In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (not a pleasant story line but pioneered a new genre of journalism combined with fiction) based on the murder of the Clutter family in America, finding of the killers and how the author got to know them.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - not one I would have ordinarily read but 'had to' for my book club. Amazing book, set in India. Good kick in the bum when we feel sorry for ourselves.

Just finished The Gathering by Ann Enright - think it won this year's Booker Prize. Easy-to-read but good.

Currently reading Middlemarch by George Eliot - good so far.

I tend to read a lot of biographies rather than fiction. A fave would be one about Katherine Graham - American 'society' figure who had to take over as editor/publisher (can't remember which) of the New York Times and how she did so successfully despite being very shy and being thrust into a man's position in the 60s.

Also just finished Misconceptions by Naomi Wolf - about modern-day pregnancy, childbirth and childrearing. Interesting read.

And when I just want an easy, chick lit read, Marian Keyes never fails to make me laugh.

Happy reading!