Very funny and yet rather deep - The Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr (yes, that last name is spelt that way- no typo). It is set in the 1970's in England, and footnotes many tv programs, media events of that decade and they TRAVEL for the first time in a caravan (trailer) to Norfolk on vacation. The narrator is eight and an adult married to a geneticist at the same time. Many items are charted like in genetics, as well. Witty and original.

Someone just gave me the DEVIL WORE PRADA today. They told me I'd like it. We shall see.

I'm about a 3rd of the way thru Elizabeth George's new one - as always, IMHO, very well written and I so love her characterizations (could do a whole thread on Barbara Havers...)

From this site, found a great book I'm also working on: The Secret Life of the Seine (we're heading to London and Paris with teens in July). Excellent book - I'd been thinking of booking the canal St Martin trip within Paris, might have been talked out of it by this book. (something about the cooling mist from the thousands of mussels, right after the chapter about how dreadfully polluted the water is...)

Also reading: The United States Of Europe. everyone I work with is reading it. Highly recommend it - evidently a phrase coined by Churchill at end of war, representing his idea of what Europe should become to avoid intra-continental fights in the future, and how it's coming to pass, and the changes for not just Europe but also USA.

The Kite Runner, Fodor's London, and The Time Traveler's Wife are all in the trunk of my car, also Life of Pi and The Mysterious Case of the Dog in the Night - all of them hiding in my latest Barnes & Noble bag ("for those times when waiting for Amazon.com just won't work"...) I've read and enjoyed The Outlander, so the above comment about similarity to Time Traveler's wife is interesting - I guess it's perhaps the other side of the clock?

Love Alison Weir's many books - I check Amazon periodically for her, hoping something new will show.
I have Pillars of the Earth somewhere in one of the too-many bookcases, but don't know that I ever got to it! I'll probably find that this week.
This is another vote for "Three Rivers of France" - I was blessed with 2 trips to the Dordogne just over a decade ago, and the book is lovely, especially the hard back with the amazing & memorable pictures!

My teenaged daughter has been after me to read "The Devil Wears Prada" but somehow it's just not making to the top of my list - although it's now living in the zip section of my rollaboard, waiting for a desperate time of "eek, out of books!" on a business trip (lol).

This is a great thread - loads of new ideas - thanks to all!

Laura:
I strongly recommend "My Sister's Keeper" (just came out) and "The Blue Bottle Club" by Penelope Stokes.
I just finished "The Kite Runner" "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" and getting ready to start Pearl Buck's "Good Earth."
You will love My Sister's Keeper and Blue Bottle Club. This is an old book, but have you read "The Lovely Bones?" Sandie ([email protected])

OOPS! I pulled that book out of my car when I got home from work today, and it is titled "the devil wears prada" and it is by Lauren Weisberger.

I am leaving for london in a few hours and I just started Shadow in the Wind. After reading this I'm nervous and will have to pack a alternative read. It's too late to get My Sister's Keeper and The Blue Bottle Club, but I'll pick them up when I return. Since I started this I also read Year of Wonder and loved it.

Read "The Devil Wears Prada" in one night, it is an easy read. And I know absolutely nothing about the fashion industry but I know a lot about horrific female bosses, so I thought it very funny.

Wow, a lot of great suggestions here- and I see quite a few on my book club's upcoming list. I am just finishing, The Renaissance, A Short History by Paul Johnson, very good, not dry, and starting Arthur Phillip's novel, Prague (mostly set in Budapest!)

Cailin, I have read the rest of the seriues, but just finishing the first of the #1 ladies detective agancy series, which I had missed. My favorite was Tears of the Giraffe. But also if you like McCall Smith, try his book of short stories, Heavenly Date, very charming.

Daniel Silva's mystery/thrillers are excellent reads, especially those featuring Gabriel Allon. I'm about 2/3 of the way through his latest, "Prince of Fire," and it's a real page-turner. After John Le Carré, Silva is possibly the best current espionage-writer.

Am reading The Birth of Venus now and am loving it,as I did An Easy Music (also set in Europe) and Disturbance of the Inner Ear.

The Kite Runner was very good, though a bit depressing, I thought.

I thought The Devil Wears Prada was fun, but fluff.

Plan to get The Shadow of the Wind and The Blue Bottle Club based on recommendations here.

Happy reading all!

I'm reading PRINCE OF FIRE too! I'm on page 102. Doesn't Gabriel's situation with his wife remind you of Terry and Michael Schiavo? Very eerie.

Rushing to finish required books for the year with seventh grade homeschooler, I am reading "his" books also for discussion/grading: Collected Stories of O.Henry; The Miracle Worker (play); Diary of Anne Frank. Just finished Reagan: A Life in Letters, interesting to a non-Reagan fan because his letters are so literate. That book is too hefty for travel (ditto Time Traveler's Wife and Outlander). I think a collection of short stories would be a great travel book. The O. Henry is excellent, but there are other collections of sundry authors that would be even better.

Jo_ann -- what is the title of Elizabeth George's latest? I love Barbara Havers too. She is such a great character.
((c))

The Elizabeth George is "With no one as witness", and I'm really enjoying it - very tense, tight plotting. She's one of a couple of writers that I must get immediately, then pass it all around my large family. (I really admire everyone who uses the library - I'm saving that for when I retire in a couple of years, and can be more leisurely!)
Jo Ann

I too love Elizabeth George. Imagine my surprise when I got to Chapter 28 of her latest and found her characters walking right past the flat we always rent when we go to London. In October, I plan to visit the little church down the street to see if it really has be deconsecrated. I could have sworn there were services there last spring. But I know it's also used as a community center.

Maybe I will try Elizabeth George. What kind of stories are they? Mystery? Crime? Has anyone read Sue Grafton? I began her Kinsey Milhone private detective series after listening to her most recent one on cd during a business trip. Some of the characters and situations, and plot resolutions didn't click for me. I am wondering what others thought, and which author people found that they liked better. I find the Stephanie Plum sries kind of silly, not to mention unhealthily sexually repressed, but then I think I am used to male protagonists, who make no apologies!

I just finished Elmore Leonard's Be Cool a few weeks ago. I would like to find more works featuring his female investigator, the one who was in the Out Of Sight, can't think of character's name, but Elmore is a lot of fun. Appreciate any recommendations.

Karen Sisco is the Elmore Leonard character- try a very funny short story, Karen Makes Out.

Sue Grafton used to be one of my favorites but I think she is getting tired by now .. or maybe it is just me.

Elizabeth George writes SO well, but you have to be in the mood..

Joanna Trollop is Brilliant ( says I)

I have recently discovered Harlan Cobin. His books are mysteries and usually with a nice twist.

I read one of Carl Hiaason's books, Skinny dip- that was entertaining.

Edna Buchanan also writes good crime books located in South Florida..

Can you tell I have gotten addicted to mysteries ? :)

I too pass up the Plum now, and Kinsey doesn't hit me as authentic like she did in the much earlier novels of the series. Remember what she walked into with her second husband? I don't find that emotion/reality anymore. But my girl friends like them. Grafton has done immense work for the women mystery writers beyond herself though- and deserves kudos galore for her organization of women authors alone. Paretski has helped her as well. I like that they have helped each other to put together a product for women mystery writers to support and publish short stories together in paperback editions.

My reading taste is eclectic and obsessive- has been my whole life, but I can appreciate good work in any gendre. There have been times I read nothing but non-fiction or Russians or Indian writers as well. But I think my taste is far more to the serious than most, so in my job I don't suggest what I like, but I try to find out what they like and then advise "spread out" to read alikes or stretch them from there.

For pure fluff entertainment, I actually love the Lawrence Sanders' series with Archie McNally.What Updike can do for his neck of the woods, Sanders can do in quite another way and for his. Both are word sculptors with rapier wits.

Another of my favorite authors is Kingsolver. Her "Poisonwood Bible" is probably the best. The more she writes, the more she is pushing her political agenda/ ideologies (forcefeeding them) with 5 or 6 page main character monologues or contrived plot twists to reach a political agenda. It's muddled her characterizations in recent books, IMHO.

George book sounds like one I will read.

Love Italy, have you read "Queen of the Big Time"? Just know you will love it.

Scarlett and JJ5 thanks for the replies. I started near the end with Grafton.
JJ5- I do recommend R is for Ricochet for the very well done roumantic story line that unfolds. You wouldn't need to have read the whole series. The first book I had -she was finding out what really happened to her second husband and clearing his name. But it's the whole neighbor and Rosy's thing that I can live without.

I am not a "bestseller" reader. Oh, what did I just read by Kingsolver, a huge fabulous tales of 3 interwoven characters that start as separate stories, and she switches off with each chapter. The vivid details, the characters, I'll have to look for the name, happenend in the course of a few seasons, using nature as a metaphor. Masterful story-telling.

Has anyone read Eric Ambler? He's gone now but wrote some compelling espionage stories. I think he was a well regarded journalist, and at one time with a government agency.