What are you reading at the moment

I also like a triviality break every now and then. I try to expand my mind by reading books I wouldn't usually go for, but some are hard work and even impenetrable, and a few days of reading trash novels is enjoyable. I read avidly and reckoned up last year that I had gone through nearly 60 books. Fortunately, a lot were free or cost barely anything, as I download them onto my eReader from free sites and the library. I've just finished 'Crimson China' and enjoyed it, but also found the ending rather incomplete. Some of the events leading up to the climax weren't tied up by the finish (won't say what they were as others will still be reading it).

The most interesting book I've read recently was 'The Midwife's Confession.' I can imagine that as a good rainy afternoon film on the TV.

Yes, Carol, I liked that a lot. Enough twists to keep you reading, too!

Carol, I agree, Crimson China seemed to end before it`s time, I felt as if there should have been a bit more to come. However, that still doesn`t detract from it being a very good story.

I also am an avid CJ Sansom reader, and also enjoyed "An Equal Music" by Vikram Seth. Can recommend books by another Indian writer, Rohinton Mistry. I enjoyed Chimamanda Adichie's "One Half of a Yellow Sun", set in the time of Nigeria's civil war.
I enjoy detective stories more now, and am a fan of Donna Leon, whose books follow a Venetian detective, and of Steven Saylor (spelling?) whose detective stories set in ancient Rome seem very well researched.
At the moment I am reading "The West Pier" by Patrick Hamilton. The hero is really the villain, but so far I am enjoying reading the book.
I'm grateful for other people's suggestions.

I'm three quarters of the way through One Day which has had a lot of hype - well, the film has - but is leaving me luke warm. Firstly I thought mistakenly it was by David Mitchell. It's not, it's by David Nicholls and secondly I thought it took place over one day but of course it doesn't, it's over twenty years. I find I have to go back to the beginning of the previous chapter to see how far time has passed. That said it's a reasonable read but not a page turner.

It disappointed me too. gg. I couldn't summon up any interest in the characters and the ending struck me as being too contrived, but I won't give that away to you!

I read 'One Day' before all the hype about the film (which I have not seen and do not intend to). As I had no idea what to expect I quite enjoyed it and found the concept quite interesting. As is often the case with decent books, once the filmmakers get hold of them and the hype starts, expectations change and lots of folk are disappointed. C'est la vie

I`m about halfway through The Black House, by Peter May. Det.Insp. Fin McCleod goes back to his roots on the Scottish Isle of Lewis, in a bid to solve as murder that may be connected to one he`s dealing with in Edinburgh. It goes back and forth from his childhood to teens and the present day, but I`m really enjoying it. It paints a very bleak picture of life on the island.

I am glad I am not the only one who didn't like 'One Day', very over hyped, it is a book I would definately not recommend.

Anyone read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? I like to read a tome set in the 19th century around this time of the year. Previously my winter reads have included Crimson Petal and the White, The Meaning of Night, The Quincunx, The American Boy, Star of the Sea and have enjoyed them all. I am struggling with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell have got to page 100 and am wondering whether I should abandon it now. Anyone out there read it and reckon I should stick with it or could suggest anything like the others I have mentioned.

I'm afraid that I gave up on "One Day", just couldn't get into it and decided that there are so many other books I wanted to read that I wasn't going to waste time on one that I couldn't like

I'm afraid I gave up on Jonathon Strange too, baNANA. It's still sitting on the bookshelf upstairs - it was a present from DS and haven't yet had the heart to take it to the charity shop. I'm with you yogagran nowadays on not continuing reading a book I can't get into.

I read the first chapter or so and now it is relegated to doorstop, where it is doing sterling service. Couldn't get into it.
I am currently reading The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz, It is a Sherlock Holmes story and well done, although occasionally with 21st century tongue in cheek.
He is the writer of Foyles War which is rather good TV crime I think. And lots of children's books.
After reading Crimson Petal I read everything else by Michel Faber
Under the Skin was remarkable and keeps you guessing what is going on for quite a long time (A bit like the gruesome movie Australia - what genre IS this - but in the case of the book, in a Good Way)
Anyone else a fan of Rose Tremain?

Rose Tremain is one of my favourites. I really loved The Colour, set in New Zealand in the time of their gold rush.

I have just discovered Lesley Lokko and am working my way through her books . They are quite lightweight but good to pass an hour or so .

I've got to stop reading these book threads,I keep looking the books up on Amazon and downloading to my kindle, it's costing me too much money!

I'm reading "Magic bus: on the hippie trail from Istanbul to India" by Rory Maclean.

He revisits the places where the hippies went in the 1960s and 1970s. Although I think his writing is overdone I am finding it interesting to read about some of the places I was reluctantly dragged to by my mother in the summer of 1972.

Sadly my mother "lost" my journal or I could have written my own book!

Yes "Annobel" The Colour was a great read and gave me a new understanding of NZ. We once visited a gold mining area in Golden Bay, S Island and you can still see the scars of the mining. Plus an epic walk along a diverted stream... originally for washing gold and subsequently to generate hydro electric.

The Black House was brilliant, and after reading the first few pages of the sequel, Lewis Man, that`s going to be a good `un as well. Am now just starting on Virals, by Kathy Reichs.

In South Island there's also Arrowtown near Queenstown where they have done some reconstruction of the settlement in which the Chinese workers lived. Very interesting, and I thought of that when I read The Colour.

Rose Tremain is one of my favourite authors, every book is different. The Colour was great and also the one about the Polish chap coming to the UK, I have forgotten the title name???
I keep making lists of books to read, either recommendations on here, or newspaper/friends etc. As anybody read any books by Martin Walker, whose detective is based in France? I have just ordered one at the library.
I must read the Midwife book, so many on here have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Funny about Jonathan Strange, it looked so interesting and I just couldn't get into it. Have just finished The Room, which I thought was stunning, before that We need to talk about Kevin, so any recomendations for something a bit less grim? Have finished all the CJ Sansom Shardlake books and hope he is bringing out another soon!

Thanks Quiltinggran, GoldenGran and JessM. At least I know I'm not the only person who couldn't get into Jonathan Strange, although it received quite a number of favourable reader reviews on Amazon. I hate leaving books unfinished, but maybe I shouldn't have gone to it straight from the latest Peter James, Dead Man's Grip, because like his others I'm always hooked from the lst chapter and they usually take me less than a week to read, Jonathan Strange looks like a long haul and life's too short to commit the time to such a long book.

I have just finished reading Crimson China. Overall I enjoyed the story and the style in which it was written. The ending did seem a little rushed, but it was a good book to read at bedtime. Thanks to Gransnet I received a free copy!

I have just finished the Thread by Victoria Hislop. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now so sad that I have finished it. Like her other books, the Island and the Return it puts the human element into appalling historical events. In this case the lives of a number of people throughout the tumultuous events of 20th century Greece.

I am now about to start Crimson Velvet by Betsy Tobin, courtesy of Gransnet -thank you - but before I start I want to spend some time thinking about the issues raised in The Thread.