"The Hellraiser Chronicles" ~ edited by Stephen Jones

"The Adventures of Mr Maximillian Bacchus and his Travelling Circus" ~ recently published stories by the teenage Clive Barker.

My sister has just started reading Assasins Apprentice - she's read A Song of Ice and Fire series and also David Eddings' stuff so I recommended this series. I think she'll like it. I loved all 3 trilogies, but didn't enjoy the Soldiers Son Trilogy at all. Shes got the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy as well but haven't read that yet.

I'm halfway though the Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré and it's getting really exciting now!!

1984, it's pretty spooky. After that I've got Aldous Huxley's Brave New World lined up, then after that not sure. Feeling a fantasy or something.

Jane Casey- The Reckoning

just finished the gift of rain by tan twan eng which was an odd mixture of engaging and frustrating, not helped by a truly crappy e-formatting.

just started small wars by sadie jones, which i'm enjoying so far.

Haven't read of any David Eddings books so might be one to try. Do recommend A Song of Ice and Fire although it can be hard going!

I had heard Soldiers Son Trilogy was a bit below par but will certainly be reading the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy in the near future.

The Treatment by Mo Hayder...I had to sleep with the bedside light on last night

It was just too convoluted and didn't grip me enough! I know the Fitz stories can be quite sad but I like him as a character which I think is important.

LOVED the Ice and Fire books - read all 5 in about a month and am enjoying the tv series too.

Yes, it did get a bit surreal! I liked that though because the book had been slow paced up until then. Rose's passiveness really annoyed me too, it was like she was staring through a window at it all happening to someone else. She never really seemed to react to anything until almost the end

The Ritual sounds intriguing, I love those kind of thrillers.

I am currently reading Mary Anne by Daphne DuMaurier. I'm really enjoying it so far.

I've just finished Phantom by Jo Nesbo. I can't say as I actually enjoyed it, but it is a fantastic read as are all the other Harry Hole books. But the bleakness of it just got to me. By about half way I was starting to dread what was going to on the next page.

Oh dear. I've been putting off getting this because, much as I love Harry Hole and admire Jo Nesbo, the unrelenting downside of his last couple of novels has put me off. I think he's gone too far with Harry's angst ridden life, and the series has become too unrealistic.

I really liked Edding's books, I've read the Belgariad and The Malloreon which are both a quintology/pentology and follow on from each other. I think they've got good character development.
I couldn't get on with ASOIAF, I kept forgetting who was who!

I read that a few years ago and I was the same - scary stuff

Can you believe it is fifteen years since the death of Princess Diana (or at least it will be on August 31)? Conspiracy theories have all but disappeared since the London inquest delivered its “unlawful killing by grossly negligent driving” verdict four years ago. But despite the thoroughness of that inquiry, many intriguing questions remain unanswered – questions such as why was driver Henri Paul driving so fast? He had been drinking and was being followed by the paparazzi but was there another reason why he was so frantic to take a route which was taking him away from Dodi’s apartment? Where had he been for three hours that evening? Who gave him the $2,000 cash later found in his pocket, and what for? Who were the two men caught on security cameras hanging around outside the Ritz Hotel for hours that afternoon and evening? They have never come forward despite many public appeals. What was the true extent of Henri Paul’s involvement with the British and French security services? What was the connection between chief paparazzo James Andanson and the British, French and American security services? What were the spooks really up to on the fateful night? We know that the Americans had been bugging Diana in the months leading up to her death. We know that the British had been bugging Diana and playing dirty tricks on her for most of her married life and beyond. Could it be that she became inadvertently embroiled in something bigger and even more sinister that was going on in Paris that night? For a possible explanation read my ‘faction’ thriller ‘The Decoy’ which is available now on Kindle – a kind of JFK meets The Da Vinci Code approach. The background to the book is explained more fully on my website www.chesterstern.com.

I must put Eddings on my 'to read' list. Always on the lookout for for something new to try.

I know what you mean with ASOIAF but it is worth it - I just hope it will reach a conclusion eventually.

I am loving the tv series too, as much as the books. I also read them all quickly so will have to re-read at some point as I probably missed loads of important stuff.

I'm with you about the conclusion, I really cannot see how it's going to end! Whenever I think a character is doing well, he kills them off!

the ending made my cry

Just finished The Map And The Territory by Michel Houellebecq- interesting. I've always seen a parallel between Houellebecq and Bret Easton Ellis, in that while they're very different in terms of writing, plot and subject matter, they both seem to have an existentialist quality that shades into misanthropy, and a love of controversy. And The Map And The Territory features Houllebecq himself as a character, a hideous murder and a conflicted father/son relationship, so to me it was like "what would Lunar Park be like if it was written by a French intellectual?" It's entirely different, obviously, but bloody great nonetheless.

Now I'm reading The Town That Forgot How To Breathe by Kenneth J Harvey, which I bought because all the reviews namechecked HP Lovecraft, but which so far is reminding me more of Stephen King. Not a problem, as I'm also a huge Stephen King fan... (and of course King's a huge Lovecraft fan...)

I'd better have tissues on standby tonight then

I know what you mean! Everytime you start rooting for someone something awful happens to them.

At the moment - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I bought this book in 2008/2009 and still couldn't finish it by now.

I have just started Birdman as thought I should read that one first. Really enjoying it so far

That's grim too, good luck!

Finished Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson this morning.
I have loved all her other books, but this one just didn't do it for me.
I felt that

I have now started Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain.