What are you reading at the moment

I never did finish Jude!

I am currently re-reading All the Pretty Horses to make sure I've got it all before I proceed onto the next one in the trilogy.

I have just finished reading 'The Help'. It's a brilliant debut novel by Kathryn Stockett about black maids working for white families in Mississippi in 1962. The characters are amazing - they bring out all different emotions in you.

I have just read War Brides by Helen Bryan because (I think) someone talked about it on here. I thought it was dreadful. Apart from being the worst punctuated and formatted book I have ever downloaded to Kindle the plot was ridiculous. One of the main parts of the plot was based on the idea that two small Jewish children rescued from occupied France would be sent back (in 1942). The characters were thin, the dialogue painful, the historical detail inaccurate and the plot absurd. Apart from that....
At the end we were told that the two seven year olds had been rescued and delivered in a bag - flippin' large bag.

NO THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Tess' is so melodramatic! I prefer 'Far from the Madding Crowd' and 'The Return of the Native'. If you want to feel really depressed, try 'Jude'.

Quite! My point exactly! I want to relax, not be made more miserable when I come home! The view on life I get at work is unhappy enough!
I am reding Clanncy' ' locked in'

Mrs Hardy: "Hardy is, this afternoon, writing a poem......it is, needless to say, an intensely dismal one."

I read Tess, no more Hardy for me!,

Ariadne, how I agree with you regarding Hardy, I told myself 'never again' after reading Jude the Obscure. I do not need any melancholic books at the moment! Fortunately reading 'Out stealing horses' by Per Peterson, Norwegian and winner of the Independent foreign fiction prize. Reading the blurb 'a poignant and moving tale of a changing perspective on the world, from youthful innocence to the difficult acceptance of betrayal and nostalgia for a simpler way of life' A Good Book. After finishing it I look forward to reading a bit of possible chick lit, a Jojo Moyes book. I am hooked now after reading 'Me before you'

susiecb I do like Anita Brookner but have to be in a cheerful and optimistic mood to read her books - a bit like Hardy - if you're a bit depressed, you might be suicidal by the end!

Books do that to me; it was only when I read "Jude the Obscure" for the first time that I realised why I was so melancholic.

eGJ will look for the Elizabeth Noble - sounds good.

Started on Gillespie and I when the library rang. The new Elizabeth Noble Between a mother and her child was there waiting! DH kindly collected it (I was busy reading) so the dilemma is being solved as I taste Elizabeth Noble. So far 77 pages in I'm hooked. She's dealing with family relationships again and as always she drags you in straightaway; tantalising references to other family members want them revealed so you get pulled in. Not sure which will keep me up late reading!

Juts finished Strangers by Anita Brookner intriguing couldn't put it down - not her best but she is 80+ now and has had a brilliant career. Always a pleasure to read an author who writes beautiful prose grammatically.

Finished Switch, it was OK, but as I`m not really into fantasy world stuff, I won`t be reading any more of her books. Am now just into the first few pages of Hide and Seek, by Katia Leaf. An ex policewoman`s husband (also an ex cop) goes missing a few days after his parents are found murdered.

Thanks for the permission! GN closing down. Book being put onto desk

Open that book now, eGJ! GN will be waiting for you, and the housework....well...just leave that!

Someone has "borrowed" the copy of Raven Black from the library without taking it out, so it will have to wait gracesmum However Gillespie & I was there and I'm trying to decide between GN, housework or reading! Any suggestions which I should do?

Thanks baNANA and MaureenM for the Gillespie & I suggestion. It's on the shelves in my library according to a search, so I'll seek it out tomorrow. The first Ann Cleeves is there too, so I'll give that a try gracesmum for the suggestions! I'll come back and post when I've read them

I have just finished "Can Any Mother Help Me" by Jenna Bailey recommended by gracesmum on "Call the Midwife " thread - thank you! It is really interesting and is really an early version of gransnet for the mid 20th century in a magazine form. The women involved were supporting each other in the days before equal opportunities.It is very touching.
I have also just read Jeanette Winterson's "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal"- a good read.

I have also just finished reading 'Gillespie and I' by Jane Harris (my book group's choice for September) and I found it a super read. It kept me guessing throughout and was very cleverly put together. I definitely recommend.

I have just bought Capital for DH to read in hospital as he is a John Lanchester fan. I agree the reviews weren't 100 % but they are only some people's opinions.
I am engrossed in Ann Cleeves White Nights - the second in her Shetland quartet with Inspector Jimmy Perez. Brilliant book as was the first Raven Black.

Hi eGJ, Into the Darkest Corner is definitely what I would describe a dark genre, Gillespie and I, should you choose to read it, not so dark, it has elements of The Suspicions of Mr Witcher, although a novel rather than an account. Very enjoyable in my opinion you would have to draw your own conclusions. Glad to know we are in agreement about Before I go to sleep, over hyped!

I would be interested on your thoughts on Capital, as I have read a couple of critics comments.

I have just started reading Capital by John Lanchester. I bought it on my Kindle the night before last. So far, so good. Will report back on final verdict when I have finished it..

Last week I read William Boyd's Waiting for Sunrise which I enjoyed enormously but it did leave me wondering if I had missed the point. I have a feeling the protagonist is a fraud and that this is the whole subversive premise of the novel. Would love feedback from others who have read this.

PS: Waiting for Sunrise is about a young English actor who goes to Vienna just before the First World War to seek help for a sexual problem. The help is forthcoming but leads to a roller coaster ride involving old-fashioned espionage, mystery and danger.

I haven't heard of Kent Haruf, Ariadne, so I am off to google.........

I'm between books at the moment, so am enjoying a pile of The New Yorker magazines - supplied by an American gentleman living locally who keeps our Library well stocked with them. Interesting, in-depth articles - and the cartoons are pretty good, too!

Even "agree"!