What are you reading now 2

I’m reading coming home by fern britton at the minute I’m really enjoying it !!!

In addition to those mentioned above I can recommend Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household - just finished for the second time. A fast moving adventure following the main character as he tries to evade the secret service of a foreign power after an attempted assassination of their leader.
Again I would also recommend The Belle Fields and its sequel Ashes of Roses by Lora Adams. Very good reads for those interested in Victorian and Edwardian romance -fast moving, descriptive and moving - enjoyed very much a couple of times. Good reading!

I've just read The Dry by Jane Harper. It's a crime novel set in Australia and it kept appearing on those 'Recommended summer reading' lists in the media. I spotted a pristine copy in a charity cafe, mine for a small donation!

I've also enjoyed My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal, the story of a small boy taken into care around the time of the wedding of Prince Charles and Di.

Ghost Moths by Michele Forbes is a quiet and moving read, set in N Ireland and flipping between 1949 and 1969, observing the results of a woman's decision, made in the earlier year.

Yes Terri can’t think why I haven’t already read it!
I have the above books on my Kindle waiting for me after I finish The Cruel Sea( a hardback from 1953).
I have been reading various books by David Mitchell this last year, a very good author.

lemon one of my sons goes on and on about the "The Man in High Castle" by Philip K Dick a genius novel I'm told.

I'm reading "A Rising Man" by Abir Mukherjee . Set in India in 1919, Captain Sam Wyndham, First World War veteran and recent widower arrives in Calcutta to take up a post in the city's police force. I am halfway through he is in the midst of investigating a murder of a senior British official against a backdrop of the run up to the final years of the empire, the mounting discontent of the indigenous population against the British ruling elite. A debut novel, enjoying it so far.

I’ve just started reading pompeii by Robert Harris I’ve never read anything by him before. Looks promising. All the talk of Nevil Shute inspires me to re read his books. He’s an author I can’t recomme enough. Do read him if you get the chance.

Next on the list to read is Ink In The Blood by Hilary Mantel,
The Man In The High Castle by Philip K Dick and
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.

Am presently re-reading an old book, The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat.
I had forgotten how very well written it is, set during WW2
About a corvette The Compass Rose, and her crew as they
Go about their convoy guarding duties and the ever present
Menace of the UBoat wolfpacks.
The characters are so well rounded that you feel you know
them.

I am now on my tenth Ellie Griffiths book this year, only two more to go and I will have caught up with her writing. Those of you who love Nevil Shute, could I join your gang please. Like DannyRae my favourite book ever is A Town Like Alice though they are all wonderful. TerriBull’s recommendation of “The Hearts Invisible Furies” sounds very good, definitely putting that on my list.

Some interesting recommendations here. I’ve put some on my “wish list”.
I’m loving “Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman. Compelling story.

As mentioned by Flossie above, I too have just finished "The Hearts Invisible Furies". I can't wax lyrical enough about this book, I think I was about half way through when I thought to myself this is not just a good book, it's a great book and for me will join the dozen or so best evers I have read over the course of my life. Set between 1945 and 2015, mainly in Ireland, but it does shift to Amsterdam and New York in the second half, ultimately returning to home territory. It begins with Catherine a 16 year old girl who is cast out of her home town by the parish priest for becoming pregnant. The narrative unfolds through her child, Cyril, who is adopted by a wealthy, worldly couple. The book takes us through his life where during his growing up years. he struggles with his sexuality against a backdrop of a society ruled by a fiercely judgemental and unforgiving religion in cahoots with a political establishment that sweep their double standards under the carpet right through to a more tolerant and accepting Ireland, almost too late for those of Cyril's generation. Essentially it's about love and loss and the human condition, it made me laugh and it made me cry. It's a book that will stay with me. The best I've read in several years, probably since The Goldfinch, again it's quite long some 700 pages, but zipped through it in 4 days or so when the snow had us house bound. The length of a book is immaterial when it's so engaging in contrast to one that isn't, where even a couple of hundred pages can be too long. The author John Boyne, also wrote "The Boy In Striped Pyjamas". I will consider myself lucky if I read anything as good as this anytime soon.

I love Nevil Shute books - my all time favourite book ever is "A Town Like Alice". I found "Requiem for a Wren" so sad as I was longing for the ending to be much happier. I think I will get "The Pied Piper" for my Kindle because it's about an era that I enjoy reading about.

The Hearts Invisable Furies, by John Boyle. Marvellous book, and well recommended spanning 60 years of a gay man born in Ireland, and his life. But much much more.

Just enjoyed (again) The Belle Fields and the recently published sequel Ashes of Roses by Lora Adams. Anyone into romantic fiction with very descriptive writing will soon get into these and be transported to another time when our grandparents were young! You might try a unique poetry book as well if that's your thing. Say Kangaroo by Five Sisters had me remembering my childhood - some poems very nostalgic, some very funny and others quite 'deep'. All available for Amazon Kindle for a few pounds each or if you prefer are available in paperback - good reading - enjoy

I'm reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.

The first 50 pages annoyed me but the story has improved since then and I was laughing out loud in bed last night.

I am reading "Too Brief A Candle: A True Crime in a Home Day Care". But tbh I wouldn't recommend it because it seems to be written in random order with no notice of when the timeline is changing. I think she's written it in the order of the evidence as it came up in court, then tagged her own knowledge of the family background onto the bit where the relevant bit of evidence came up - so it's a mishmash of the childhoods of parents and grandparents and what they are doing and feeling now etc etc

I took a book a friend passed on when I went on a hotel break. The Obsession by Nora Roberts was a great read. I so enjoyed it and have now passed it on to another friend.

I’m reading Game of Thrones in conjunction with watching the boxed set. I never thought I would enjoy this genre as it’s not really my thing. However I’m totally engrossed in this fantasy world. I don’t think I could read the book without watching the series as there are so many different plots and characters are all interwoven. I took the book on holiday so had a good run at it, it’s a big book!

I've just finished reading "Fragile Lives" by Stephen Westaby, the memoir of a heart surgeon. I found the author as protagonist to be a fascinating and engaging character who brought the highs and lows of working as a pioneering heart surgeon, vividly to life. I became so involved that - after having read the book - I Googled the author and watched several video clips so that I could get to know him better, so to speak. A particularly interesting clip was one of a reunion between him and a young woman whose life he had saved as a baby - with her clinically dead on the operating table, he went back in having walked away, to have one more go at her broken heart. Rivetting. I also found the technical descriptions of the mechanics of the heart and the devices to fix it when it goes wrong, interesting.

I love my Kindle. I've downloaded entire works of various authors. I love the 19th century authors and am almost finished reading Mark Twain's. So much more than Tom Sawyer. He was very observant, witty, compassionate, scathing, poignant. There is always something in te books and lives of 19thC authors that resonates in our lives, ion the world as it is today. Twain talks of how the telegraph was bringing world events to cities all over the world so quickly and whether that was always a good thing. Imagine his thoughts on the internet!

annsixty I remember the title but can’t quite remember the storyline. Like you what I do remember is his gentle way of writing. I’m even more tempted to re read him now.

I'm reading 'Lifting the Latch' by Sheila Stewart, based on the life of Mont Abbott of Enstone in Oxfordshire. It's probably a book which would appeal to a niche group of readers but as my family history is based on that area I am finding it fascinating.

I'm reading Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. It's most enjoyable, set in 18th century New York.

My first Neville Shute was Trustee from the Toolroom, a very gentle but satisfying book. I reread it about a year ago after I had heard an adaptation of one of his books as a play on Radio 4. I liked it just as much.