What Are You Reading? May 2013

princess · Post by **princess** » Mon May 20th, 2013, 5:04 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]I really enjoyed Alias Grace.[/quote]

I'm enjoying it so far

emr · Post by **emr** » Wed May 22nd, 2013, 6:05 am

Cezanne's Quarry by Barbara Pope. I like it so far.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Wed May 22nd, 2013, 11:03 pm

The Servant's Tale by Margaret Frazer

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed May 22nd, 2013, 11:24 pm

Return of a King (NF) by William Dalrymple, a fascinating look at the personalities and circumstances leading to the disastrous (for the British) First Anglo-Afghanistan War and very topical in connection with the evolution of the current situation in Afghanistan.

As far as fiction is concerned, when considering the ongoing military experience in Afghanistan in relation to the past, it's hard to go past Wallace Breem's The Leopard and the Cliff, set during the Third Anglo-Afghanistan War.

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Thu May 23rd, 2013, 12:45 pm

Taking a short break from HF to read Gillian Flynn's works. If you want a dark, intelligent, probing read I can highly recommend GONE GIRL. It's one of the most inventive and dynamic insights into the human condition since LORD OF THE FLIES.

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Thu May 23rd, 2013, 1:17 pm

I think there are some discussions about Gone Girl somewhere on this site. I read it recently as it was BOTM for another group I'm in, and most of us hated it! Part of the problem was that we thought that the main characters were so unlikeable it was difficult to care what happened to them, and I thought it also got more and more far-fetched as it went on. I guessed the plot twist/reveal about halfway through, and thought it just seemed to run out of steam after that - a good idea, but one I found difficult to sustain, convincingly, throughout the novel. Glad you liked it, it's certainly got people talking!

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Fri May 24th, 2013, 1:16 am

Lord Vanity by Samuel Shellabarger. Action-adventure that goes from 18th-century Venice, to Bath, to the fall of Quebec and ending in Paris.
It was recently re-released as an ebook, and somehow Amazon knew I would be interested. How do they do that?

Still holding up as well as ever. That's a relief--so few re-reads from my teen years do.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Fri May 24th, 2013, 8:51 am

I'm now reading The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Fri May 24th, 2013, 11:03 am

Half way into The Golem and Jinni now by Helene Wecker - I haven't enjoyed a book so much in ages. Definitely one for the keeper shelf if the second half is as good as the first.
Lord of the Flies is on my 'Books I cannot abide' list, so I don't know if I'd go for Gone Girl. I'd still be curious enough to have a look and see. Perhaps one for the library.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat May 25th, 2013, 7:14 pm

I've just started Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire.