Reading List for Grown Ups.

[southbucks3]

Thank you guys,

Sodium drops all the chemist had...lots of cold compresses until Tuesday when docs open again, deffo bacterial....nasty gunge! Can you tell I don't get much sympathy at home by the way. feels much better now than it did at 5am.

Kitty mum, it was at cliveden I first realised I wanted to find out about Nancy Astor, I bought a postcard of her there; she was a remarkable woman. Dh keeps promising me a birthday lunch in the house perhaps I shall take him up on it, very decadent though. The whole profumo scandal thing probably makes for a good read too, but I have only watched the excellent tv series....Perhaps a birthday book.

Have loaded a Harlem coben mystery audio book, that son number one bought me at Christmas, into the portable DVD player, so I am still reading....sort of.

Anyone got any British detective series favourites, that are a bit meatier than cozy crime, but not so harrowing that you wake up thinking the tree banging against the window is your local serial killer? Oh, and not too fat either, I am an impatient reader.

[neveragain*]

Anything by Bill Bryson has to be a given, surely?

Great audio books for long car journeys too.

Currently reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Good to have an alternative view of Nigeria from that in the news.

Some great books here. Thanks all.

I loved Americanah and half a yellow sun too!

[Yamin151]

Thank you guys,

Sodium drops all the chemist had...lots of cold compresses until Tuesday when docs open again, deffo bacterial....nasty gunge! Can you tell I don't get much sympathy at home by the way. feels much better now than it did at 5am.

Kitty mum, it was at cliveden I first realised I wanted to find out about Nancy Astor, I bought a postcard of her there; she was a remarkable woman. Dh keeps promising me a birthday lunch in the house perhaps I shall take him up on it, very decadent though. The whole profumo scandal thing probably makes for a good read too, but I have only watched the excellent tv series....Perhaps a birthday book.

Have loaded a Harlem coben mystery audio book, that son number one bought me at Christmas, into the portable DVD player, so I am still reading....sort of.

Anyone got any British detective series favourites, that are a bit meatier than cozy crime, but not so harrowing that you wake up thinking the tree banging against the window is your local serial killer? Oh, and not too fat either, I am an impatient reader.

Can't go wrong with pd James in my opinion. And go back in time and read Wilkie Collins the Moonstone. I much preferred woman in white, but moonstone is a great early detective novel.

[kittymum]

How about The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I didn't get on with the No 1 ladies detective agency (but loved his Akimbo books) but read the first of these when I found it in a holiday house and really enjoyed it (not long and quick read).

[Peridot]

Ooh yummy; what a lovely thread! I love the library - it's a bit like a sweet shop full of old favourites but also with lots of new flavours to try.

I read far too much, and too quickly, so I can generally never remember books' or authors' names. But I can remember a brilliant and satisfying series of Cambridge-based detective novels by Kate Atkinson which I'd thoroughly recommend. There are four books: Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News?, and Started Early, Took My Dog. The Guardian review of the first one read "Her best book yet, an astonishingly complex and moving literary detective story that made me sob but also snort with laughter. It's the sort of novel you have t start rereading the minute you've finished it." Pretty accurate description I'd say.

I also treated myself at Christmas (Book People £4.99 the lot!) to the four Philippa Gregory White Queen novels, after seeing some of the series on TV. She writes particularly good, well-researched historical fiction, often focusing on less well-known women in history. This series is all about the Wars of the Roses and all very well-written, from the perspective of four different female protagonists. I really enjoyed them and now finally understand about what happened with all those Yorkists and Lancastrians and how we ended up with the Tudor dynasty.

[kittymum]

Ooh yummy; what a lovely thread! I love the library - it's a bit like a sweet shop full of old favourites but also with lots of new flavours to try.

I read far too much, and too quickly, so I can generally never remember books' or authors' names.

Me too - I also give all my books away which doesn't help. I decided to remedy this by keeping a list on my phone but seem to have list the list

I read The Shock Of The Fall from start to finish yesterday (very late night) which meant I read far too quickly to do it justice but I couldn't help myself!

[TigerMum]

I also read Jeffrey Eugenides The Marriage Plot last week whilst ill, and I loved that too. I fancy reading more of his now.......

I heartily recommend his "Middlesex", a fantastic read.

Me too - I also give all my books away which doesn't help. I decided to remedy this by keeping a list on my phone but seem to have list the list

Ah, well I spent a very satisfying afternoon scanning our books recently (can you tell that I'm a tad obsessive?!?) using a Book Catalogue app... every book catalogued and accounted for Hopefully this will stop me repeat-buying the same Ian McEwan books.

[Yamin151]

I also read Jeffrey Eugenides The Marriage Plot last week whilst ill, and I loved that too. I fancy reading more of his now.......

I heartily recommend his "Middlesex", a fantastic read.

Me too - I also give all my books away which doesn't help. I decided to remedy this by keeping a list on my phone but seem to have list the list

Ah, well I spent a very satisfying afternoon scanning our books recently (can you tell that I'm a tad obsessive?!?) using a Book Catalogue app... every book catalogued and accounted for Hopefully this will stop me repeat-buying the same Ian McEwan books.

That book app looks useful but we still have to give away most of our fiction (or buy on kindle) as simply run out of room for books, shelves everywhere but with childrens also taking over the house is bursting at seams! I grew up in a house where my parents could, and still can, find another room or corridor for bookshelves (lovely big tumbledown vicarage) so it left me with a hoarding habit, lol!

[TigerMum]

That book app looks useful but we still have to give away most of our fiction (or buy on kindle) as simply run out of room for books, shelves everywhere but with childrens also taking over the house is bursting at seams! I grew up in a house where my parents could, and still can, find another room or corridor for bookshelves (lovely big tumbledown vicarage) so it left me with a hoarding habit, lol!

Yes, we've had a cull recently 'cause we were running out of room. I use that app more to keep track of what I've read (old age is creeping on me and I'm beginning to forget what I have read or not, sigh ) as well as which books we possess. In my fantasy house, I'd never run out of room!

[Yamin151]

That book app looks useful but we still have to give away most of our fiction (or buy on kindle) as simply run out of room for books, shelves everywhere but with childrens also taking over the house is bursting at seams! I grew up in a house where my parents could, and still can, find another room or corridor for bookshelves (lovely big tumbledown vicarage) so it left me with a hoarding habit, lol!

Yes, we've had a cull recently 'cause we were running out of room. I use that app more to keep track of what I've read (old age is creeping on me and I'm beginning to forget what I have read or not, sigh ) as well as which books we possess. In my fantasy house, I'd never run out of room!

On national trust forays I am struck by the waste of their beautiful libraries. All that space filled with locked, dusty, dull but oh so valuable tomes, when it could actually be like water stones in your own house, we'd never speak!!