Soooooooooo what is everyone reading at the moment?

[foxinsocks]

Am racing through books at a rate of knots due to commute. Have done Black Swan Green, On Chesil Beach, Any Human Heart and some strange Italian crime book (translated) that I picked up in an odd book shop. All great for commuting.

Must go and get some more books this weekend. So what are you all reading?

Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor, written very beautifully and full of fascinating detail.

(Has this thread taken over from the last wotcher reading thread?)

Anyway - have finished Ernest Shackleton, done the Spanish Civil War with George Orwell, now reading Thesiger crossing the Empty Quarter - Thesiger is funny, entirely unexpected.

Also reading a Virago edition of an Elaine Dundy period piece about being a pretty American babe being leched over by Cyril Connolly in Swinging London ... not very convinced by that one.

And Austerity Britain, continuing.

Thesiger currently winning.

Just finished a Thousand Spendid Suns and the World According to Bertie

Not sure what I'll start next...

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold on recommendation by kind mumsnetters.

The Babygroup by Rowan Coleman is next on my list.

agent zig zag

My dh read that, and loved it.

best thing I've read recently is the Nureyev biography by Julie Kavanagh. Gripping and so well written. Mid you ginormous so maybe get the p'back from the library and read it in bed.

I'm reading Life Class by Pat Barker now, enjoying it.

Read Agent Zigzag last week and loved it.Just started his earlier book 'A Foreign Field' about WW1 and it is good.

I'm reading Middlesex by J Eugenides. Not quite into it yet but it is certainly different.

what did you think of chesil beach foxinsox?
did you like it
I wanted more.thogh it was a bit too short

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

It's fantastic, and devastating.

Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah. Lovely book!

Also a book of french grammar. And I'm reading poetry as that's what my next assignment is on.

Nearly finished Patricia Cornwell's The Murder Book. Truly dreadful. Can't understand where she went so badly wrong with the Scarpetta series. Finishing it out of sheer bloody mindedness rather than any sense of enjoyment. Really liked the new Faye Kellerman though.

In the pile is On Chesil Beach, something by Richard Littlejohn which my dad recommended and something about women in China. All Christmas books.

Dh only reads (auto)biographies and has just finished in record time (3 months) Johnny Cash's one. He has a large stack from Christmas which will probably keep him going to 2012.

erm half a dozen or more books at once...

Lily Cole and the Moon -werewolves

Anticraft: Knitting Beading and Stitching for the Slightly Sinister- ( yes I know not a novel but its quite amusing crafts anyway)

Blood Ties- tanya huff

my brain is frazzled as can't remeber what else I have on the go... that and DS keeps helpfully hiding my books so i have to look all over the house for them.

Just finished Jeremy Clarkson's "And Another Thing" - very funny. Best thing is that it's a collection of his newspaper column scribblings, so each one is short and you can pick up and put down easily. Good bedtime reading for people like me who can only manage 3 pages before snoozing off. I know he's very annoying on TV but his writing is funny.

yes, cremola, I thought it could have been the first few chapters of a longer book. Didn't like the ending (thought it was too factual).

I'm now reading The Gathering by Anne Enright. I can't put it down - it's haunting but beautifully written.

The Inheritance of Loss (am stuck with it as am finding it really boring). Am going to read the last three No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books as I've read all the others and find them really easy to read, if a little predictable.

Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell - I've read it before but I love a re-read!!

Half Broken Things by Morag Joss. Not getting into it yet.

just finished bel canto by anne pratchet about a hostage situation in s america good twists,moving and very funny in the way she observes characters more selfish traits.

just finished the murder book by jonathon kellerman....think i've read too many of these....for the first chapter or so, i wasn't sure if i'd already read it!

just started mothers milk by edward st aubyn but feel it is going to be one of those books where the author is trying to be too clever

balzac and the little seamstress and the chinese english dictionary for lovers (?authors) are on the pile

I love Sarah Waters - I read an odd mix of crime fiction, literary stuff and chicklit, including a lot of books by chicklit authors about women having their own chicks.

Currently I'm reading 31 Dream Street by Lisa Jewell, I wanted something fairly light to read after Purple Hibiscus. I'll probably go back to crime next - I've just bought a new in paperback book by John Harvey which might be the one.

Ooh, stick with Middlesex, Chocolatedot, it's really good.

I'm just coming to the end of The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson, which I've enjoyed.

Stephen Fry - Moab is my Washpot, which is very funny
And 'The Meaning of the 21st Century' which is interesting, but a little dry.

I agree Middlesex is worth persisting with, it's one of my favourite books.

Oh yes, keep going with Middlesex, there are lots of twists and turns. I loved it.