I tend to read a lot of things more or less at the same time, one book at my bedside, another at my office for lunchtime reading, another and another.
For the last few months I have been trying to read
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I keep having to put it down and may have done so permanently. Usually when I start a book I finish it but in this case I may make an exception. It is a sort-of historical novel set in medieval England and around the building of a cathedral, but I have concluded that all of the foregoing is merely the background on which Follett has pasted a number of poorly written sex scenes. NOT recommended.
Right now the book in my office is Eric Block's
Garlic and Other Alliums. It doesn't sound exciting but it is very interesting and appropriate for my line of work. Block combines the lore and science of alliums to make a very readable book for botanists as well as the general public. Organic chemists might find it quite fascinating. Recommended.
My main read at the moment is
Faithful Place by Tana French, a detective novel
cum family story set in modern Dublin. From the very first page it had my full attention. It has a strong narrative, a good plot line and characters about whom you want to know more. Some of the dialogue is written in Dublin dialect though, and that may be puzzling for Europeans and North Americans. Strongly recommended.
In between the office and bedside books I've been reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. This is not great literature, it is a series of light, funny female romantic adventures set in, of all places, Trenton, New Jersey. You wouldn't think that was much of a recommendation but the novels work nicely. They are good light entertainment, well written, with vivid character descriptions and laugh-aloud situations. Since last Friday night I've read five of the sixteen and I am working on number six. Enthusiastically recommended.