What books are you reading and why?

Anything that is downloadable for free onto my Kindle, particularly romcom or comedy private investigator stories!

I’ve just started The Moon Sister and still have The Sun Sister to go before the new one comes out. I love this series too.

I had Hungry, Grace Dent’s autobiography, for Christmas. The brave and touching memoir of a young woman who strove to achieve her goals in life. Besides the support of her parents she had few advantages but her determination took her a long way from the North East.
I asked for A Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson, a novel based on the lives of expats living and loving on Hydra in the early ‘60s. Descriptions of the island are stunning but ultimately the fates of many of the residents, and of their children, left me sad. Leonard Cohen comes out as one of the good guys, better guys I should say perhaps. There’s an extensive bibliography so plenty more to read.
I haven’t yet begun Barack Obama’s A Promised Land or Rupert Everett’s To the End of the World, Travels with Oscar Wilde.

I’ve decided to reread three of Sarah Morgan’s series; The Puffin Island trilogy, From Manhattan with Love series and Snow Crystal trilogy. Good story lines, plenty of romance and easy reading.
Many thanks to a poster on here I’m also rereading all my Gladys Mitchell murders, but they stop me from sleeping, so they’re good in the afternoon.

I'm two thirds of the way through Secrets of the lighthouse by Santa Montefiore, but also reading Captain Tom, my autobiography and Silent Nights - Christmas mysteries which are a collection of short stories from the British Library Crime Classics. I've got Barack Obama's A promised Land to read after these, along with the one by Michelle Obama - both were Christmas presents, so quite a few books to keep me occupied for these coming weeks.

I keep downloading novels which are free on the Times website, which they tell me are bestsellers but too often are badly written yawnfests. Same for the free book every month on Amazon Prime. I need to stop being a cheapskate and pay for something that’s actually worth reading.

Started reading A Diary of Two Nobodies by Mary Killen and Giles Wood. They appear on Gogglebox. I’m about a third of the way through and really enjoying it. I did read it into the early hours of this morning and did have a couple of laugh out loud moments, as it’s quite amusing
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Just finished ‘A Darker Domain’ by Val McDermid, and have read a little bit of ‘The Skeleton Road’ by her. Doesn’t look so good, but I find her books take a while to get into.

I see that ITV is going to have a Karen Pirie series coming out, we’ll see how they portray Val’s Cold Case Detective.

Marcia willet books easy to read and lighthearted.

I have just read The Girl behind the Gates by Brenda Davies. Based on a true story about a young woman admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1939 as a 'moral defective'. Very interesting for me as I worked in such a hospital in the 60s. The author is a psychiatrist and its her first book.

I thought Skeleton Road was a good book Calendargirl better than some Val McDermid has written.

Hide and Seek by M J Arlidge. One of my charity shop buys and I seem to have come in at book 6 of the Helen Grace stories. I’m enjoying it very much - it’s not taxing and it’s fast-moving, and I love a book with short chapters!

I’m supposed to be reading the first Seven Sisters book for my reading group. I can see others loved these books, as did the reading group members who suggested it, but I’ve had two attempts now to get into it and just find the whole set up of mysterious, pampered and glamorous adopted sisters with daft names preposterous. Which is saying something when I’m reading about a sadistic murderer in Holloway sewing up his victims’ orifices.....

Finished ‘The Skeleton Road’ yesterday, yes it got much better as I read more.

Just started ‘Troubled Blood’, after only a few pages think I am hooked.

I usually love reading but during lockdown not so much. Wondered if it was because not reading for pleasure but because you need to fill some time. Read C.J. Sansome's Tombland just before lockdown. It got mixed reviews but I thought it was very good. At the moment I am reading a Stephen Booth in the Fry and Cooper series. Like these because they are set in the peak district and because I use to walk the area, I can relate to the places he writes about. Hoping it gets me back in to reading more again

Skallagrigg is your user name the title of a book ?

I finished “Pandora’s Jar” by Natalie Haynes, and enjoyed the different perspective on women in Greek mythology. She’s an entertaining writer.
I have also finished “Shuggie Bain”. I nearly gave up on it three chapters in, it was so bleak and depressing, but it sucks you in and you can’t leave it alone. At the end I felt scoured. It’s a dazzling piece of writing for a first novel, and deserves its Booker Prize.
Next book? “The Darkest Evening”; another of Anne Cleeves’ “Vera” novels.

The Ladykiller by Martina Cole
My goodness what a good book. Read others of hers which I loved. This is an old one 1992 I believe. Mystery thriller, very graphic and awful but so good. Gets in the mind of the killer so skilfully

Yes indeed it is The Skallagrigg by William Norwood. It is excellent and I have read it twice over the years. They did try making it for t.v. once but it was not a patch on book. Had the giz a job guy in it from boys from the black stuff. Sorry name escapes me.

Skallagrig that is my favourite book ever. Beautifully written but very harrowing.I
I also enjoyed the tv film.
Bernard Hill is the actor you are thinking of. It also had Ian Drury and Richard Briers and John MaCardle in the cast.

I'm reading 'Music A Subversive History' by Ted Goia which was a Christmas present from DS1. Covers a wide range of history, lots of interesting facts put together to make a thought provoking good read.
I normally alternate reading a stretch of a serious tome with some fiction as a lighter read. In this case Music was the lighter read because my fiction choice was Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'...father and young son trudging through a snowy post-apocalyptic America trying to avoid the very bad guys and half starving as they struggled to find food. A really grim tale that a solo person in lockdown perhaps shouldn't be reading but I couldn't put it down and lay awake thinking about it at night. But it was also a wonderful tale of a father's love and care for his son and so beautifully written. It won McCarthy the Pulitzer Prize.

Skallagrig by William Horwood is one of my favourite books too! I’m also enjoying his Hyddenworld series, just got one left to read. I’m currently reading Tidelands by Philippa Gregory, set during the English Civil War, which appealed to me as it was the period I studied for A level History many years ago and remember really enjoying. This is different to many of her books as it’s about ordinary people rather than kings and queens.

I read Skallagrig a long time ago and it has always stuck in my mind, great story, I've not seen the film though.

The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin, VERY slowly because I have no little concentration these days.

I am reading A Single Thread by Tracey Chevalier. I really enjoyed Girl with a Pearl Earring and Remarkable Creatures. I think TC is a great writer who really makes you care about the characters. I'm quite enjoying A Single Thread but am finding it slightly depressing. I hope the main character has a bit more luck as the story progresses.

Just been reading back through this thread - wonderful book recommendations- thanks everyone!
I’ve recently downloaded The River by Helen Bryan, it’s just come out and is the third in the valley trilogy. So many books have passed through my brain since I read the first two that I’ve gone back to the beginning. So I’m currently reading The Valley - eighteenth century London/Sussex/Virginia.

GagaJo, I thought The Three Body Problem brilliant but it is a long slow read. It must be a fiendish job translating it from Mandarin. Liu Cixin is up there with the best sci-fi writers, I’ve read other of his works too but The Three Body Problem is best I think.