Are you reading anything?

[Pam]

Thought I'd share a book I'm reading that I can't put down at the moment.

SOLD - Zana Muhsen

I haven't finished it yet, but it's a true account of modern slavery. Zana and her younger sister, born and raised in England are taken on a "6 week holiday" (it's all a lie) to North Yemen. When they arrive they find out their Father sold them as teenage brides! They have to live in stone houses in the desert, no running water or electricity (this is early 1980's). They are raped and beaten. I've just read how one of the sisters gave birth on the floor, no doctors.. the baby got stuck ..so they got a rusty razor blade... :faint:

I've also read;
Not Without My Daughter - Betty Mahoody
Forbidden Love - Norma Khouri

I couldn't put these books down once I started them either!
Makes me so glad to be an Australian woman and how much freedom we take for granted!

[mel35]

I am currently reading "Girls Night In Vol 1" which is a collection of short stories written by women from all over the world to raise money for the charity War Child. Ihave the 2nd volume waiting for me to read too. Mum just gave me a Sara Donati book called Into The Wilderness about Native American Indians.
The last book I read was White Gardenia by Belinda Alexandra

[Naomi]

At the moment I need 'light and fluffy' books - something I don't need to concentrate much on. I like mystery novels (like Agatha Christie, PD James). Or girly novels (Catherine Kelly, Marion Keyes). I haven't read a challenging book for ages.

This reminds me I need to go to the library.

[semele]

The last book I read was White Gardenia by Belinda Alexandra

Did you like it? I have it sitting on my bedside table ready to read.

I am currently reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith. It was recommended to me as the 'funniest book ever' but I am yet to see this.....

[mel35]

Semele

I loved White Gardenia I couldn't put it down, mum is currently reading another book by Belinda Alexanrda ( I can't remember the name though) and I can't wait till she's finished so I can borrow it!

[Chezz]

Pam I'm buying Sold and the other 2 books in the series for my mum for mothers day, she loves those books and me too. It's such an eye opener to read about the lives people live (or should I say suffer) in middle eastern countries. As you said, it sure does make you happy to be an Australian women with freedom.

At the moment I am reading "Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes To Weep" by "Siba Shakib. It's about an Afghan women, follows the life of her family through war, refugee camps, the Taleban seizing power etc. It is an amazing story of an amazing women. To read how these people live unbelieveable! These things are still going on today, unimaginable!

After reading books like this, it makes you so badly want to help these women doesn't it. To think they are still living under these conditions is heartbreaking.

Chezz

[Pam]

Hi Chezz,

Oh, is there 2 more books? I just finished reading 'Sold' last night, and have to buy 'A Promise to Nadia' now to find out what happens!

'Fobidden Love' (I cryed reading that) and 'Not Without My Daughter' are both books I just couldn't put down.

I'd have to keep an eye out for 'Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes To Weep' I'd like to read that too!

Yes, it really does make you wish you help them ;(

[Chezz]

Yep there is the Promise to Nadia one and also "Without Mercy" by Miriam Ali. She is the mother of Zana Muhsen from Sold. I'm assuming they are all like a set type of thing.

The Afghan one is written weird but a good story. I am more than happy to borrow it to you if you'd like.

Another REALLY great one is "Fatwa Living With A Death Threat" by Jacky Trevane. It's about an English girl who goes to Egypt on holidays, falls in love and marries an Egyptian guy. She moves there and they live together for years, have a couple of kids and all that. She had the rose coloured glasses on and soon realised what a nightmare it is to be the wife of an Egyptian man. Eventually she escapes back to England. I swear this is probably the best book I've read.

Chezz

[Bellablue]

I have just finished reading "Tell me I'm Here" by journalist Anne Deveson. It is about her son who suffered schizophrenia. It is haunting and you really don't know how other people live until you read stories like this and those mentioned by Scarlett and Chezz. What an eye opener.

[PinkDot]

At the moment I am going through a Chicklit phase :blush:
I am reading Citizen Girl. I have a whole pile of light books that I havent read yet, I joined doubleday book club.

[christie]

Yes I got "the Face" by Dean Koontz for christmas and I'm already into chapter 10!

[Patricia]

Lucky me got a pile of books for my birthday/xmas...:clap:

Can never have enough books as far as I am concerned although I am very hard to buy for as no one is sure what I have and haven't read :jump:

Martina Cole's latest is fantastic and up to her usual high standard..it's called The Take...but don't read it if you are offended by bad language and violence.

Isabel Wolff's A question of Love is a really good read and a nice girly one.

[nj27au]

I'm almost finished reading The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons. It's the conclusion to her "Tatiana and Alexander" series. I haven't been able to put it down.

I love Belinda Alexander's books. I've read White Gardenia.

I have Bryce Courtenay's White Thorn waiting for me. I bought it with my Big W Gift Voucher. I've read all of his books.

[Colby]

I'm drawn to any book written about the struggle of women in oppressed societies... "Forbidden" I read in a weekend; "Not without my Daughter" took a week; "Princess" and the other books after didn't take me long either. Also "Dessert Flower" and "Dawn" were both good.

I also read a while back a booked called (I think) "Sophie's Shoes" a true story about a little girl who was dying of cancer. The book was all white and had a pair of red shoes on the front. The mother of the little girl wrote the book. I read that in a day and cried like a baby.

Hubby gave me for Christmas "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey... it's on Oprah's Book Club list and she's RAVED about it along with her own people at Harpo. The Author wrote about his life... At the age of 23 he had been an alcoholic for 10 years and a crack addict for 3. He talks about his 6 weeks in rehab.

I was also give a book just before Christmas called "Conversations with God - Book 1" by Neale Donald Walsch. Walsch experienced a low point in his life and decided to write a letter to God, venting his frustrations and he talks about the responses he got.

So I've started them both "A Million Little Pieces" and "Conversations with God" but I do need to decide just to read one at a time :)

[Supa]

Currently I am reading Broken Lives, its a ttue story about Edgar Allen Cooke the last man hung in Fremantle prison (WA) & the bloke who got framed for one of his murders. Very spine chilling & gruesome, made more so when you know the areas he is talking about & where the crimes were committed.
My 9yr old daughter received a book for Christmas called the big, big, big book of Tashi, it contains 7 stories in 1 book, and has just about finished it!

[MissieK]

I've just finished reading book 5 of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series - it's fantastic. I'm waiting for my sister to finish book 6.

Melissa

[Alexa]

I have read Hannah's Shoes as well, it is so beautiful, and very moving...I had a friend that had a daughter with cancer, so I gave it to her..

Read some of Paullina Simmons as well - Tully and a few others I have, she is a great writer...

I love Jodi Picoult, just finished My Sister's Keeper...

A Million Little Pieces, yes saw that yesterday at Borders...it is on my reading list...I have read a lot of what Oprah recommends, like Pilots' Wife by Anita Shrieve.

Nothing better than having a good book to read...

Has anybody read Lovely Bones...by Alice Sebold, weird book, but very powerful, she has also written "Lucky" which is by far more harrowing as it her personal account of rape...it is not for the faint hearted...I never normally read these kinds of books but I guess these kinds of things happen.

[Colby]

I have read Hannah's Shoes as well, it is so beautiful, and very moving...I had a friend that had a daughter with cancer, so I gave it to her...

That's the book... opps, I got the little girl's name wrong. A beautiful book! Thanks Alexa :)

[sjc]

Thought I'd share a book I'm reading that I can't put down at the moment.

SOLD - Zana Muhsen

I haven't finished it yet, but it's a true account of modern slavery. Zana and her younger sister, born and raised in England are taken on a "6 week holiday" (it's all a lie) to North Yemen. When they arrive they find out their Father sold them as teenage brides! They have to live in stone houses in the desert, no running water or electricity (this is early 1980's). They are raped and beaten. I've just read how one of the sisters gave birth on the floor, no doctors.. the baby got stuck ..so they got a rusty razor blade... :faint:

I've also read;
Not Without My Daughter - Betty Mahoody
Forbidden Love - Norma Khouri

I couldn't put these books down once I started them either!
Makes me so glad to be an Australian woman and how much freedom we take for granted!
I read Forbidden Love some time ago and loved it. There was some controversy about it not being factual. Not sure what came of it all.

Sheryl

[sjc]

I have recently finished reading Mary Moody's "The Long Hot Summer"
Have also read her other two books "Au Revoir" and Last Tango in Toulouse"
I enjoyed the three books. Not sure what to make of her going through her mid life crisis. However I did at times feel empathy for her, other times through the book I thought she was selfish. She was honest and did not hold anything back. Has any one read these books if so what did you think?

Sheryl

[nj27au]

I have read Hannah's Shoes as well, it is so beautiful, and very moving...I had a friend that had a daughter with cancer, so I gave it to her..

Read some of Paullina Simmons as well - Tully and a few others I have, she is a great writer...

I love Jodi Picoult, just finished My Sister's Keeper...

A Million Little Pieces, yes saw that yesterday at Borders...it is on my reading list...I have read a lot of what Oprah recommends, like Pilots' Wife by Anita Shrieve.

Nothing better than having a good book to read...

Has anybody read Lovely Bones...by Alice Sebold, weird book, but very powerful, she has also written "Lucky" which is by far more harrowing as it her personal account of rape...it is not for the faint hearted...I never normally read these kinds of books but I guess these kinds of things happen.

Jodi Picoult is my favourite author...I've read all of her books.

[Alexa]

Hey Natasha

What other Picoult books would you recommend?? I have a Borders voucher that I am busting to spend and not sure which one to pick next???

[nj27au]

Hi Alexa

I'd recommend Vanishing Acts...here's a brief sypnosis:

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as she plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can’t recall. And when a policemen arrives to disclose a truth that will upend the world as she knows it, Delia must search through these memories – even when they have the potential to devastate her life, and the lives of those she loves most.

Another one I liked was Keeping Faith...another sypnosis:

In the aftermath of a sudden divorce, Mariah White struggles with depression and her daughter Faith seeks solace in an imaginary friend. It is one thing when Faith talks to her "Guard"constantly…but when she develops stigmata and begins to perform miraculous healings, Mariah wonders if her daughter -- a girl with no religious background-- might actually be seeing God.

All her books are good! Another author I like is Di Morrissey and one I'm getting into is Judy Nunn.

[MariaZen]

I could not resist reading Nicole Richie's 'The Truth About Diamonds'. No, it did not set the literary world on fire but yes, I was hooked. I could not believe a 30-year old mother-of-one like me would end up reading a Nicole Richie novel. Did she really write the book? Who knows! The book was very entertaining. If you enjoy your celebrities, then this book is highly recommended.

[Alexa]

Nat

Might get Vanishing Acts...that sounds really good...

Thanks heaps....:)