Looking for something new to read?

I went to dinner on Saturday with some of our friends from Orange County and one of my friends who is an avid reader (while pregnant and unable to do much she read 25 books in 21 days!) -said Atonement was one of the best books she has ever read.
They recently made a movie about this book (R rated) but I really wanted to see it... I'm thinking I'll read the book instead. Becca said it was better than the movie anyway. I haven't read it yet, so can't personally vouch for it yet, so I'll let you know what I think after I read it; and if anyone else has read it please comment!

Here's a review of the book: The interwar, upper-middle-class setting of the book's long, masterfully sustained opening section might recall Virginia Woolf or Henry Green, but as we move forward--eventually to the turn of the 21st century--the novel's central concerns emerge, and McEwan's voice becomes clear, even personal. For at heart, Atonement is about the pleasures, pains, and dangers of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. McEwan shouldn't have any doubts about readers of Atonement: this is a thoughtful, provocative, and at times moving book that will have readers applauding. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

-Sara