EASY QUESTION: What are you reading at present?

Last week I started American Psycho but certainly won't be finishing it. I have respect for Bret Easton Ellis but this book was way too much for me. I read less than 100 pages but was just so repulsed and sickened I couldn't carry on. I have now started Any Human Heart by William Boyd which I'm enjoying much more, though I have only read a small amount.

Have just read Bye Bye Baby by Caroline Sullivan, who used to be the rock critic for the Guradian. It's the story of her teenage obsession with obscure Scottish pop act The Bay City Roller. Disturbing but fascinating. I'm know reading All The Trouble In The World by PJ O'Rourke.

Reginald's Hill's Dialogues Of The Dead (I'm trying to write a crime novel; I want to see how it's done by the pros) James Herbert's Once (Mighty irritating book but I continue) Gogol's Dead Souls - dazzling in its' brilliance. Now that's WRITING! I always have a few on the go but sadly, that maxim only applies to my literary life......

Equality by RH Tawney. Strange but true.

Zazie in the Metro but I'm more interested in the Word Virus book. Did you get the edition that comes with a CD of Burroughs' reading?

Oh Gawd. OK, well....for light relief "Decifer" by Stel Pavlou, but for sheer enjoyment at the moment, the new edition of the William Tyndale (original spelling) "The newe Testament": "Hyt fortuned as he went, that he entred into a certayne toune. And a certayne woman named Martha, receaved hym into her housse. And this woman had a sister called Mari, which sate at Jesus fete, and herde Jesus preachynge: Martha was combred about moche servynge....." Even for an agnostic like me, there is a magicality to the language which is mesmerising.

I'm reading 'Born Free' by Laura Hird (cheers Mark!) which is excellent, and so familiar... Wolfgirl, what's irritating about James Herbert's Once? Haven't read it myself, but I'm a sucker for Herbert and have always liked his stuff, except the last few which have had the feeling he is repeating himself. Callum

al kennedy's "everything you need" ... a strange combination of breathtaking writing and an inability to keep me reading ... "emergency kit - poems for strange times" (eds. jo shapcott and matthew sweeney) ... this is the BEST anthology of poetry i have had my hands on in a long while ...

'Bruno's Dream' by Iris Murdoch, which I'm loving. Gotta read it for next semester of uni. I'd only read one of hers before, 'The Bell' I think it's called, which I really enjoyed but found a little stuffy. 'Bruno's Dream' has totally turned the few opinions I had, of Iris Murdoch's writing from that book, around. The way she writes is fantastic, and I'm constantly in awe of her style and ideas.

Life & Death In Eden, by Trevor Lummis. It's about the aftermath of the mutiny on the Bounty, and the "idyllic" community that was established by some of the mutineers and their new wives on a small island... just started it. I love stuff about Captain Cook and that era. Imagine being the first Westerner to chart the Pacific.... *drifts off into island living reverie* Wolfgirl - press on! Your first chapter was ace.

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, the first of the trilogy, and it's excellent. I was given it for my birthday with the advice that it's an adult Harry Potter. I'm on page 75 and thoroughly enjoying it. I'll let all know how it pans out.

"Riverrun" by S.P Somtow: I can't put it down.. it's absolutely wicked. It's not everybodies cup of tea like.. but definately mine. It's the sort of book that's right up my street. It's starting to effect my dreams man, I'm dreaming about the characters and the places; and I'm also starting to imagine it could be real.. it's one of those books that messes with your head. A bit like the literary equivalent of L.S.D. It gets you questioning reality, and wondering what reality is. The story contains all kinds of things like: parallel universes, quantum mechanics, vampires, weredragons, messiah's(truthsayers), the underworld, myths, native American Indians, psychology, fantasy, horror - it's ace. Is a tad dark.. but I love that too, I like reading dark stuff. Is one of the best books I've read in yonks. Is really absorbing, I've been staying up way too late at night, sitting in bed reading it, it's depriving me of sleep; it's really hard to put the book down and shut my eyes. I keep flicking my bedside lamp back on to read another chapter. I'm getting worried cause I'm getting close to the end now, and I don't want to reach the end, I want it to carry on for ages. I often feel sad when I finish a good book, it's like saying goodbye to a friend or something. I ussually spend a day getting over that sentiment before I start my next book. Is a strange feeling reaching the end of a book, you've got there and feel satisfied about that; but you kinda miss it when it's gone. "Riverrun" won't be to everyone's liking though. Some people on abc will probably loathe it. But me I love it.. *** Yeah I've got "Northen Lights" by Philip Pullman too Karl. I haven't read it yet tho; but it's the next book on my list to read. It's supposed to be really good. Everyone who I've spoke to whose read it says it's brill.

Umm I truly have not given Once a chance but I will go on and let you know......It is the way in which it is written that grates.....a little pretentiously.....I too have read other Herbert's.....

I haven't had a look at Once yet, is it first person? Herbert has recently (well, his last few books) been using first person for the first time since...Fluke I think, and it doesn't seem to suit his style as well as third person.

Underworld, by Don Delillo. It was a book I bought ages ago and thought that I would mature into it. I took a dive into it and read the first 650 pages. Good, but a little dull at times. I have a feeling it's just going be too long for what it is.

No, Once is not in first person and I think I agree, Herbert is not best suited to it.

I've just finished Ethel & Ernest, Raymond Briggs' loving tribute to his parents (now deceased.) An affectionate look at two ordinary English lives being lived out during an epoch of great tension and struggle. Loved it!

Pete,is Ethel & Ernest similar to When the Wind Blows? That's brilliant, for the same reasons. Justyn, it's not the Word Virus with the CD but I have got some great Burroughs readings on tape. Have you heard 'Piper pulled down the sky'? It's burroughs and a big jazzy orchestra and it's superb. I've got him doing 'The End of Words' from 'The Western Lands' with a kind of dubby track with islamic chanting, which is top too. Have you heard the track he did on one of Laurie Anderson's albums? Again brilliant. Gingermark, have a read of 'White Noise' by Delillo, that is brilliant... And specifically about dullness and emptiness... Callum, told you you'd like 'Born Free'. See how much I've nicked from it? Wolfgirl, I've not read any James Herbert since The Rats and Liar when I was in my early teens. I do confess that I really like horror set in contempory britain but I've found a lot of people who do it better...

I just got done reading Jules Vernes' "Around the world in eighty days" and also his "A journey to the center of the earth". The former is very good, a fascinating adventure story. The latter is okay. It's interesting to read a piece from a historical period that's not that great. I mean, you see a lot of differences from our time. But you don't have this feeling that you're reading an immortal work, something that will continue to be read in five hundred years. You're just reading someone's thoughts that haven't quite drifted out of print yet. And you have to deal with all of the distortion that a couple hundred years creates. For the record, though, I like to read old writing because I'm disgusted with the last few ages, on the whole.

"Nine Princes In Amber" by Roger Zelazny. The book is the first in the Amber series. It is well written and is basically fantasy. It works on two levels for me: the first level is the story an adventure in this strange world of Amber where honour and respect matters and the characters within make alliances with each other. The second level is personal. The book is out of print and quite rare to find. I think you can get it secondhand if you look hard enough though.

'Born Free' is superb, Mark, no doubt about it, very inspiring and forces me to look back at my own family life, if only to reflect rather than as a source for future writing. Herbert is my favourite horror writer, but I guess if originality is what you're after, maybe Stephen Laws, from you're part of the world Mark, is someone to check out - 'Macabre' and 'Daemonic' especially. But Herbert sets the benchmark when it comes to British horror, maybe not with his recent stuff, but his previous work stands up to the test of some very cheesy, gore-mongering stuff from the likes of Shaun Hutson.

Andrew Rawnsley "Servants of the people", it's about the rise to power of blair and co, but it reads like a novel...back biting, treachery, love, sex, failure, success....a must read...

Martin, 'Servants of the People' is really good, I got it in hard back from a mate for Christmas when it first came out. have you got the updated edition? Love the fact that even on the plane down to London, Blair refused to admit that they'd won.

Niagra Falls Again - Elizabeth McCracken Five Boys - Mick Jackson Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

Servants of the people is on my shelf. I might get it down for the summer.

did elizabeth mcCracken do a collection of shorts called Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry???

yes mark, the updated (cheaper than hardback) version, takes the story of new labour up to the rise and fall again of mandy...

Yes, Haddock. Haven't read the stories, though. Her previous novel, The Giant's House, was excellent. Ahem. The full title of her new novel is: Niagra Falls All Over Again. Sorry about that.

I am reading Charlotte's Web to my kids

ah tom ... i loved the stories ... also read the giants house which i really enjoyed too ... will give this one a go ...

As per summer reading thread I'm still on the Cool Six Thousand by James Ellroy. I've bought three of the books recommended though in the summer reading list (from the Book Place!) and will report back on them in due course. In the meantime, peeps, give that Ellroy a go! AND BUY THEM AT THE BOOK PLACE!!!

Reading: Herculine Barbin : Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth Century Hermaphrodite Re reading: Anything by Ivor Cutler - love his micro poems Trying to read: Zadie Smith : White Teeth Want to read: Phillip Pullman's trilogy - the whole world seems to be raving about him

give up on white teeth ... but definitely read the pullman trilogy ...

...am buying it tomorrow..the excitement's getting too much for me...

white teeth was unreadable for me... have just finished David Baddiels 'whatever love means' and am now reading Brain Pattens 'Armada' (yes, again) and Susan Coolidges ' what katy did' its the only english book in the flat, but it brings back memories, i loved it as a kid... always thought that cousin Helen was a terribly tragic and romantic character...

couldn't be doing with white teeth either...don't know why it was praised so much...

Markbrown, I've got several Burrough's spoken word CDs and tapes, but he recorded a lot of stuff that's not necessarily collected. Anyway, my personal favorite is "The Junky's Christmas." It's a classic.

behind the bar at work i've got a biography of mark and brix smith's marriage on tour with the fall, think it's called "hex hour" or something along those lines; lattimore's definitive greek tragedies; a lou reed biog. seem to be going thru a biography fad at the moment, there's nothing out there right now i'd want to read that is fictional. look at all this new stuff right now, and it's getting like the music industry: volume and packaging. expand and overrate, like the strokes, like ian banks.

The Abortion by Richard Brautigan. Read it! It's magnificent. A great antidote to the equally magnificent but totally different 'Cool Six thousand' by james Ellroy. Read the Nicole Barker book about 'Outer Hope' (forgotten the whole title) in between and loved that too- go the suggestion from our summer reading thread. pip pip

White Teeth without a doubt the most overrated book of the last ten years - my chief problem with it being that she loathed her characters. If the author doesn't have fondness or at least grudging respect for them, why should I be interested enough to spend two hours of my life with them? I don't think anyone will go too far wrong with Pullman's Northern Lights, worth reading just for the concept of daemons, but when you add in the gypsies, the polar bear, the hot air balloon, the witches, Lee Scoresby, the sheer va-va-voom evil of Mrs Coulter and her frankly terrifying golden monkey daemon, the aloofness of Lord Asrael and the sheer verve and pluck of Lyra - it's just a must-read, and head and shoulders above most modern fiction.

has anyone read Ian McEwans Enduring Love?

yes i have the opening is superb .... the rest of it was readable but i thought very emotionally cold ... didn't do it for me

Yes. It's not my favorite of his, but it's quite good. My favorite is probably Innocents (I think that's the title).

I read it, great opening and closing sections, middle is good but a bit too like an ITV Drama premier

ok.. i have had it for a few months, and brought it with me. i will start it now.. there is a great piece at the beginning about meeting people at airports, which i adored, but am finding the prose a bit too flowery and earnest for 3 am six sheets to the wind bedtime reading.... i will persevere.

If you didn't like the opening, stop, because it goes very badly downhill from there. I have heard that McEwan writes his books as scenes and then the bits between scenes get doodled in last minute, and it really does show - he manages to pull off a few wonderful moments but the bits between are always really laboured. The balloon sequence in Enduring Love is as good as anything, anywhere, but the rest of it is plodding and dull, and where it is not dull it is unconvincing. I've been trying on and off to get back into Atonement for ages and just can't summon up the enthusiasm. The one about tunnels under Berlin and the couple dismembering the body is not bad, but Calvino does the thing better in a twenty page short. Read Being Dead by Jim Crace instead, now that is a book with guts and flair.

finished Underworld by Don DeLillo the other day. I thought the end was a real shame and despite the ridiculous length of the damn thing, everything wasn't quite satisfactorily explained, or at least if it was then I'd forgotten by the time I got there. Reading Dangerous Parking by Stuart Browne at the moment, about half way through. So far it is excellent, despite what appear to be a couple of continuity errors (although it was published after his death, so we can't really blame him for missing that one). Has anyone read it? Conclusions?

Now on to 'In Siberia' by Colin Thubron as recommended in the Summer Reading thread. It's good, it's interesting, informative and well written but there's something cold in there! It just isn't connecting with me yet. It will keep you cool on the beach though!

just started margaret atwood's The Edible Woman which i got for 99p from Oxfam yesterday ... so far it's great ...

OK - have dumped White Teeth. Started on Northern Lights - very addictive. As for Enduring Love - I didn't get much past the balloon sequence either - bit disappointing for me having read others of his. You got a real bargain there fish - The Edible Woman - one of my favourites. ?What's dangerous parking about? Is that the guy that died from cancer before it was published??