good suggestions there - thank you.

I didn't know thta there was a book about Aissa Wevill, I'm going to read that one regardless.

Non-fiction - try David Starkey - either Elizabeth of The Six Wives of Henry VIII. He writes in a really accessible style and has lots of intersting information.

Fiction - have you read any William Boyd? he's got a new one out, Restless, which is supposed to be excellent, although I haven't read it yet, but Any Human Heart is a brilliant book. Also how about Robert Harris - his Roman books Pompeii and Imperium are both fabulous.

Sunshinemummy - Imperium is this month's book!

Oh I loved it. Who would have thought Roman political machinations could be so fascinating. Apparently it is the first in a trilogy of books he is writing.

lilibet - there are some very good, intelligent reviews of Lover of Unreason on Amazon if you are interested. Wd have sent you my copy, but I gave to to someone else and never got it back. It's an emotional rollercoaster tho.

Non fiction:

Wild Swans - Jung Chang
Kandahar Cockney - James Fergusson
A Life Inside - Erwin James
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

Fiction:

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Inheritance 0f Loss - Kiran Desai
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
The Kiterunner - Khaled Hosseini

Hi lilibet,

looking at your list of likes, i'd suggest nancy mitford's Pursuit of Love.

on the off chance no-one's read it already, Pullman's Northern Lights would be a great book to read communally.

i've not got the concentration for non-fic, but'd second the Wild Swans reccomendation.

a fab non-fic book i always reccomend is Jon Ronson's Them. A New York Times best seller, it'll have you giggling and turning pages right til the end.

tyaca i like your fiction suggestions. georgiana was so dull. lillibet i am sad you disliked little women. how about the constant nymph or anything by rosamund lehman?