We have a book competition for you!

Totally with you all on The Secret History by Donna Tart, and to throw another couple into the mix of very different genres, I really enjoyed recently Tim Cahills Jaguars Ripped My Flesh. it is basically travel-writing cataloguing a different adventure in each chapter. To be honest it should appeal to the adolescent boy but I loved it! Diving with sharks, caving in Kentucky, skydiving in California, filming poison sea snakes in the Philipines and exploring ancient ruins in Peru, that kind of stuff.

Another is Shantaram, which was truely epic novel, it is a big book but I didnt want it to end. It is about a fugitive that makes his home in the slums of India and how he assimulates into their culture, what they learn from him and he from them. It is a mystery and a love story and philisophical and beautiful and spiritual. It inspired me to read Papillon afterwards on the whole jail break theme and that is a really good story but I preferred the character in Shantaram and the books wisdom. (Probably because Shantaram is more fiction based on a true story while Papillon claims to be The true-story but I doubted the author's integrity throughout and really got the feeling that he was bigging himself up and manipulating the story to come across as this amazing character but is actually a bit of an arrogant know-it-all!)

I have loads more so watch this space!

Thanks Gem. 'The Secret History' sound like something I could get into if it's a bit weird and wonderful. Can't say I've ever tried to read 'War and Peace', as you're right, it did scare me a bit ;) Reading a great poker book at the moment, if any of you are interested; Gus Hansen's 'Every Hand Revealed'. It's about the intricacies of poker, the mechanics behind hs every move in winning the Aussie Millions Championship 2007. Anyway, great read if you're into poker!

Good choice on Secret History Gem - every time I read it I get to the end and wonder whether I can just read it all again, it's that good. If I had to pick one favourite book today it would be Steve Erickon's Amnesiascope, but ask me again tomorrow and I'll probably have a completely different answer. Amnesiascope is a near-future American dystopia that's ultimately about a film reviewer writing a review of a film that never existed; strange and dark and beautiful, it invents almost in passing a new American tarot and a Los Angeles girdled by fire and a whole, completely believable but also imaginery culture. Best read in a positive frame of mind though - it's not a good idea to come to Amnesiascope already feeling down.

Ok, so I know I'm not eligible to win! But I thought I would share my thoughts anyway :)

War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Everyone thinks of this as a pretentious and 'hard-to-read' book, but in reality the modern translations are nothing of the sort. The imagery is absolutely incredible, even now 2 years after reading the book I can still see scenes being acted out in my mind - even battle scenes that kept me gripped despite never having been a fan of war-based literature! I have read thousands of books in my lifetime and this is probably the one I would say is the best, I think that's accolade enough!

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
This book completely took me by surprise, I would never have expected the path the plot takes from reading the blurb on the back, and Tartt's style is so engrossing it is hard to tear yourself away. She manages to create a world that is completely bizarre and disturbing, but at the same time all-too-familiar, and the story rushes onwards with a mounting sense of trepidation - it is literally un-put-downable and left me gagging for more. If you've read The Little Friends then you should definitely get this next - even more absorbing and odd.

People Of The Book by Geraldine Brooks
At first glance this looks like one of those historical-time jumping-mystery-by-numbers books that are so prevalent at the moment, but if you are going to read any of them I would skip Kate Mosse and co. and head straight for this. Spanning centuries and with a very informed and inspiring knowledge of religious history and conflict, it creates real characters with whom the reader can easily empathise in little time. A genuinely moving and thrilling novel that you will race through - there's never a suitable place to put it down for the night!

Ok, there are a few of my recommendations - really keen to see what everyone else thinks, and hopefully to find a few new titles to get stuck into over the cold winter months!