More to read: The Orange Prize Nominees

I am so close to actually being able to read again-- these are all on my list of things to read for the summer. I loved Sarah Waters' The Night Watch--it's really fantastic. All of her books are compelling, engaging reads but I think this could be her best.

Nicole Krauss, The History of Love
(Viking): Alma's little brother Bird thinks he may be the Messiah, and Leo remembers a love 60 years ago.

Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black
(Harper Perennial): Alison Hart is the spiritualist of the M25, a medium whose spirits plague the life out of her.

Zadie Smith, On Beauty
(Hamish Hamilton): Howard Belsey's three teenage children seek the passions, ideals and commitments that will form their lives.

Ali Smith, The Accidental
(Hamish Hamilton): Eve and her unhappy family do their separate things on holiday - until an intruder messily unites them.

Sarah Waters, The Night Watch
(Virago): Kay and her colleagues on ambulances in the worst of the Blitz in wartime London.

Carrie Tiffany, Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
(Picador): In 1930s Australia an unlikely love affair develops on a train carrying cattle, pigs and wheat.