Oh, for a book....

[bobleponge]

But equally the positive side of recommending books is that it surely opens ones eyes to books that perhaps one hadnt ever heard of, and wouldnt have ever thought of reading.
The one recommended by Rhona is certainly not one that I would ever have thought of picking up, and yet I'm fascinated by it. Different from anything I've ever read before, I'm not sure if I'm enjoying it or not, but I certainly cant stop reading it.
Whilst I would agree that we are all different and thus of course we will all have different tastes, I certainly dont ever see a problem with recommending books as it opens my eyes to all sorts of titles otherwise destined to remain unheard of by myself.

[witchwoo]

i love reading, as being deaf its easier than trying to lip read and read subtitles on the tv lol so i use the library getting 20 books at a time they know me well lol i like the harry potters and and mainly fantasy ie dragons, elves, vamps etc all though i will dip into anything

[zazen999]

The problem with recommending books is we all have different tastes/reasons for reading. I am nother 'escapist' reader, so the further it is from 'real life' the better I tend to like it, hence PERN (and other McCaffery), Pratchett, Larry Niven, Tom Holt, and others, but I also enjoy detective stories (if well written, and when I'm in the mood for it) so Dick Francis, Ngaio Marsh, etc. I certainly don't read much non-fiction except as reference.
I have occasionally read a book the critics loved, and never found any of them very interesting, so now the more a book is pushed in that way the surer I am to avoid it (hence the 'the girl who...' trilogy will NOT be on my reading list).
Before you can recommend books to someone, you need to know which books appeal to both of you.....

Hence why I asked why creamteez was saying 'oh come on' as if it was the 'oh come on' in terms of suspending your belief or disbelief - then some of the books I read would not be at all suitable.

Whilst I'm here.

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Don't bother. No idea how this book won the Booker Prize. Nonsense nonsense nonsense.

[Florence Fennel]

Rather than a book club, would it be better just to do a mini review/recommendation on this thread of the most recent books we have read? Just a suggestion.

[zazen999]

We could try a book club for a couple of months.....a separate July Book Club thread - and see how it goes....

It's the expense and the time involved though - but if it was old books included as well as new then there's a fair chance people will have some on their bookshelf already.

[SarzWix]

I loved 'Labyrinth' but wasn't so keen on 'Sepulchre' that she did next.

Heartily recommend anything by Kate Atkinson. Just finished reading 'When Will There Be Good News?', part of the 'Case Histories'/Jackson Brodie series.

Now just starting Bernard Cornwell's King Alfred series, having absolutely loved the Arthur series.

[zazen999]

Heartily recommend anything by Kate Atkinson. Just finished reading 'When Will There Be Good News?', part of the 'Case Histories'/Jackson Brodie series.

Hmm.......Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie.

[Yes, I read the books first but hmmmmm...Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie].

Ahem; must dash

[Two_Sheds]

Heartily recommend anything by Kate Atkinson.

I thought I'd like her, but I just can't get into her books. I managed to finish Long Walk Took My Dog but I couldn't remember what was happening from one page to the next


How To Be a Woman is next on my list, it's getting great write-ups (and I love Caitlin Moran anyway- if she had a column in the Mail I'd still read her. Well, maybe)

[Two_Sheds]

.one of my favourites is Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.

Nah, couldn't get into it. I'm reading his A Week in December at the mo because OH said it was awful ... it's "okay" so far. Just okay though, not interesting or good

[Two_Sheds]

Cloud Atlas is another book I just couldn't get into.

Me neither. Dull dull dull (so was Life of Pi)

[SarzWix]

What about Kate Morton? 'The House at Riverton', 'The Forgotten Garden' and 'The Distant Hours'? None of them hugely challenging but all have a bit of a mystery being solved throughout, and no sickly romance.

[Creemteez]

It is weird, isn't it, how someone's "life-changing-book-they-couldn't-put-down-fantastic-read" is someone else's "lose-it-under-the-bed-can't-be-bothered-to-finish-it-bore-fest"!
Just goes to prove that we are a complex and varied species,eh?

[Kiwi_Soph]

What about Kate Morton? 'The House at Riverton', 'The Forgotten Garden' and 'The Distant Hours'? None of them hugely challenging but all have a bit of a mystery being solved throughout, and no sickly romance.

I LOVED the first two. Struggling a bit with the Distant Hours but could be because I have about three books on the go! But yes, the first ones are always high on my list for people who like the likes of The 13th Tale and even The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood; another great book).

When I was working in a bookshop in New Zealand we stocked Kate Morton's books - but the book that is called 'The House at Riverton' in the UK was called 'The Shifting Fog' at home. I wish it was that here - it is such a lovely, yearning, mysterious, lost title (much like the book).

[Florence Fennel]

What about Kate Morton? 'The House at Riverton', 'The Forgotten Garden' and 'The Distant Hours'? None of them hugely challenging but all have a bit of a mystery being solved throughout, and no sickly romance.

Here comes that frog again. It's quite sometime since I read all three and then took them to the charity shop. I remember really enjoying them. I must have, to read one and then another two by the same writer.

[Florence Fennel]

Ok, so books arrived Friday and I have finished Water for Elephants. In my opinion, it must make a better film, because I wasn't impressed with the read.