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....I used to read loads, but kids and the internet have really got me out of somethig I used to love. I still do read a reasonable amount of non-fiction, largely history but also the more interesting end of business type things (Freakenomics, Wikinomics, the Long Tail etc) but I haven't read a decent novel in ages...anyone got anything they can recommend to get me back on this? I'm looking for something contemporary and I like a bit of a challenge...ie not too lite. Any ideas before an approaching holiday?


Thanks in advance


Quids

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Half of a Yellow Sun is a fantastic story about Nigeria in the period when a civil war sparked the emergence of a burgeoning nation - Biafra. I read it on holiday in France in the summer. Beautifully written, genuinely compaelling and also interesting on a historical level.
A Confederacy Of Dunces. Very funny indeed and bitingly satirical. I think the author was awarded a posthumous Pullitzer Prize. Years of failing to get his work published contributed to the blue funk that led to his Suicide. His Mother finally got his writing recognised. John Kennedy Toole I think his name was. Great Book.

I have certain favourite authors who I return to again and again, but if I'm going to try something new I'll often pick up something that has won/been shortlisted for a fiction prize - no guarantee you'll like it, but obviously quite a lot of people did, so worth a go.


Have a look here; list of Booker prise winners and nominees.

Wrote this on the other book thread


Have just started the second adventure of Captain Alatriste "Purity of Blood" by Arturo Perez-Reverte having read the first one sometime last year. They're really nicely written books set in early 17th century Spain, and offer quite a bit of interesting history around the fictional story. Apparently the author (a war reporter) was disgusted by the lack of 17th century history in his daughter's school text books, he decided to write about the era.


Having finished it, I definitely recommend both the Captain Alatriste books, they are really informative about the time in Spain, as well as being nice stories.

citizenED Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Read "Charlie Hot Potatoes" by Phil Robinson.

> Don't know if it's any good but I loved it. For

> some reason I think you would too.


I read it a couple of years back. It's actually called Charlie Big Potatoes. It's a book about an addict, his addiction and his recovery and the losing and winning back of his loved one. Very enjoyable if you like that sort of thing.

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