What are you reading?

I sell a lot of books on Amazon Marketplace, some for 1p. Those tend to be the more recent, very popular ones -- ones that have sold in Tesco so everyone and their brother already has a copy.

I'm reading Leaving the Saints: One Child's Story of Survival and Hope  By Martha Beck

This is a brilliant book, in which Martha Beck, tells why she left her Mormon upbringing and reveals her secrets of her childhood.  I am only half way through - am finding it very moving !

She also wrote the book, Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Transformation and Unconditional Love

Next on my list will be a Mary Higgins Clark thriller.

I just finished Small Island by Andrea Levy -- about Jamaicans in post WWII Britain. It's a really touching story and the characters were so well-drawn. I loved it!

I read it and was sort of disappointed. There were some amusing passages a about the sisters adapting to country life, but overall I found myself just hating the two of them!

Initially, I thought I might not like the book because of the hunting aspect. However, there was only one description of a kill and it wasn't graphic at all. In fact, there was very little mention of foxes throughout the book. The girls seemed to focus solely on the horses, the riding, the jumping, the socialising, the parties, the camaraderie, etc. -- which leads me to believe that there really is no need for fox-hunting at all. I knew I was right all along!

Right. I finally finished it (started it and took a brief break) and I liked it. Sort of. But I didn't like the girls at all either. In fact I think I was more concerned about the horses all the way through!!!  And I found myself getting a bit irritated at the not-so-subtle "don't ban hunting" undercurrent. I am SO right there with ya, Helen - there isn't a need for fox-hunting because it's apparently 99% socializing and horse talk. They could EASILY spend the day galloping around the countryside with no foxes involved and get just as much out of it. So in a way I'm not sure she accomplished what she wanted (other than making money, another theme I found slightly irritating.)

So in a way I'm not sure she accomplished what she wanted (other than making money, another theme I found slightly irritating.)

I found that annoying, too. I mean, we all know that authors get advances and do well if a book is a best-seller ... but I don't need the whole book to be about that. And these girls seemed to do OK shopping and zipping off for European holidays whenever the mood struck them. I hardly think they needed the money that badly.

I found that annoying, too. I mean, we all know that authors get advances and do well if a book is a best-seller ... but I don't need the whole book to be about that. And these girls seemed to do OK shopping and zipping off for European holidays whenever the mood struck them. I hardly think they needed the money that badly.

Exactly. And I sort of like to think that writers write because they love it and are good at it - not JUST to make money. And I had this sort of uncomfortable feeling that the reader was being made a bit of a fool of - like the only reason she'd even written this book that you just bought was to fund this lark of her sister's....

i'm reading a book called elligance that i got free with a magazine#

it's ok....it's making me want to totally revamp my wardrobe and look though. 

i'm reading a book called elligance that i got free with a magazine#

it's ok....it's making me want to totally revamp my wardrobe and look though. 

Are you reading the fiction book or the 'real' book by the French woman, that the fiction book was based on?

'Elegance,' the novel, by Kathleen Tessaro was the first book I read when I moved here, and I absolutely loved it!
and/or

Read The Kite Runner on my holiday. Fantastic read and very touching. It was an interesting read about life in Iraq pre-Taliban.

Also read Friday Night Lights as i'd seen the movie and loved it. The book was even better and I sat crying to myself at the end..

Also read the latest Anita Shreve novel, the name of which escapes me, but it was very good. And also Jenny Eclair's second book about holidays. It was amusing but just too mean spirited for me to recommend.

Read The Kite Runner on my holiday. Fantastic read and very touching. It was an interesting read about life in Iraq pre-Taliban.

I read this recently as well. I loved it so much, I cried!!

The boyfriend read it and thought the baddie turning out to be from childhood was a bit too coincidental for his believability but I didn't mind..... I found it desperately sad. I was recommended this on that BBC1 reading club they have on after the morning news with Jeremy Vine... Not sure if that is still running or not..

The boyfriend read it and thought the baddie turning out to be from childhood was a bit too coincidental for his believability but I didn't mind..... I found it desperately sad. I was recommended this on that BBC1 reading club they have on after the morning news with Jeremy Vine... Not sure if that is still running or not..

We read it for book club, and some of us did find the plot to be a bit contrived -- way too many coincidences. I agree, but thought that it was sort of like a Greek tragedy (or a bit Shakespearean, perhaps?) in the way the story was structured -- very symmetrical and neat. I also thought that the setting was so topical and current that nothing else seemed to matter too much.

I finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers on Saturday (thanks again, Alicia).  At least I wasn't disappointed; the ending was just as bizarre and abrasive and, somewhat, disturbing as the rest of the book.  I identified with not so much the author's philosophies and opinions, as much as I did, indeed, see myself in so many of his eccentricities and neuroses.  I felt, thoughout a lot of it, a sense of justification, 'Aha!  I am NOT NOT NOT the only one!'  At the least, it was an interesting journey.

I am presently reading By The Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz and am enjoying this more than the last Dean Koontz book I read: Odd Thomas.  I like his descriptive style.  I find him a good story teller, a storyteller with a message; and I always like the balance of toe-curling suspense and laugh out loud humour, especially when it has that brilliant sarcastic, caustic bite to it.  It just seemed with Odd Thomas I was having to push my way through it, while with this one I am being carried along quite nicely, so I can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I am presently reading By The Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz and am enjoying this more than the last Dean Koontz book I read: Odd Thomas.  I like his descriptive style.  I find him a good story teller, a storyteller with a message; and I always like the balance of toe-curling suspense and laugh out loud humour, especially when it has that brilliant sarcastic, caustic bite to it.  It just seemed with Odd Thomas I was having to push my way through it, while with this one I am being carried along quite nicely, so I can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The interplay between Dean's characters Dylan and Shep in that book is fantastic. If you like that one and haven't read "One Door Away From Heaven", please do so. 

The interplay between Dean's characters Dylan and Shep in that book is fantastic. If you like that one and haven't read "One Door Away From Heaven", please do so. 

One Door Away From Heaven is the first Dean Koontz book I ever read, and, I have to say, it's my favourite one, as well.   It was brilliant, funny, beautifully and powerfully touching...and, edge of the seat suspenseful.