If I tell you which books I've enjoyed recently, can you recommend some more to add to my amazon order, please?

[Olihan]

Over the last couple of months I've read:

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets - Eva Rice
The Virgin Suicides - Geoffrey Eugenides
The Children's Book - AS Byatt
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
The Wilderness - Samantha Harvey
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer
Digging to America &
The Clock Winder - Anne Tyler
Resistance - Anita Shreve (have read almost all of hers though)
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortensen
American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
The White Queen - Philippa Gregory (read all of hers too)

Still to go are:

Love in a Cold Climate (Penguin Modern Classics) - Nancy Mitford
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel

I've also read but didn't really enjoy

A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif
Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway

So what do I order next?

Not sure but can I ask you a question?

Wolf Hall - I have been told once you get to page 150 it is ok - is this true or not in your opinon?

Well having read none of those (and not even heard of most of them) I am no help at all I'm afraid. I find it really hard to find any books I fancy reading when I look. I think maybe the cost puts me off - I so hate the thought of wasting £10 on a crap book, and our library is rubbish.

Respect to you for managing to read so much!

True IMO.
but you have to give it chunks of time, you canb't do 5 mins here, 10 mins there.

OP Can I recommend The Secret scripture by Sebastian Barry.

Wow! Wolf Hall alone took me about 3 months!

I actually gave up on The Cellist of Sarajevo, although I enjoyed the other two in your 'reject' list.

I'm not sure I can actually help you, but I am familiar with several titles from your list. Have you read other Anne Tylers? She's consistently good, IMO.

Not dissimiliar to Brooklyn in mood and tone and subject, too, I suppose.

ok - ta, have been lining up chuncks and then falling asleep, not sure whether it is the book or I am really tierd...

Yes, The Secret Scripture is also on my bookshelf.

Have you read The Historian? I loved that.

I found Middlesex by Geoffrey Eugenides far supoerior to The Virgin Suicides, so maybe worth a try also for you?

It's probably a bit of both, Ruckyrunt. I found it difficult to get engaged with Wolf hall, (not happening when too tired) but once I did, I was in. That's every time I picked it up, not just to start. It's absorbing, and once you are in, you start knowing intuitively which he, is He.

ruckyrunt, I LOVED Wolf Hall. IIRC it did take a bit of getting into but was more than worth it when I did.

The Secret Scripture is in my Amazon basket now!

The Historian looks a bit scary , is it? I haven't read Sarah Waters' Little Stranger because it sounds creepy!

purpleturtle, I didn't finish Cellist either, Wolf Hall arrived and I discarded it . I've read Anne Tyler's A Patchwork Planet and the one with Elizabeth and the slightly mad family which the title escapes me atm. I do like her style, she's easy to read.

wukter, that's exactly how I did it. I found the he/he style so confusing to begin with, then suddenly I just knew and didn't want it to finish. She's writing a sequel to it apparently......

Am looking forward to the sequel, Olihan. Yay!

Haven't read any Sarah Waters apart from Fingersmith. Totally overrated, I thought. Would you say the Historian is worth trying, Purpleturtle?

Read Wolf Hall last year (took ages but really enjoyed it). Also looking forward to sequel.

Second recommendation of The Secret Scriptures.

Have also just finished reading the little stranger by sarah walters. Real page turner, really enjoyed it and still wondering who teh little stranger was?!?! Am a real coward but didn't find it too creepy.

Just realised you've read a dozen books in 'a couple of months'. Respect. Which ONE did you enjoy the most?

wukter, have you read Simon Mawers' The Glass House? I like the sound of it but it's still only in hardback and I'm not paying that kind of money unless it's FANTASTIC!

I'm guessing the Wolf hall sequel won't be around for a couple of years yet but I may just buy that in hardback when it is eventually published.

wukter, have you read Simon Mawers' The Glass House? I like the sound of it but it's still only in hardback and I'm not paying that kind of money unless it's FANTASTIC!

I'm guessing the Wolf hall sequel won't be around for a couple of years yet but I may just buy that in hardback when it is eventually published.

I was very disappointed with The Little Stranger, it was my choice for our book club, didnt find it at all scary. Just read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, next b/club choice, thought it would not be my thing but couldnt put it down and can`t wait to read the other two.Also just read The Memory Keepers Daughter, brilliant, and We Are All Made Of Glue, very funny book. I order my books from Amazon, just got Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for £2.99 (new) and free p&p!

Absolute favourite is Wolf Hall, closely followed by I Capture the Castle. Both completely different but I couldn't put either of them down.

Usually I read for an hour when I go to bed but those 2 I was up til 2am on a couple of nights.

I LOVE reading though, I'd rather read than watch TV.

No, I haven't even heard of the Glass House....

Unless, Carol Shields. And Sea Glass, is that an Anita Shreve?

And don't dismiss them as too "light", Mary Wesley. A touch of I capture the Castle in the Camomile Lawn, and Harnessing Peacocks. Not fashionable, but very readable.

If you want some American short stories, there is a collection of Lorrie Moore that is very good.

triplets, is The Memory Keepers Daughter the one about the doctor who sends away his newborn daughter because she has Down's but he tells his wife the baby died? If it is I've read it at some point.

Amazon keep recommending The Girl With.... but I've not been convinced enough yet. Will add it at that price though .

Sea Glass is Anita Shreve, one of her best ones imo.

I'm sure I read Mary Wesley as a teen, I'll see if the library van has some on it's next visit. It doesn't have much in the way of modern books but that sort of book probably fits its target audience a bit more .

The Glass Room is out in paperback now

I read it last year, it's very good

I think Barbara Kingsolver's ....The Poisonwood Bible... is fabulous and we seem to have similar tastes in fiction.

Ooh, yes have just found paperback Glass Room, thank you, that's another added to my basket.

trumpton, will look at Poisonwood Bible, it sounds familiar but I'm not sure if I've read it or just considered it a few times.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. And I'm sure you've read it by Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is one of my all time favourites.