what are you reading at the moment?

[Laurel]

Now I'm finished 'Daphne' which was really good, it's got , wanting to read more about her and also about the Bronte's. So seeing as I haven't got any biographies, I'm re-reading 'Jane Eyre' which I haven't read since I was in my teens - actually like it better 2nd time round!

[[deleted user]]

Oh I love that book - you just can't help getting totally involved in it from the very first sentence.

[Laurel]

Yeah, I can't put it down!

[[deleted user]]

By the way the best biography I've read about the Brontes is the one mentioned by J Picardie in the acknowledgments - The Brontës by Judith Barker it's enormous but fascinating and is about all the Brontes including Patrick and Branwell.

Daphne du Maurier is fascinating isn't she - just as haunted and unbalanced as her characters.

[Laurel]

I've got that one on my wishlist, looks good. I was surprised at the degree she was portrayed as being haunted (Rebecca seemed to have had a huge effect on her in the novel) - I am planning on reading a biography of her and probably her own autobiography soon as was very interested. (just have to make sure I don't get obsessed now!)

[[deleted user]]

yes - and watch out for the sinister men in trilbys!

[Laurel]

Lol!

[Laurel]

OK so am putting the Du Maurier/Bronte obsession to one side for now and reading: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and Graham Greene's The Quiet American.

[[deleted user]]

Love the Quiet American - the Michael Caine film is excellent too.
Finished Daphne which I loved and onto Frost in May by Antonia White about an independently minded young girl attending an old fashioned convent school - only just started it but so far it's excellent.

[Laurel]

Wanted to read that one for a while - look forward to hearing how you like it.

[Hilary]

Still with the still sex obsessed Sabbaths Theater. Interested in how you find In Cold. Blood, Laurel. I thought it was a very interesting and well written book. At the time he implied it was all true but since he has been criticised by the families involved for twisting the facts.

[Laurel]

I'm still quite early on Hilary (everyone still alive-just scene setting), I really like his writing.

[[deleted user]]

Love Frost in May - I totally identified with Nanda who very much reminded me of the young Jane Eyre. In fact the Covent school of the 5 Wounds reminded me of Lowood in some ways - it's not that the children were neglected or physically harmed - but a couple of the nuns appeared to be experts at mental cruelty. I became so involved with the story that it made me really angry at times. An amazing book - need to read the rest of the trilogy of four now.

I should really be reading Belinda by Maria Edgeworth next but I am Not Sidney Poitier -is just too attractive.

[Hilary]

Well, just finished Sabbaths Theater by Philip Roth. If this was the first of his books that I read I suspect it would be the last. It tells the story of a detestable 64 year old, Mickey Sabbath, who is totally obsessed with sex and delights in corrupting women of all ages, but the younger the better. The language and the explicit descriptions of the most unusual and extreme sexual activities was not to my taste to say the least.

The main part of the story details Mickeys growing despair and depression after the death of his equally degenerate lover. It is however, also funny, very well written and a credit to Roth's genius that you do engage with Mickey and indeed have some empathy for his desperate state of mind. It helps that Mickey as well as being obsessed with sex is articulate, energetic and occasionally very wise.

A good read if you like complex, clever characters and don't mind what they get up to!

[[deleted user]]

Yuck, that's one that definitely will not be going on my TBR.
I've further strayed from my Months reading list and have embarked on Margaret Forster's biography of Daphne Du Maurier - fascinating so far. Don't you just love the 1p + p&p books on amazon?

[Laurel]

About halfway through In Cold Blood - really interesting, it does read like a novel.
Am also reading (or at least attempting to read) Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire....I am beginning to suspect that this one might break my brain but am going with it so will see what happens.

[[deleted user]]

Pale Fires on my TBR list but I'm determined to read Lolita first.

[Laurel]

My library has a copy of that biog of Du Maurier - let me know if it's good!
Also have you tried Awesome books? You can get a lot of books for £2.59 with no P&P!

[Laurel]

Hilary - the Philip Roth book sounds interesting but am not sure that particular one would my cup of tea, is there any others of his you would recommend?

[[deleted user]]

@Laurel - thanks, sounds awesome (chuckle) - will definitely be investigating shortly :0)

[Hilary]

@ Laurel I've read three of his books one of which I think is a Boxall, American Pastoral. I also really enjoyed The Human Stain and The Plot Against America. All three are very different from each other and totally different from Sabbaths Theater. He's certainly a very gifted author even Sabbaths Theater was a beautiful piece of writing even though some of the content was too much for me it was totally believable for the character. American pastoral was the first I read and that led me to the others.

[Hilary]

Just finished reading The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes which I started this evening. I just couldn't bear to leave it and fortunately it's not a long book. It was at times a bit above my head so I think I'll wait a while and read it again, but some of the observations really resonated with me. Written in the first person as Tony looks back on his relationship with his school friends and his first girlfriend, we see how unreliable our memories are and how easy it is to hold opinions that are totally flawed because of that. I can't get it out of my mind, it makes me question how confident I can be in my recollection of the past. I can't help but wonder if those much younger than me would have the same response, anybody able to tell me?

[[deleted user]]

Sounds like I need to add that one to my TBR list. Being what my friend tactfully describes as an "older lady" , I'm afraid I won't be able to give you the youthful viewpoint you're after though :0)

[[deleted user]]

Just finished I am Not Sidney Poitier which was just as good as I had hoped it would be - funny. exciting, thought provoking and above all funny.

Mist Over Pendle time now - 2 chapters in and loving it just as much as usual. My copy (published 1976) has an advert for Pearl Insurance ("cover yourself with Pearl") in the middle of chapter 30, just after the word "Witches". To receive, without committing yourself in anyway, full particulars of their "Ten Year Special" plan - you just need to fill in your details on the one side, remove the page (made of cardboard) and post it off to them.
I've never come across a book with an advert in the middle of the text before - has anyone else?

[Laurel]

That's a bit strange! Never seen that either... does it cover you in case you get arrested and tried for being a witch? ;)

[[deleted user]]

Lol! - It certainly seems to be implying that it might - or maybe it covers losses incurred due to witchcraft :0)

[Laurel]

Only reason I could think of for having it in there..... ;) Bit cheeky isn't it sticking it right in the middle of the book?

[Hilary]

I've never come across this either. My copy of Mist over Pendle came yesterday so I am starting it tonight. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Ellie]

I'm reading a 1974 edition from the library. Not noticed any adverts but will let you know!

Three chapters in, and already love Margery and Roger

[[deleted user]]

Yay!

[[deleted user]]

I have to second Laurels recommendation of Awesome Books - I found The Collector Collector for £2.59 including p&p (2nd hand) and could have got Effi Briest for £3.50ish has I not already bought it.

[Laurel]

Great isn't it! I'm reading World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War on my kindle and still lost somewhere in the footnotes to Nabovkov's Pale Fire.

[[deleted user]]

I love a good footnote - the ones in the wonderful Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell would make a book in their own right

[Laurel]

The ones in Pale fire are the vast majority of the book - am just under halfway through.

[Joy]

I've just finished Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult which I galloped through. Easy to read but satisfying too.

[[deleted user]]

Finished Mist Over Pendle and well into Smileys People - trying to make a daily short foray into Mason & Dixon as well.

[Laurel]

I'm reading The Bloody Red Baron to give my brain a rest before I start (finally)Mason and Dixon!

[Hilary]

I'm nearly finished Big Brother by Lionel Shriver- she certainly likes writing about dysfunctional families! It started slowly but I am desperate to finish it and see what happens to them all.

[Joy]

I've just started The Snow Child. Very atmospheric.

[Hilary]

Just finished Big Brother. It's very current dealing with obesity, crash diets and our relationship with food and has a twist at the end which reminded me strongly of how she ended We have to Talk About Kevin. I enjoy her writing as she develops such interesting characters but I always find them impossible to warm to. They always appear to me to be rather cool and detached, but very perceptive of their own faults and rather self critical. It's not anything like as disturbing as Kevin but could hardly be described as light hearted. I still think the Post Birthday World her most enjoyable novel, but what she writes always leaves you thoughtful.

[[deleted user]]

@ Hilary sounds great - I have the Post Birthday World on my kindle - I love the premise of it.

@ Joy - another one in my TBR pile - let me know what you think of it

[Laurel]

Joy- I loved The Snow Child, hope you enjoy it!

Hilary - I think I've been meaning to read We Need to Talk about Kevin for the past million years but still haven't! You've got to be in the right kind of mood for bleak stuff like that haven't you?

[Hilary]

Laurel. Kevin is very well written. I didn't know what it was about when I started it and then couldn't stop reading. It was another one where I stayed up half the night because I had to know what happened. I would definitely recommend it and I don't regret reading it but it introduced me to human traits and behaviour that I found quite frightening, not in a nice scary but fictional way but in a disturbing, stomach churning real life kind of way. It boils up to, for me, a shocking climax followed by real sadness. It's not a book you can forget. I bet I've really put you off it now and I didn't mean to - I would still recommend anyone to read it!!!

[Laurel]

Ha ha, no I'm not put off - I will get round to it eventually.

[Laurel]

Apart from the infamous Mason & Dixon, I am also reading The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes as a lighter read. And I mean that in both senses of the word cos I can't lie in bed reading the Pynchon book as will most likely give myself concussion if I nod off!

[Hilary]

I'm reading A Perfect Spy as my le Carre choice. I've read it at least twice over the years but I had forgotten just how good it is.

[[deleted user]]

that's coming up for me after Smileys People (hope to finish today) and Effi Briest :0)

[Joy]

I've finished The Snow Child which I loved right until near the end. I thought the author created a completely convincing sense of place (the story is set in 1920s Alaska) and I loved the ambivalence about whether the child is real. I stayed up very late several nights because I couldn't put it down. My only disappointment was with the ending. (view spoiler)[ Are we to suppose that Fiana has gone off to live alone in the wilds again, or has gone off to die? I would have been happier with her leading Garrett off with her when spring came. (hide spoiler)] However definitely worth reading.

[Laurel]

Glad you enjoyed it Joy - it is a lovely story even with the slightly disappointing ending. I always thought (view spoiler)[ that she did die, just cos in the original folktales the little daughter of the snow melts at the end (I think) (hide spoiler)]

[Joy]

I'm reading The Perfect Puppy . I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but decided I needed a refresher course in bringing up baby!