What are you reading at the moment

Part way through Kandak by Patrick Hennessey; anyone who enjoyed The Junior Officer's Reading Club will appreciate this next instalment. Here he relates his experiences as a soldier and then as a journalist in Afganistan. Hard work at times, but very topical and interesting

Please could someone suggest a good book to read for someone that finds it hard to read a book all the way through--in other words a really gripping book,, I would so appreciate it because I do envy people that can escapre in this way.. Thank you..

cheelu, you seem to me to be a people person and I somehow think a good saga type book might suit. Susan Howatch wrote some great ones, they're quite old now but I remember reading Penmarric, The Rich are Different, Cashelmara - if you go on Amazon, you'll probably be able to find them for no more than a penny, second hand, plus postage of around £2-3. You'd also find them in charity shops. They are well written family sagas that span generations. I loved them but reading and what you enjoy is so individual. If you've never read her books, Daphne DuMaurier is another author you might like. She wrote Rebecca, a great book that I think you'd love it. None of these are 'heavy', just really good reads that you can get you teeth into.

No doubt others will have ideas.

Someone gave me Sue Townsend's "The Woman who Stayed in Bed for a Year", for Christmas. I hadn't thought I'd like it, but I did. Funny, and sad too. It was quite a quick read (and I read fast anyway) but different. There were echoes of early David Lodge, I thought.

For anyone who likes well researched historical fiction I would recommend the author Sharon Penman. I read Lionheart. Now ploughing through the trilogy that starts with Here be Dragons. All of them long and informative about the 13th C in England and Wales. Am particularly enjoying learning about that period of Welsh history. There are so many "events" in the lives of King John, Llewellyn the Great, their children and grandchildren that the story remains interesting as well as the history. If someone made it up you wouldn't believe it!

Cheelu, try Maeve Binchy. I think any of her stories would suit you very well.

Yes Maeve Binchy and her 'Light penny candle' to start with. If you don't know her books you have a treat in store. She's very readable and for me she is the first choice when I'm in bed with a cold.
Sadly she has just died so there will be no more books and anyway her first ones were the best.

Cheelu you would love Maeve Binchy, but also try Jojo Moyes, Katie Fforde and Joanna Trollope - all very readable and all "feelgood" reads!
I have just finished Virginia Ironside's No I don't need reading glasses! inspired by her blog and it is lovely - every granny would love it!

Also Rosamunde Pilcher books.

Cheelu you could try tackling Gone With the Wind.
It is very long. But a great story. And if you can read that then a normal length book will be easy!
Alternatively try a really good children's book. Lots of us read children's fiction from time to time. eg. A Secret Garden

Cheelu, I've just gone back to Maeve Binchy after many years and am reading Minding Frankie at the moment, she's like a literary version of comfort food. I'm sorry she's passed away now she will be sorely missed.

Talking of reading children's books I've just read a lemony slickett book and hated it. I had thought to give it to my 9 year old DG . Felt it was nightmarish. I'm loving the Harold Fry one not children's I hasten to say -his physical and mental journey I have found moving. I had trouble with the Ann Patchett one State of Wonder. Should I try Bel Canto? If I didn't like the other. So many books so little time

Now I did like State of Wonder, but don't know if I necessarily want to try another. I'd appreciate a recommendation from someone who has read it.

I have recently finished Ann Patchett's 'Run' which I enjoyed but thought that State of Wonder had a more fully realised plot, but the main character, an eleven year old girl, is engaging and wanting to know the outcome for her kept me reading.
A hilarious read is 'The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared'. It's just as mad as its title suggests - anarchic - a literary embodiment of chaos theory!

Perhaps it is because of my current proximity to Portuguese shores, but I am really enjoying a cheap Kindle book called The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco da Gama by author Nigel Cliff.

It's a fictionalised account and the synopsis reads: In 1498 a young captain sailed from Portugal, circumnavigated Africa, crossed the Indian Ocean, and discovered the sea route to the Indies, opening up access to the fabled wealth of the East...the greatest enemy was neither nature nor the fear of venturing into unknown worlds. With blood-red Crusader crosses emblazoned on their sails, the explorers arrived in the heart of the Muslim East at a time when the old hostilities between Christianity and Islam had intensified. In two voyages that spanned six years, Vasco da Gama would fight a running sea battle that would ultimately change the fate of three continents. With the world once again tipping back East, The Last Crusade offers a key to understanding age-old religious and cultural rivalries resurgent today.

So far it's a fascinating read and although I learnt about Vasco da Gama at school in SA (where he stopped in), we did not learn the history from a European point of view. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007ZC23HO?ie=UTF8&ref=oce_digital

I`ve just finished Phantom, by Jo Nesbo, good, but am upset that he`s killed off Harry Hole...............unless I`ve misunderstood? Am now reading Fever of the Bone, by Val McDermid, which was one of a couple of books given to me the other day. I enjoy the TV adaptations of her books, but have only actually read one before this.

Spoiler!!!

OOOOPS, so sorry!

I've finished Barbara Nadel's Dead of Night which I've enjoyed though not as much as those set in Istanbul . This is in Detroit with corruption in police and politics and in the soul as a thread. I started reading her thrillers after a holiday in Istanbul and although sometimes there are crimes which I wish I hadn't known about I love the local colour
Just stared terry Pratchett ,s Bodger and although his immersion into the street life on the London slums is vivid I'm not feeling as involved as I do with his usual fantasy world

You are forgiven, number. By the time I get round to reading it, I'll have forgotten your revelation!

Sorry Anno, I thought I remembered your having read it.

I think I mentioned that I'd read the reviews.

How is Secret Life of Bees going? I'm thinking of reading that.

I am about to start reading The Tempest. Going to see it in May.

Thanks numberplease Just about to start 'Phantom' by Jo Nesbo, Read all the others, but I had left Phantom to the last and looked forward to reading it. Grrrrh