What are you reading right now?

Ah, thanks, number! I too gave up on Patricia Cornwall, but will have another go now.

When, I liked that one, recommended to me by Gorki. At the moment, I`m reading The Bone Bed, by Patricia Cornwell. She went off the boil for a while, but seems to be coming back a bit now.

I lived on a diet of The Famous Five and Mallory Towers, and graduated to Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. It was only when I reached 15 that I decided to go back and see what I might have missed, but I found I really didn't enjoy children's classics then, either. Now I do, from introducing them to my children and grandchildren, but I enjoy reading them Mr Gum and WhataMess stories so much more!

Just starting the Bookseller of Kabul - it's looking good!

Interlectual Nonu??? Not judging by posts - pretty normal I should have said.
I have just started The Potter's Hand by A N Wilson. A friend heard him speaking at Althorp Book Festival the other week so our book group thought we'd give it a go. Never quite sure about fiction based on real people, but enjoying it so far.

However, the thing of it is that SOME posters are so frightfully interlectual, I get nervous , big Time

I was brought up on Enid Blyton, Johanna Spyri, Frances Hodgson Burnett and other children's authors. Don't think I could have managed Somerset Maugham in my early years!

I did occasionally dip into my father's omnibus edition of Sherlock Holmes stories which he kept in the upstairs loo, though - perhaps that's what gave me my lifetime love of detective novels.

Ella , I know !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lindsey Davis's 'Falco' detective novels, set in the time of the Roman Empire, are entertaining light reading but also give a well researched view of the way of life at the time. It's best to read them in order. Not in Latin. . I enjoy detective fiction and have managed to marry this addiction with a liking for reading about other cultures. I have appreciated the light thrown on the life of women in Saudi Arabia by Zoe Ferraris' books, starting with The Night of the Mi'raj. I've also read a lot of the books by Dana Stabenow which, as well as giving us an engaging sleuth in the form of Kate Shugack, introduces us to the life and culture of Alaska, reminding me of one of my all-time favourite TV series, Northern Exposure. Best read in order.

I thought I was alone, Crazygrandma! I was brought up on A.J. Cronin, Howard Spring, J. B. Priestley, Somerset Maugham, and Evelyn Waugh. I love An Inspector Calls and The Good Companions - in fact, I think it was the mention of The Great North Road that sparked my passion for travel. I was a bit surprised when I mentioned Maugham to the tutor on my Engl. Lit degree course, and he said snootily that he was quite a good second-class writer!

I have learnt a great deal of history from the three novels of Victoria Hislop, which are very well researched.

Agree, Ella! Just as you can still be clever and not enjoy some of the classics...

I'm half way through Ash, by James Herbert. I think it may be the last one he wrote before his death.
It's a horror story,as most, if not all of his were, and I can't put it down!
He makes it all very believable, if you've ever read The Rats, you'll know what I mean

Henetha and Nonu, you can be clever and still enjoy rubbish.

Just finished 'Edie Investigates,' a short story by Nick Harkaway. Next up is 'The Bourne Identity,' by Robert Ludlum.

Thought it hadn`t taken, so clicked again, sorry!!

No Gorki, I`ll have to put it on my list of books to look out for. I`ve just bought 11 from Amazon, that`ll have to do for a while!
I`m still reading Delusion in Death, by J.D.Robb. I`m enjoying it, but still can`t see the reason for it being set in 2060, police methods seem pretty much as now, the only thing different is that instead of mobile, or cell, phones, they have a `link, on which the people talking can see each other.

No Gorki, I`ll have to put it on my list of books to look out for. I`ve just bought 11 from Amazon, that`ll have to do for a while!
I`m still reading Delusion in Death, by J.D.Robb. I`m enjoying it, but still can`t see the reason for it being set in 2060, police methods seem pretty much as now, the only thing different is that instead of mobile, or cell, phones, they have a `link, on which the people talking can see each other.

Numberplease Have you read The Reluctant Fundamentalist by the Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid ? Its ending is even stranger than The Bookseller of Kabul.

Adore Elizabeth Von Arnim and Katherine Mansfield and all that crowd. I also would love to read some chick lit . Henetha can you recommend anything? I was put off by Plum Sykes but would so love something light and cheery. I've just read The Girl who fell from the Sky which is not summertime reading and India Knight's Mutton which was light but irritating and TheConcubine of Shanghai by Hong Ying a bit claustrophobic . Now reading thePreacher by Camilla Lackberg . Must get back to it.

I meant I have a video recorder, not....

I have Michael Wood in his leather bomber jacket [swoon]......

I`ve got the 2 video set of the BBC seies some years back by Michael Wood, about Alexander the Great. It was a wonderful series, but I can`t watch it anymore, as we no longer have a video player

mice . Me too with Michael Wood.

I'll look for the Tom Holland book.

Bags, try Rubicon by Tom Holland. Absolutely the best account of the glory days of Rome and brilliantly written.

Ive been in love with Michael Wood ever since I first saw him on the television! He's a very sound historian too.

Sounds good. I really should read some history. What do you think of Michael
Wood's approach, mice?

Currently re-reading Elizabeth von Arnim's books.