What are you reading at the moment

James Herbert - The Secret of Crickley Hall. ages since I've read any of his! I'd forgotten how I enjoyed them! Massive tome of a book, too!

Yeh well the young T Stamp very pretty... I rather liked him in Priscilla though...

I finished The Wood Cutter, by Reginald Hill. Glad I persevered with it, but still think it was a bit long drawn out. Am now just starting The Hidden Child, by Swedish writer Camilla Lackberg, it`s started off OK, so here`s hoping.

I am now looking with great trepidition at the title of a book which has been recommended to me. 'The british republic 1649-1660' by Ronald Hutton. I am doing a course on Oliver Cromwell, and this is my 'homework'.

As a break from reading about 'Fromelles' I'm reading Andrea Levy's The Long Song. I'm enjoying it but I can't really see why it was shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize; I don't see it as anything special - or perhaps I'm missing something.

greenmossgiel that takes me back, I read a lot of James Herbert years ago, especially loved 'The Fog' and 'The Rats.

Just finished "Daughters in law" by Joanna Trollope and I was a little disappointed with it, it seemed a bit of something and nothing.
Going to start "Belle" by Lesley Pearce - one of my favourite authors - tonight

I'm reading "December" by Elizabeth Winthrop. It is all about a little girl who has decided to be mute, and the repucussions of her decision. I'm half way through. Also reading " How be be good " by Nick Hornby, who also wrote About a Boy. Does anyone else love the Derek Tangye books? He and his wife lived in a remote cottage in Minack in Cornwall in the 80s. They are both dead now, but his books about their life there together ,with their cats and wild animals, are magical.

Nothing at all right now having thrown the thriller I started reading halfway across the bedroom last night. It – I can't remember its title – promised to be a fairly thrilling pot boiler sort of story that's ideal for my bedtime reading. No – it was full of God Bless America and American Dream stuff with massive belittling of other nations (especially Arab) and other societies (especially Brit). I love a nice piece of hokum, but that was not it.

Oh, I used to love the Derek Tangye books..Sun on the Lintel etc. I'd lived in Cornwall for a few years so it was lovely to read about the place again. I've got How to be Good on the shelf but I never got round to reading it [I loved Fever Pitch and High Fidelity]. Reckoned that women read Nick Hornby to understand men and men read Bridget Jones to understand women. I'm still dipping into The Time Travelers Wife..having read it quickly to find out what happens at the end I'm now reading it page by page to savour the words. My ex says her follow up book, which didn't have good reviews, is even better, so I'm hoping he'll lend it to me.

I loved The Time Traveller's Wife and so did my 14 year old granddaughter. When I read Before I Die, I asked her if she'd read it and she said,"Yes, it made me cry" It made me cry too but it's the best- ever telling of what it's like to die, told by a teenager.
I'm re-reading The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. Terrible, unforgettable, beautiful writing.

I read The Road in one night, the first time I've ever read a book so quickly. It was like poetry. I wanted to read some Cormac McCarthy after seeing the film.

I couldn't get into The Time Travellers Wife, nor could my 14year old grand-daughter, though her mother loved it. If you like time travelling books read Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy. Takes a bit of getting into, but a fantastic story of a strange new world. Then of course there is the glorious Diana Gabaldon series about Clare and Jamie, Scotland's most romantic couple ever.

goldengirl - we visited Fromelles in the spring of this year. Hard to describe the feelings that you get from being in such a place. On one of the gravestones, under the name of the soldier, it was inscribed: 'At last we've found you'. As I said, no words can describe it.

There's a bench on Cleeve Hill overlooking Cheltenham Racecourse with the inscription 'to the world he was a soldier, but to us he was our world'.Gut wrenching stuff, but what a beautiful place to have a memorial. When I go to Paris I'm hoping to visit the animal cemetery at Asnieres where, along with famous animals and peoples pets [even down to goldfish, and we think of the French as not being animal lovers in the way that we are] the mascots of British airmen who died in the war are buried with full military honours.

Crimson.... saw Alistair Down (I think that's his name) do a piece about that memorial during the Cheltenham Festival... Wish I could remember the details..... it was very sad and moving.
I have just re-read 'On the Black Hill' by Bruce Chatwin.... superb, I had forgotten how good it was. I don't usually re-read books but it was the choice of my small informal book group.

Just finished Reap the harvest by Margaret Dickinson
EASY READING

'Broken' by Karin Slaughter - really enjoyed it but it is her last one in the 'Grant County' series - she is writing another series as an offshoot of this one - it will be interesting to see what form it will take.

I might try 'On Chesil Beach' next, it has been on my bedside table for quite a number of months and I have just bought 'When god was a rabbit' highly recommend by the chap in Waterstones.

I've read all the Jo Nesbo books currently translated to English and loved them. DH is now starting the series! Mo Hayder is also worth a read.

DH is a great lover of Bernard Cornwell but I have not attempted one of his yet - who knows, maybe one day!

Crimson! I'm so glad someone else loved the "minack" books. They are still available in my local library, but you have to ask for them as they seem to be hidden away as they are a bit"fragile". I have managed to take out "the story of the Minack chronicles". It includes;- Time was mine....A gull on the roof...and A cat in the window. Have you read all these?

Crimson, I read the book after 'The Time Travellers Wife' forgotten the authors name. It is about twins and in my opinion dreadful, but that is only my opinion.
I am now reading 'Bel Canto' by Ann Patchett.Winner of the Orange Prize in 2002. It is about a group of people taken hostage in S.America, which sounds awful!!! Anyway it is about love in many of its guises:romantic love, married love and the deep and nourishing love of beauty. Sounds great doesn't it, I am on page 4 at the moment.
Actually a friend recommended it to me, said it was one of the best books she had read. I will let you know if she was correct.

I never throw books away [found woodworm in one the other day ]so I've got the Minack books on shelves somewhere. I thought it was terribly sad when his wife died. I've had such an urge to go to Cornwall recently, it's as if it's calling to me. One of my favourite books ever was My Small Country Living by Jeanine McMullen [sadly out of print] all about a woman whose marriage has ended and moves to a smallholding in Wales with lots of sighthounds. I read a lot of books about being self sufficient at one time [daft because I can't grow things or cook and certainly couln't kill anything to eat]. Another favourite was Summer Pudding about a racehorses called Henry and a lurcher called Rebecca. Again, that was out of print, but the author sent me a copy with the inscription 'extrasensory is inadequate to describe your vision'. I'm ashamed to admit that I was hopelessly in love with the author from reading the book [it was very autobiographical] but I never heard from him again. I did however buy a horse and sighthound of my own! I loved the Miss Read books as well.

Mrshat, we seem to have similar reading tastes. I read Broken the other week, and am likewise looking forward to what Karin Slaughter produces next. I`ve also read and loved the Jo Nesbo books, and about 3 of Mo Hayder`s. Have you tried the books by C.J.Sansom, set in the 16th century, in the time of Henry V111? I`ve read all of them so far, love `em. Also liked the Stieg Larson trilogy starting with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, although I must admit to finding the first one hard going at the beginning, nearly gave up, but glad that I didn`t. I also love the books by Karen Rose, have read nearly all of hers. I`m now reading The Hidden Child, by Camilla Lackberg, another Scandinavian writer, still trying to make my mind up over this one.

numberplease, so pleased we agree on reading matter! There are some CJ Sansom books in the house, purchased and read by DH but I have not tried them yet. Maybe I should do so.... Also loved the Stieg Larson trilogy. Have read some by Karen Rose and hope to read more. Currently I am reading the latest Lee Child - On Chesil Beach will have to come after that!
Happy reading

I'd be interested to know how you get on with "When God was a Rabbit" mrshat as I tried a couple of times and gave up

Mrshat, I also love Lee Child, or rather, I should say that I`m IN LOVE with Jack Reacher! It will be a crime to make a film, as they are planning, with Tom Cruise in the part, it needs a BIG man!