So glad to see this thread is still alive. I wrote down a number of recs last time and went to Borders and found of course that I'd already read some (memory loss) but bought and finished Reading Lolita in Tehran which I liked. I'm so thrilled to read all the fans of Elizabeth George and Martha Grimes my super favorite authors. My new Elizabeth George is waiting on the counter like exquisite chocolate to be savored soon. I tried a Daniel Sliva and enjoyed it. Always looking for new mystery series.I also bought the Drowning Tree by Goodman I remembered that I loved the Lake of Dead Languages (could have title wrong) and it was great. Anyway I added Carroll O'Connell and Donna Leon to my list to try. Also I enjoyed in a weird flaky way Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.

Another author I've enjoyed recently is Jasper Fforde, who writes the Tuesday Next series. The stories are set in a fantasy world where living humans can and do interact with characters from fiction. In her first adventure, Tuesday straightens out the ending to "Jane Eyre."
You have to love a series in which the most annoying and useless character is named Braxton-Hicks.

Hello all, what I have been reading right now is the Fodor's thread with everyone disagreeing over whether passengers should check their luggage or try to take just carryon!

Sorry, I am in a silly mood. It is an interesting post thought, LOL.

though, not thought! Although everyones thoughts are interesting.

Another vote for Eliz. George, Martha Grimes, and Leon. Also like Alan Furst for dark novels about 2nd World War. I've been disappointed by Cara Black's mysteries set in Paris.

On a different note entirely, I'm reading(and reading and reading!) Eliot's Middlemarch for my book club. It's almost 800 pages long, but very interesting. She was a woman ahead of her time!

Has anyone read Eliz. Bowen? I read her years ago in college, and just recently there was a piece about her in the NYT Book Review. Never became real well known here in USA, but she evidently has a following. The Death of the Heart and The House in Paris are two of her better known novels.

Just finished E. George's "With No One as Witness" so it goes back to the library today, five days early.

Noticed an address on the flyleaf:

http://www.authortracker.com/index.asp

While it seems only to list HarperCollins authors, you get an email when your favorite author has a new book.

Greetings everyone,

This is always such a great question to scroll through --

I love Deborah Crombie, and Donna Leon, also Elizabeth George .... and here are 2 no one has mentioned...Elizabeth Peters (the Amelia Peabody series) and Robert Parker (Spenser). These are both "detective with humor" stories. I recommend starting with the 1st Amelia (The Crocodile on the Sandback). Love Daniel Silva, and also...not a mystery...recently finished an incredible book -- The Year Of Wonders. Very sad, about a village and the Plague, but incredible writing. I highly recommend it.

SusanG,

If you liked "Year of Wonders," look for Geraldine Brook's new novel, "March." It is just as good, although very different -- set during the American Civil War. It is the story of what Mr. March, the father of the Alcott "Little Women" was doing during the war while the girls were holding down the home front in Concord. It is loosely based on Louisa's real father in the depiction of the central character, but not in the actual events, since Bronson Alcott was never really in the war (he was too old).

Also, thanks to loisco for recommending Val McDermid. I hadn't read any of her books before and just finished "Place of Execution" -- wow, it is a terrific mystery. It is such a treat to find a new author whose style I like -- and who has so many books to her credit. I have been running out of new things to read, and now I feel if I've discovered a new treasure trove!

I am so happy you liked Val M. I knew you would!! I have read all her books and am waiting for a new one which I know will come.

My bookcase is overflowing with all the recommendations from the board. Isn't it great?

I am sorry to say that a lot of the authors I used to like haven't done as well in their follow-up books..I am talking about the more "popular" authors, like J. Kellerman, etc. Even Robert Crais who I like, just hasn't done as well with the latest book. Oh well..

Let's keep this thread going!

I just finished <i>The Sign of the Book</i> by John Dunning, the latest in his Bookman series. I really like him and will never feel the same about a signed book again.

Thief In The Night by John Cornwell
and
House of Medici : Its Rise and Fall by Christopher Hibbert

Just saw what I thought was a very funny cartoon in this week's Time. A woman is kneeling at a confessional and the caption: &quot;Forgive me for I read the Da Vinci Code three times.&quot;

The complete works of Edgar Allen Poe, am about to read &quot;The Fall of the House of Usher&quot; :[:[

Will finally start the Da Vinci Code before heading off to Europe in May...

In between a mystery book by Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters

Nonna..if you liked Val MacDermid you might want to know that BBC has a series called Wire in the Blood. It's a mystery series based on the male psychologist in her books...Wire in the Blood has a new series starting April 11.

Loisco, have you seen any of the BBC &quot;Wire in the Blood&quot; series? I noticed that a couple of the libraries in our network have some of those DVDs, so maybe I'll try to get them that way.

I'm currently reading The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. It's a murder mystery set in Alexandria, Mississippi. So far, so good.

Before going to Paris last year, I bought Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnick and Le Divorce by Diane Johnson, to get me &quot;in the mood.&quot; Well, I just read the latter, which inspired me to go again! Now that's an expensive read!

For those of you who enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha, have a look at Geisha, a Life by Mineko Iwasaki. It is the true story on which the fictional Memoirs is based, and an excellent read.

Just a word of thanks to the Fodorite who posted the recommendation of H.V. Morton. I've started his &quot;In Search of London&quot; in prep for our journey there in August. It's such a readable history of the city, both ancient and recent.

My favorite Barbara Kingsolver was Prodigal Summer (maybe the one the poster above was referring to when the title couldn't be brought to mind..)

I'm another Morse fan still in mourning over the loss of John Thaw.

How about Martin Cruz Smith? Such a good writer who excels in evoking a sense of place. Just read his Red Square recently and it made me want to revisit Gorky Park and read his other Arkady novels.

Also not yet mentioned: Dick Francis. Like the Spenser novels by Robert Parker, these mysteries are excellent for in-flight reading, dependably well-written, fast and diverting.

One more recommendation: Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull, which alternates between present day and the WWI battlefield in France. I could barely see the final pages, I was weeping so.

Have scribbled down lots of recommendations from the wonderful posts here.

Just finished an Amazon search on the oft-mentioned Kite Runner, which I knew nothing about. Fans of that book may also be interested in one I just started yesterday: The Swallows of Kabul, a very short novel about Afghani life under Taliban rule, written by Yasmina Khadra (a pseudonym for the male author).

I isn't ncessary to agree with the politics of the New York Times to make use of the book reviews. You do have to register (It's free) to access the following site:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/index.html

Among the info is a list of the 100 best books of 2004 and you can find list of 100 best books for each year for the last ten or so.

Another great source is the ads in The New Yorker.

SO read J. Patterson's Honeymoon in about 3 hours and thought it perhaps his best.
M