I Am Desperate For A Well Written Page Turner To Read

[Stargazer]

Lately I have started and left unfinished more than one book, I prefer non fiction but a few recent best seller ficional books have grabbed my attention. I used to look forward to going to bed in order to get into the book I was reading but I have run out of anything that grabs me, I am missing it.

[rockyracoon]

I've gone off the boil with reading at the moment, I've a book by my favourite author sitting next to me, but I can't summon the energy to pick it up and it has to be back to the library in 2 weeks. I've got another book sitting upstairs, half read that should have gone back last saturday, another fine for me!

I'm putting it down to tiredness, hopefully it'll wear off soon.

[Stargazer]

Why don't you renew them online which is what I do. You can do this three times and they send you a reminder by email two or three days before they are due back. Even if I can't get in to the library on the last day, as I live a few miles from my nearest branch, they will always extend it for a week or even three if I phone them to explain.

[society]

Stargazer, it's not you alone...
Don't know when I'll get back to reading as I used to.

[rockyracoon]

I can't renew them as somebody is waiting for them, they're both newish releases. That's the trouble with online library services, I had 3 books that I'd ordered, turn up in the same week, hence the looming fine!

[ladybirder]

Well I have just read 9 books in a row by the same author in a very short space of time and have got the last, 10th book next to me. It is almost unheard of for me to do this but I can't get enough but them neither can anybody else who has read his books it seems. They are fiction but with a large dollop of his own life and friends woven throughout. I am talking about Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series. Unputdownable. Anybody else read them?

[ladybirder]

Hard to believe I am the only fan of Armistead on here considering how popular he is and some of his books have been made into films. Oh well, your loss:-)

[chaptazbru]

^ Never heard of him !

If you want a well written page turner Stargazer, I recommend anything by Peter James, especially his 'Dead' books, or Tess Gerritsen. Non fiction, I'd recommend Prescription for Murder which is about Dr Harold Shipman.

[yogasun]

Ladybirder I have just bought the Kindle edition of the first one -cost nil pence! Prefer real books but Kindle good for reading when OH wants light off! Look forward to trying this author.

[chaptazbru]

Oh and Stargazer another good page turner is In Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy - fab book ..........

[ladybirder]

Of course we don't all like the same thing yoga but I hope you enjoy it. You are in for such a treat if you do.

Chaps, here's a bit about him, he's gay, but he writes about gay and straight characters. His dialogue is a masterclass and his sense of time and place so powerful. His first book, Tales of the City has been serialised on Radio4 this week at 10.45am and in the evening at 7.45pm (?). Then next week they are doing his next book, More Tales of the City.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=89988

[craft1948]

I'm currently reading Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel. It's a really well-written book but I do need to keep having a rest from it................

[Stargazer]

Thanks Ladybirder. Which is the first of Maupin's books of the series so I can read them in order as you have done? I will also check out the other three you mention. Some of my recent excellent reads are Star of the Sea, Sky Burial and The Book Thief. Papillon is the best page turner I ever remember.

[Stargazer]

Sorry Chaptazbru, I wrongly attributed your contribution to Ladybirder. I will read all three that you mention and also the fourth (having reread the posts) Also thanks to Craft for Bring up the Bodies. It sounds gory but I have made a note of it. I don't go for "light" reading such as bodice rippers and period set romantic books and Barbara Cartland is a swear word (I have never even opened one of hers - yuk).

[bednobs]

i am just reading the hundred year old man who climbed out of the window - it's good

[Stargazer]

Who wrote it Bednobs?

[Shazza36]

Danielle Ramsay- newish author just, set in Whitley Bay police/crime, I've just read Broken Silence and Vanishing Point, really enjoyed them

[Iluvspikey]

Ladybirder, loved them!! I 've been listening to it on the radio too. I could just picture Mrs Madrigal.

Non-fiction i'm not really good at apart from biographies, but a book called
Between Extremes, A journey beyond imagination about John MacCarthy and Brian Keenan, and their own accounts some other rainbow written by maccarthy and his then girlfriend Gill Morrell.
excellent stuff

[bednobs]

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation
it was 20p on the kindle

[ladybirder]

Stargazer, the 8 books in order for the Tales of the City series are:

Tales of the City
More Tales of the City
Further Tales of the City
Babycakes
Significant Others
Sure of You
Michael Tolliver Lives
Mary Ann in Autumn

Then there is Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener which aren't part of the series but some of the characters pop up from time to time. The Night Listener was made into a film and I've just ordered the DVD from ebay. I particularly enjoyed The Night Listener, which is in parts autobiographical, and very weird/scary. You'll be able to get them for £2/£3 each secondhand.
iluvespikey, apparently I have been nicknamed Mrs Madrigal by the guys in the flats where I live. I'm flattered, I think she was a good person, but I don't go around taping spliffs to their flat doors:-)

[pastafreak]

It was also a mini series-which I think I watched before reading the first book in the series. I need to read the others now...;-)

I'm currently reading 'Room' by Emma Donoghue-told by a 5 year old boy-it's about an abducted young woman and her son,who live locked in a single room-dependent on the mother's captor for all their needs. A bit strange yet enchanting as the boy learns about the whys and hows of how they came to be there-which in turn changes his understanding of what the world is.