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What have you just finished, what are you reading now and what next?

120 replies

Girlputyourrecordson · 29/06/2024 08:57

Plus recommendations/reviews if you like!

  1. I have just finished Yellowface by Rebecca F Yuang

  2. I am now reading Daughter of The Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

  3. I am going to read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus next

OP posts:
hazandduck · 29/06/2024 19:42

Kayemm · 29/06/2024 19:17

  1. Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishigoru (Book club book) Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths.

Loved all of them.

  1. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins for the umpteenth time. I'm also half way through Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey but it's not gripping me.

Then need something to fit in before

  1. 300 minutes by Rosamund Lupton which is my Book Group pick on 9th July.

Another book I read recently was Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams! Quick, easy and gently funny. It’s one of those books you can read in one sitting. It’s been turned in to a tv show recently.

Storminateacup74 · 29/06/2024 19:46
  1. Just finished : The Loving Husband by Cristobel Kent (terrible)
  2. Currently reading: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud
  3. Next: Probably a kindle 99p read or My Antonia by Willa Cather
NoHeavenNoMore · 29/06/2024 19:51

Just read: The Housemaid is watching
reading - Freida McFadden
Reading now: Baby City - Freida McFadden
Next: Regretting You - Colleen Hoover

NoHeavenNoMore · 29/06/2024 19:52

@hazandduck I LOVED Queenie! i listened to the Audiobook. Didn't know about the series but can't wait to watch that

Thisismyhappyface · 29/06/2024 19:55

Just read: Weirdo by Sara Pascoe
Now reading: I'm a fan by Sheena Patel
Next: Yellowface by Rebecca F Yuang

Have just started listening to back issues of the Weirdos book club podcast!

oddgirl · 29/06/2024 19:56

@Kayemm I loved Fresh Water for Flowers. Reminded me of The Reader on the 0627…another lovely French translation

JamieFrasersSassenach · 29/06/2024 20:06
  1. Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty - loved it so much that -
  1. The Husband's Secret also by Liane Moriarty
  1. The House we grew up in, Lisa Jewell.

@InglouriousBasterd I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry years ago - absolutely loved it!

Loving this thread for ideas for future reads!

NoHeavenNoMore · 29/06/2024 20:19

Hellohah · 29/06/2024 18:59

I have just finished One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I didn't really like it.

I am about to start The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

And I think I will read Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown after this.

The secret life of bees is one of my all time favourite reads!!

Deedeeee · 29/06/2024 20:20

Cooper77 · 29/06/2024 16:06

I have just finished a collection of Bertrand Russell's journalism. Sounds dry, but it really isn't. He had a column in an American newspaper in the 1930s, and was allowed to contribute articles on anything he liked. They're wonderful. He writes about all sorts of things, from the joys of laziness to why free love makes us miserable. Wise, funny, and written in crystal clear prose.

Currently have two books on the go: I'm re-reading Stephen Fry's autobiography, Moab is My Washpot. I have a feeling this is what he'll be remembered for. It will definitely go down as a classic. I'm also reading Austen's Emma for the first time. There are so many classics I've never read, and I'm trying to put that right this year. I've also got Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Bleak House and Vanity Fair lined up (though whether I actually read them or not is a different matter).

I've got a few audiobooks on the go. Listening to Stephen Fry read P. G. Wodehouse is pure bliss. I also love his readings of Sherlock Holmes. And I'm re-listeing to Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour books (just made for audio).

Next up is the final volume of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide. I sort of 'discovered' Adams this year, and wonder what took me so long. He's fantastic – the British Kurt Vonnegut. You can also see the influence of Wodehouse in Adams' beautifully crafted sentences. I also want to re-read Robert Graves' I Claudius, mainly because I've just bought the brilliant 1970s BBC adaptation and plan to re-watch it.

@Cooper77 what’s the Bertrand Russell journalism book you refer to? I can’t quite track it down, but sounds great, and would love to read. Thank you!

BG2015 · 29/06/2024 20:35
  • just finished - The Unfinished Business of Eadie Browne by Freya North
  • currently reading - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
  • reading next - The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

Counting down the days to my summer holiday so I can read, read, read!

whatatool · 29/06/2024 21:00
  1. The Mess We're In, Annie MacManus
  1. The Wren, The Wren, Anne Enright
(I'm about a third of the way in and not feeling it at all so o think I'll be abandoning this, I don't have time to read things I'm not enjoying"
  1. Family Politics, John O'Farrell
Hedjwitch · 29/06/2024 21:04

Just finished " Tombland" by CJ Sansom. The last of the Shardlake novels after a massive 7 book binge read. Am now bereft.

Myfanwyprice · 29/06/2024 21:12

Just finished Commonwealth by Anne Patchett

currently reading The covenant of water by Abraham Verghese

Next read either The Household by Stacey Halls or The family experiment by John Marrs

brooksghost · 29/06/2024 21:16

Just finished The Hard Way...loved it!
Not sure what to read next but something along a similar theme.

brooksghost · 29/06/2024 21:18

Argh, author- Susannah Walker

Blackcountryexile · 29/06/2024 21:25

Just finished Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
Currently reading Central Park West by James Comey
Next will be The Lock Up by John Banville

AuntieDolly · 29/06/2024 21:26

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers. My first Peter Wimsey book. Enjoyed it

Strange Sally Diamond. Started well then descended into tripe. Glad I only paid 99p for it.

I'm on holiday so could do with reading something funny - maybe the latest Clovenhoof?

Moier · 29/06/2024 21:29

Just read in two nights
Chrissy Handy.
Seduced by a sociopath . True Story).
Now reading The new Shalini Boland... The Honeymoon.( Psycholgical thriller).

Dustyblue · 30/06/2024 05:50

I've just spent a very pleasant hour looking up all the books I've never heard
of. Lovely!!

Just finished - The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus & Emma McLaughlin. I read it back in 2002 when it came out, just as scathing & delicious as I remember it

Reading now- War of the Windsor's by Nigel Cawthorne. I like a bit of royal trash, AHEM I mean history. It's about Charles V. Andrew.

Next- Lies & Weddings by Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians. That was a cracker of a read.

Pottingup · 30/06/2024 06:19

I’m reading The Ghost Road by Pat Barker - which am enjoying. I tried to read it years ago but somehow couldn’t get into it but now feels like the right time.

Have just finished The Sea by John Banville - which was the first thing I’ve read by him and he writes so beautifully.

Will next read something from the list of the past Booker prize winners. I think I’ve got a bit over half to get through but have enjoyed all the ones I’ve read so far.

PurpleWhirple · 30/06/2024 07:15

Just read - the ghost ship by Kate Mosse. I enjoyed this as I have all her books. Lovely easy reading.

Currently reading - the lost bookshop by Evie woods. This was a recommendation from a pal and I'm not loving it at the moment but not long started so will plough on for a while

Next up - not sure, possibly the next of the slough house books by mick Herron. Others on my to read pile include normal rules don't apply by Kate Atkinson, helgoland by Carlos rovelli, and yesterday's spy by Tom Bradby.

TeaAndStrumpets · 30/06/2024 07:15

MaxandMeg · 29/06/2024 12:54

Oh, I didn't think anyone else had ever read 'The Making of a Marchioness'. My friend Richard who went on the be the Pepys Librarian gave me a copy 50 years ago. He was always good for recherché reading matter. He also started me on Nancy Mitford - not so much celebrated then - and Emily Eden. Emily Eden was writing in the mid 19th century and anyone who like Jane Austen will like her book 'The Semi-Attached Couple' and 'The Semi-Detached House'. Anyone else read these?
I loved 'Wise Children' too.

Just finished: 'On The Cusp' by David Kyanaston. An examination of three months in the summer of 1962 when the world turned.

Currently reading (but not for much longer) 'In Remembrance of Past Times.' I'm half way through but running out of steam. I've tried before but I don't think I've got the right sort of mind for Proust.

Reading next: Not sure but something cheerful.

Show quote history

Yes I treasure the Making of a Marchioness! My little copy has survived many a declutter, it's one of those "in emergency break glass" books.

I have also read The Semi- Detached House and The Semi Attached couple...loved them.

BTW the Online Library is brilliant for out of print books. It is a real treasure trove. I recently read one of G Heyer's "modern" books on there. You can read for an hour then re-borrow if the book is not reserved. They have all of Heyer, Sayers, many obsolete golden age detective writers etc. Also Lois McMaster Bujold's books are there.

I have just read A Lady's Guide to Fortune- Hunting by Sophie Irwin which was hugely better than I thought it would be. I am half way through A Lady's Guide to Scandal, less madcap, more intense, very engaging.

I dare not confess to some of the tosh I've been reading recently!

Jigglypufff · 30/06/2024 08:07

Catsinaflat · 29/06/2024 10:04

Just finished 'Last one at the party' I love post apocalyptic fiction and this one has really stayed with me. Hoping for a second book.
Just started'The midnight feast'
Will read Hamnet next as I recently read 'The marriage Portrait' by Maggie O'Farrell and really enjoyed it.

I loved this book. It also stayed with me for ages. I might reread it.

I've just finished Butter which was fantastic.
I'm reading False Colours by Georgette Heyer. Which is just lovely.

I'm probably going to read tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow next.

doradoo · 30/06/2024 09:12

Just finished - Butter by Asako Yuzuki
Currently reading - Lady Chatterley's Lover
Next - either girl, woman, other (Bernardine Evaristo) or Midnight Blue (Simone van der Vlugt) about the birth of Delft pottery.

Original poster
Girlputyourrecordson · 30/06/2024 09:35

PurpleWhirple · 30/06/2024 07:15

Just read - the ghost ship by Kate Mosse. I enjoyed this as I have all her books. Lovely easy reading.

Currently reading - the lost bookshop by Evie woods. This was a recommendation from a pal and I'm not loving it at the moment but not long started so will plough on for a while

Next up - not sure, possibly the next of the slough house books by mick Herron. Others on my to read pile include normal rules don't apply by Kate Atkinson, helgoland by Carlos rovelli, and yesterday's spy by Tom Bradby.

I read The Lost Bookshop and really didn't like it. But, I did finish it, so can't have been that bad! Won't say what I thought was wrong with it as don't want to accidentally give away any spoilers

OP posts: