What are you reading now?

I have just started 'Winter Seige' by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman. I am a huge fan of Ariana Franklin's books, and those she wrote initially under her own name of Diana Norman, which are now sadly out of print. This one is particularly poignant as she started it shortly before her death and her daughter, at the request of her family, finished it. It is very sad that such a huge talent is no longer with us. In this story she once again brings the twelfth century to life in a meticulously researched and engrossing tale of war and murder. I actually got it out of the library for DD but she can't have it now until I've finished it!

I`ve just read The House on Cold Hill, by Peter James. It was a bit different to the usual ones I read by him, i.e the Roy Grace stories, this is a ghost story, but it`s a great read, quite creepy. Now reading A Rose Among Thorns, by Rosie Goodwin, set in the 1870s and 80s in Nuneaton, I`m really enjoying it, but the storyline has had me in tears a few times.

I'm rereading My Summer with George by Marilyn French-
She wrote the Women's Room which was one of the best feminist novels I've ever read and quite changed my life as it did for many others. I would not read that again but I like her other books. Our Father - or Mothers and Daughters.( hope I've got the tiltles right)

Cutting For Stone. Written by Abraham Vergehese
Probably my favorite book now, will appeal to anyone who enjoys a well written and cleverly unraveling saga.
I have a medical background and this is also contributory although far from necessary.

Just started reading Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. This was his first book, and looks to have a similar structure to Cloud Atlas which I absolutely loved.

I`m now reading another in the My Story series, this one is Workhouse, set in 1871, by Pamela Oldfield. This has reinforced my belief that workhouses were dreadful places where people ceased to be accepted as people once they were in there.

At the moment am reading The Button Box by Lynn Knight, a fascinating looking at women's lives and culture through buttons. Love Mollie Panter-Downes, have her Goodevening Mrs Craven and Minnie's Room. Her One Fine Day has just arrived and is waiting to be read and her London War Notes is on its way from USA (not many copies available), these will be my holiday reading. Also have on the go Jerry Whites London in the 19th century. Love the Rebus books and am starting from the beginning again with them on my kindle, sitting in the car or waiting room I can get the kindle out and am transported away to Edinburgh!!!!

Usually have 2 on the go
"Murder in the Tunnel" written in 30s I can't remember name of author as I've left the book in the dentists got to collect it next week!
The other is non-fiction "The war that ended peace" by Margaret MacMillan -that's about events lead I g up to WW1 a great tomb of 678 pages so will take a while to get through.

'Sleeper's Castle' by Barbara Erskine. Love all her books even if they are similar to each other. The books are like putting on a comfortable pair of slippers.

Claudia - sorry, just realised I am way out of date!

Claudia - I think Margaret means the print in her paper copy is too small so she prefers it on kindle.

Just finished Thomas Keneally's Napoleon-The Last Island,Such a fantastic writer. It's the story of Bessie Balcombe a girl of 14 who meets Napoleon when he is imprisoned on St Helena. Told by Bessie herself the account of how the meeting affected her and her family is gripping and emotional. A great book.

I am now reading After You, the sequel to Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. Really enjoying it, her books are consistently good. Some of the ways she phrases things remind me of the way Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchey write, must find out if she has any Irish blood in her.

Loved The Leaving of Liverpool. Also have enjoyed Lizzie of Langley Road, by Carol Rivers, and Notes from a Small Island, my first ever Bill Bryson book. Want to read The Road to Little Dribbling next. Have just finished Blood Sisters by Graham Masterton, another gruesome murder story, but loved it. Am now reading Mill Girl, My story, by Sue Reid, written in diary form, supposedly by a young girl in 1842, working in a Manchester cotton mill. It`s bringing back memories of the few months I worked in a mill in the late 1960s, as a cone winder, it doesn`t sound much different to my time there.

re-reading The Other Boleyn Girl & The Bellring Year of the Red Door (upstairs book & downstairs book)

The Dark Secret by Alex Marwood. Took a while to get in to it, found many of the characters too ghastly for words. Glad I stuck with it, enjoying it now.
Used to love Minette Waters BBbevan, not sure if she is still writing.

I`ve just finished High Street, by Anna Jacobs. Apparently it`s the 2nd in a series of 5, I liked it a lot, but won`t bother looking for the 1st one, just look out for the other 3. I`ll be starting on The Leaving of Liverpool, by Maureen Lee, a bit later today.

Found a whole lot of Minette Walters in the loft. So I am going to re-Read those

Half way through the Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson. There are funny bits but he's definitely a candidate for the grumpy old men programme these days.

I've just started reading Andrew Marr's History of the World. I've only swiped over a page or two (it's the Kindle version) and already I've bumped into a sentence which, because of current news, struck home with me instantly: "Because we live in a slightly hysterical democratic culture, which yelps loudly about equality in order to dodge talking about huge gaps in wealth and power, there is a certain nervousness about it". Spot on with slightly hysterical and nervous, Mr Marr.

Where Earth Meets Sky was a lovely read. A bit different from the usual Annie Murray, but still a great read. Set in India from 1905 to 1909, then in various parts of Britain, the descriptions of Indian life at the time of the Raj was interesting, and the mountain villages sounded beautiful. I`m just about to start A Sister`s Courage, by Catherine King.

I`ve just finished The Other Side of the World, my free gift from Gransnet, but am afraid it didn`t really do a lot foor me, apart from making me want to give them both a good shake! I`m now reading Where Earth Meets Sky, by Annie Murray, good so far.

Just finishd the latest Peter James, Love you Dead. I thought this series went off for a while but imo this one was back on form. For all those who are Roy Grace fans, there are some clarifying explanations about "Sandy"

starbird your right I'm on chapter 16 after the Turkish have invaded and I'm starting to enjoy it.

I enjoyed The Sunrise once I got into it, but maybe its not a holiday read. I would definitely recommend The Thread, also by her, but again not a holiday read.
Just finished Diane Chamberlain's. Pretending to Dance, wfhich, like all her books, is thought provoking. Am now reading the perfect holiday read (although I'm at home) - Bill Bryson, The Road to Little Dribbling I loved it to start with and it is full of snippets of information about English places, but I think I might get a bit fed up with before the end, and go back to In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh, which I am enjoying but is a slower read.