What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Rig of Jarkness]

Just finished The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - v enjoyable indeed. I liked her other two books The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton too.  But this was the best yet.

[Tom B]

'Salvage' by Robert Edric, a new novelist for me  - highly readable, very bleak

[pcolbeck]

Finally started "Europe's Tragedy - A History of the Thirty Years War"  Peter H Wilson which I have been saving up for a while now.. Fascinating. Got a love a book with that tittle when your 200 pages in and the war hasn't started yet. It's a brick of a book.

[her_welshness]

Just finished The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - v enjoyable indeed. I liked her other two books The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton too.  But this was the best yet.

Ooh thats good to know, thanks  Just loved the The House at Riverton.

I was reading 'The Winter Ghosts' which I am getting a little bored by.

Have now started on 'Noughts & Crosses' by Malorie Blackman. Already engrossed by it.

[Jacomus]

Finished reading 'Game of Thrones' by George R R Martin last week and immediately bought the next four books in the series. I am pounding my way through the second book 'A Clash of Kings' at the moment.

I haven't read a fantasy book that has captured my imagination like this since Harry Potter. However, this conclusively overshadows the HP series by weaving a far more complex and absorbing web. Baddies are just as clever as the goodies and don't always lose. The characters have flaws that hold them back or even lead to their deaths. Plans and actions are subject to lady luck on top of their execution.

Over time (as the books are close to 1000 pages) I have found that sometimes I have actually been willing a character to get away with something, or to fail, which is something that I haven't done for along time reading a book.

It is about £28 to buy all five books on Amazon and I would highly recommend it. If you like a fantasy novel, start by trying Game of Thrones and watch yourself get hooked!

[Mr Larrington]

Stranger Than Fiction - Michael Crick's biography of Jeffrey Archer.

Edit: Sadly it's a 1996 edition so doesn't include him going to gaol.

[citoyen]

Heliopolis - James Scudamore. Haven't read much of it yet but it's made a promising start. I like his writing style.

d.

[her_welshness]

Finished Malorie Blackmans' Noughts and Crosses - totally brilliant 

Am now reading 'Love Bites' by Christopher Hirst. Its about the culinary differences between men and women in the kitchen and a gastronomic journey into experimenting with different recipes with his wife.

It is a delightful book and I literally read 60 pages in my lunch-hour. Some definite laugh-out loud moments.

Here is an excerpt.

Women in the Kitchen (According to Mr Hirst)
Women are very difficult to get out of kitchen shops.
Women are obsessed with cleanliness to the extent that it imperils our natural resistance to bugs and germs.

Men in the Kitchen (According to Mrs Hirst)
Men want a huge amount of praise for anything they do.
Men are reluctant to follow recipes in the same way that they refuse to ask for directions when they are lost.

[jogler]

Georgiana:Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

[Tail End Charlie]

Re-reading "Cochrane" by Donald Thomas. If you are interested in history this is a top book. The man had several lives in one. He is the basis for Patrick O'Brien's series about Jack Aubrey, but has many more facets to him.

[LindaG]

Feersum Enjinn.  Again.   

[Oaky]

re-reading "The Rider" to kill time until my hols when I'll be reading "PopCo" and "Our Tragic Universe" by Scarlett Thomas.

(I recently re-read "The End of Mr. Y" by Thomas, a book that I've really enjoyed on both readings, and only then thought to look up if there was anything else of hers around to read).

[longers]

(I recently re-read "The End of Mr. Y" by Thomas, a book that I've really enjoyed on both readings, and only then thought to look up if there was anything else of hers around to read).

I picked up a copy of this at the weekend in Fopp for £2. It doesn't seem such a bargain when weighed against the CD purchases.

Not doing much reading at the moment though, have a growing pile of books awaiting opening.

[Feline]

Just finished David Millar's book Racing Through the Dark.
It was a very interesting read.
Next up is Ned Boulting's How I Won the Yellow Jumper.

[Karla]

(I recently re-read "The End of Mr. Y" by Thomas, a book that I've really enjoyed on both readings, and only then thought to look up if there was anything else of hers around to read).

I picked up a copy of this at the weekend in Fopp for £2. It doesn't seem such a bargain when weighed against the CD purchases.

Not doing much reading at the moment though, have a growing pile of books awaiting opening.

It doesn't seem like such a bargain when Deano's offering a copy free on here 

I've just been given a copy of her previous book, Popco.  It may have to wait a bit, as once I've finished The Name of The Rose (Umberto Eco) and The Bible Jesus Read (Philip Yancey), I fancy starting Virtue Reborn (Tom Wright).  For continental reading I'll probably take Our Kind Of Traitor (John Le Carre) so I may just get onto the Scarlett Thomas come September.

[alexb]

I'm staggering my way through Neil Stephenson's "Baroque cycle" on the third and last book now and loving all the attention to period detail that oozes out of these books.
I'm going to read Cryptonomicron by him (again) next, because, again, that was a fascinating read.

[Mr Larrington]

Agent 6 ~ Tom Rob Smith.  Third, and I imagine last, in the series featuring Leo Demidov.

[onb]

How I won the Yellow Jumper -Ned Boulting

[Tom B]

'Kingdom of Ashes' by Robert Edric

[Mr Larrington]

Flipping Out ~ Marshall Karp.  If you like your crime fiction to be grim and, moreover, bleak then the Lomax & Biggs series is probably not for you...

[Flying_Monkey]

The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald. Tautly written, subtle and very moving.

[RJ]

The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald. Tautly written, subtle and very moving.

Sebald-ian, in fact  - though in slightly more digestible chunks than Vertigo and Austerlitz, one or both of which are IIRC single paragraphs (beautifully written & translated).   

After more than half-a-lifetime of avoiding sci-fi, I've succumbed to the temptation of Iain "M" Banks - Use of Weapons is next up ...

[Aidan]

A Race for Madmen: The Extraordinary History of the Tour de France .  about half way through, very readable so far.

and at £3.99 on kindle a bargain!

[her_welshness]

Have just finished 'Started Early, Took My Dog'. Kate Atkinson is a bloody brilliant writer 

[Steph]

'Sailing Alone Around the World', Joshua Slocum. A delight.