I was attracted to this novel out of a sense of nostalgia for the not so long ago days when I used to walk through Rushlome's Curry Mile regularly.  I liked the cover with its montage of familiar signage and the references to places I knew - from Hulme Arch to Cheadle Hulme.

Its critics describe it as an important novel in exploring the world of British-Asian young people as they establish their own identity.

The plot line was not, in my view, the strongest I've ever met, but the resolution was satisfactory and, being in terms of some sort of reconciliation between cultures and generations, almost a 'coming of age' novel - if these ever move beyond equating 'coming of age' with 'sexual awakening' (this was a given at the start of the story!).

Quite an easy read, and if you want a glimpse an Asian woman writing about Curry Culture worth the price at ~£7.95 in book shops (less from Amazon).

For something utterly different - and I understand about to made into a film, 'Atonement' is a prize winning novel that plays tricks with the reader.  I almost saw through it at one point when something didn't stack up, but what I took for shoddy research was actually all part of the cunning.  Unless you read to the end, it isn't a spectacular a story - but that is all part of it.

I hope the film version does not reduce this story to something like the 'Titanic' of the late 1990's, which I found utterly predictable.  As with the Curry Mile, it is a pretty easy read, and despite its oh so theologacal title uses the word 'atonement' in a pretty general (non-theologically speaking!) way.  Again, sells at about £7.99

Anyone want to suggest anything else?