What are you reading at the moment? Recommendations welcome

Hannah Faoileán · Feb 2, 2026

Read Silver by Olivia Levez - YA Sci fi - I highly recommend. An alien girl need to live with humans and collect data that will allow her shipmates to invade, but when she integrates with a human family and meets a human boy . . . - so it's mainly based on earth, in one mid-England village: an urban sci fi.

Read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - YA contemporary - this month's book club choice. I suppose I should recommend it for the brilliant writing and the amazing twist, but I found Act 5 far too gut-wrenching. I won't dare to read any further books in the series. I'm not into novels that leave me a blubbery mess of agonised tears when I reach the end. Blubbery mess for a while is ok, but I want uplifting endings.

Aethalope · Feb 6, 2026

Just finished Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe and... wow. Simply beautiful.

They must have pitched things differently in the 80s. Yeah, it fantasy with science bleeding through...slow start, densely baroque prose, and it doesn't actually end because in the middle of a scene the narrator says I'm done for now and that's it.

Sedayne · Feb 20, 2026

Just finished Glyph, the new book by Ali Smith. It's the follow-up to her previous novel, confusingly called Gliff.
Both are anti-war novels about sisters and horses - or a ghost horse in the case of Glyph.
I loved both these books, especially when two of the characters in Glyph discovered they'd both read Gliff and debated whether or not it had a good ending.
I think Ali Smith is probably my favourite novelist these days.

Pamela Jo · Feb 22, 2026

Rereading Wolfe Hall, Hilary Mantel. It is a crunchy with exposition. Like a nougatty Mardi Gras Praline of relevant info downed w delight. I've tried reading her other books but they are impenetrable to me or repellant. But this, her voice is chef's kiss. She believed in ghosts and felt Cromwell came to her and told her what to write. I can believe it. The Tudor world comes to life.

Pamela Jo · Feb 22, 2026

Sedayne said:
Just finished Glyph, the new book by Ali Smith. It's the follow-up to her previous novel, confusingly called Gliff.
Both are anti-war novels about sisters and horses - or a ghost horse in the case of Glyph.
I loved both these books, especially when two of the characters in Glyph discovered they'd both read Gliff and debated whether or not it had a good ending.
I think Ali Smith is probably my favourite novelist these days.

Ah must check out to see if there is a comp.

Sedayne · Feb 22, 2026

Pamela Jo said:
Ah must check out to see if there is a comp.

Like most Ali Smith novels, these are strange whilst reading as completely normal. The fantastical elements are introduced so matter-of-factly that you wouldn't consider the writing to be fantasy or horror. Dystopian, yes, but only in as much as real life is a dystopia.
I'd be interested to know what you think.

Josephine · Feb 23, 2026

Pamela Jo said:
Rereading Wolfe Hall, Hilary Mantel. It is a crunchy with exposition. Like a nougatty Mardi Gras Praline of relevant info downed w delight. I've tried reading her other books but they are impenetrable to me or repellant. But this, her voice is chef's kiss. She believed in ghosts and felt Cromwell came to her and told her what to write. I can believe it. The Tudor world comes to life.

I agree, I haven't read the last one yet but the 1st two Wolf Hall novels are far and away her best work in my opinion. So good

wrightstuff · Feb 24, 2026

Pamela Jo said:
Rereading Wolfe Hall, Hilary Mantel. It is a crunchy with exposition. Like a nougatty Mardi Gras Praline of relevant info downed w delight. I've tried reading her other books but they are impenetrable to me or repellant. But this, her voice is chef's kiss. She believed in ghosts and felt Cromwell came to her and told her what to write. I can believe it. The Tudor world comes to life.

I agree with you on the superiority of her Wolf Hall novels, but feel you are a bit harsh about her other work. I generally like the short stories, though most are OK rather than astonishingly good.

wrightstuff · Feb 24, 2026

I have just finished Karla's Choice, a Smiley novel written by John le Carre's son.

It is as near perfection as is possible on the page.

Harkaway captures the mood, style and voice of his father, John le Carre almost without mis-step, and it's a great story, worthy of Smiley. There are phrases, sentences, passages that could have been lifted from a le Carre-written Smiley novel - it's that faithful. I spent much of the first third of the novel stopping to remind myself that this was written by a real author, not a spooky apparition.

The mood, atmosphere and even dialogue feels as though it had been written in the late sixties...until about two-thirds of the way through, when it has, briefly, a distinctly modern tone. Although that steadily recedes in the last third, the spell has been broken. This a minor glitch, and most readers will probably not even notice it.

Nick Harkaway, as is so often the case with Smiley, set himself an impossible task. The plan was executed almost without a hitch, but, again like Smiley, one has a sense that the author would have preferred less improvisation, and has regrets...

Has anyone else read it, and what was your reaction?

Josephine · Feb 24, 2026

wrightstuff said:
I have just finished Karla's Choice, a Smiley novel written by John le Carre's son.

It is as near perfection as is possible on the page.

Harkaway captures the mood, style and voice of his father, John le Carre almost without mis-step, and it's a great story, worthy of Smiley. There are phrases, sentences, passages that could have been lifted from a le Carre-written Smiley novel - it's that faithful. I spent much of the first third of the novel stopping to remind myself that this was written by a real author, not a spooky apparition.

The mood, atmosphere and even dialogue feels as though it had been written in the late sixties...until about two-thirds of the way through, when it has, briefly, a distinctly modern tone. Although that steadily recedes in the last third, the spell has been broken. This a minor glitch, and most readers will probably not even notice it.

Nick Harkaway, as is so often the case with Smiley, set himself an impossible task. The plan was executed almost without a hitch, but, again like Smiley, one has a sense that the author would have preferred less improvisation, and has regrets...

Has anyone else read it, and what was your reaction?

I haven't, but based on this I'm tempted. Will report back if I do!

What are you reading at the moment? Recommendations welcome

Hannah Faoileán

Aethalope

Sedayne

Pamela Jo

Pamela Jo

Sedayne

Josephine

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wrightstuff

wrightstuff

Josephine

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