What is the best book you have ever read by a male author and a female author?

[chaptazbru]

Mine is The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy

and

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

[chaptazbru]

Thank you DT - going to see The Phantom this evening and invited out to dinner tomorrow and lots of walks in between with pooch! x

naomi - didn't know there was a book called 'Heathcliff'. His whole life was covered in Wuthering Heights wasn't it ?

[horseshoes]

I discovered Jean Plaidy (and Victoria Holt) when I was a teenager - LOVED them.

[I.Don No]

I have just finished the 'call the midwife' trilogy and the second book was a heart-wrencher. Not sure that they are the best books I have ever read, but miss them at your peril!

[emmie]

I would like to read Sean Langan the British journalist, account of his kidnap by the Taliban.
I can't find out if he wrote a book about it, but certainly his Kidnap diaries.
I watched part of an interview with Mark Lawson recently, and it was one of the most harrowing but riveting interviews i have watched in recent years.

[DTCwordfan]

One of my recent favourites; Danny Danziger, 1215, a slender tome but brilliant exposé on life in England at the time of Magna Carta - government, king, crime, church, weather (and some eye openers there for the climate change fans as it was far far hotter than today), food and drink, sex and family etc etc. He wrote (coauthored) one on 1066 but not as good, largely as the facts weren't so well recorded.

On history, Agincourt, Bernard Corwell....excellent.

[ethandron]

The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes.
A joint favourite though is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

[nungate]

Agree with that sentiment Naomi, I have boxes of her books stashed away too - not sure where they were put when we moved

[chaptazbru]

ethandron - Birdsong has popped up a few times - a very popular book.

[naomi24]

Horseshoes, Jean Plaidy (Victoria Holt) was also Philippa Carr.

I.Don.No, someone bought me that trilogy. Haven’t started it yet.

Em, have you read The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad? I think you would find that very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.o...e_Bookseller_of_Kabul

[nungate]

Haven't read Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell, have read some of the Sharpe novels though. He did a series on the History channel called Sharpe's War all about the Peninsular War which was very interesting and informative. So Agincourt gets added to my list

[chaptazbru]

naomi - I picked up The Bookseller of Kabul from a charity shop thinking it might be like A Thousand Splendid Suns, but never looked at it - would you recommend it then?

[DTCwordfan]

It#s more of a history than a novel, nungate, but brings home the scale of the French defeat and why - esp as Henry's men were all but done in.

[chaptazbru]

ethandron - you may enjoy My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Armstrong, as you enjoyed Birdsong.

[chaptazbru]

Sorry, Louisa Young ....

[emmie]

Naomi, might give that a go. But i would like to read Sean langan diaries, he was a most charming, engaging person.

[nungate]

DT, I don't mind that, I have a bent toward military history and history in general. I read a lot more non fiction than fiction, I plough my way through a lot of biographies and autobiographies. My favourite two are both by Nancy Mitford "The Sun King" about Louis XIV I've never found any other to be as good as hers and her other biography of Madame de Pompadour - quite a gal! Am currently ploughing my way through Juliet Gardiner's "The Thirties" which is an interesting period of recent history.

[ethandron]

Thanks for that chaptazbru, I've just looked it up and am about to download it to my kindle :)
It's always good to get personal recommendations. Have recently downloaded The Sisters Brothers after seeing it reviewed on the tv book club. Has anyone read it?

[gness]

For a cheer me up read I love The Diary Of A Nobody. George and Weedon Grossmith.

[DTCwordfan]

nungate - we are alike, I prefer my non-fiction historicals, US and Georgian history being high up my list - increasingly now turning back to mediaeval - which I loved when I studied history at school. One huge favourite is on John Adams by David McCullough http://www.waterstone...ms+28ebook29/7283282/

The book is much cheaper in paperback - the HBO series (produced by Tom Hanks is brilliant inc the récharge where they show you how they made it).

[nungate]

Sorry DT, I just saw your answer from yesterday. Have you any suggestions about books on the American Civil War, with a focus on the Battle of Gettysburg? I saw bits of the John Adams series on tv but not enought to grab my attention.