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Novels between chick lit and highbrow

68 replies

DoItTooJulia · 06/01/2014 19:59

I hate chick lit and stuff that's too highbrow too, so what do I read?

I love Atwood, Kingsolver, Barnes, Allende. I don't mind a historical novel, never really ventured into fantasy, but I like a ripping good read!

Help!

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ThreeBeeOneGee · 06/01/2014 20:04

Just finished reading this, which might meet your requirements:

www.goodreads.com/book/show/16248241-a-half-forgotten-song

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snugglesnook · 06/01/2014 20:08

Penelope Lively - especially How It All Began.

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EugenesAxe · 06/01/2014 20:09

I kind of think Jane Austen is old fashioned chick-lit... dunno if that's 'highbrow'.

The Pillars of the Earth (Follett) is ripping good. Daphne du Maurier? Jilly Cooper is well written (I think - read 20 years ago) borderline chick lit. Also not just Bridget but Helen Fielding's other novels are pretty good - Cause Celeb for example. Could just try plain old Agatha Christie; Body in the Library and Murder in Mesopotamia being two of my favourites.

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dreamingbohemian · 06/01/2014 20:24

Oh I have this feeling too sometimes, great question

Some things I read in the last year...

Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Good Squad

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (sorry forgot author)

Surprisingly: War and Peace. Not a heavy read at all.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson -- also his Baroque trilogy

Sharon Penman does some nice historical novels -- Sunne in Splendor is Edward IV/Richard III, and her Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy is pretty good.

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

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dreamingbohemian · 06/01/2014 20:26

Oh and a classic -- the Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Really nice read.

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Back2Two · 06/01/2014 20:28

Patrick gale books
The book of human skin
Gone girl
The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold fry
Heft

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DoItTooJulia · 06/01/2014 20:29

Some great recommendations, thank you.

EugenesAxe, sorry, we've got crossed wires. I don't like chick lit. I want books somewhere between them and highbrow literature. I like a bit of highbrow every now and again. And I can cope with some of the more chick lit end of the scale every now and again.

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KipperTheFish · 06/01/2014 20:30

Hiw about Tracy Chevelier? She has written some fantastic 'not chick lit but not high brow' books: The Last Runaway, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Remarkable Creatures are all brilliant.

I also agree Sarah Waters books are excellent. Try Fingersmith, Affinity, The Night Watch.

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Back2Two · 06/01/2014 20:30

"Room"is an easy read too (a little bit grim but an excellent book)

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DoItTooJulia · 06/01/2014 20:30

Interestingly, I've read some of the things being suggested.

I should say I don't mind the odd bit of non fiction either!

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Helpyourself · 06/01/2014 20:31

Zola Grin
I always recommend Zola as not only is he fantastic, there are dozens of them!

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Helpyourself · 06/01/2014 20:32

William Boyd?

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PiratePanda · 06/01/2014 20:33

Sharon Penman, Susan Howatch and Georgette Heyer. You might also like Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

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AttackOfTheKillerMonsterSnowGo · 06/01/2014 20:35

Any Patrick Gale or Helen Dunmore, Susan Hill.

Individual books, The Collector by John Fowels is on of my all time favourites.

Will bebackwhen not being strangled loved by toddler.

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blackandwhiteandredallover · 06/01/2014 20:36

Maggie O'Farrell?

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LadyGreenTea · 06/01/2014 20:38

Great books that I have read in recent years or that have stuck with me, that I think fall into your "inbetween" category...

Wolf Hall (Mantel)
Capital (John Lanchester)
Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)
The Glass Room (Simon Mawer)
Freedom (Jonathan Franzen)
The Children's Book (Byatt)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Garcia Marquez)
The Northern Clemency (Philip Hensher)
Unless (Carol Shields)

I'd second Edith Wharton and also recommend House of Mirth; anything by Scott Fitzgerald (ok, maybe not the short stories); and I really love Anita Brookner's books, mostly her earlier ones.

I'm sure these are v predictable suggestions... but I'd be interested to see what others recommend along this line. Good post OP.

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NigellasGuest · 06/01/2014 20:39

Daphne du Maurier all the way!

alternatively, Alice Thomas Ellis?

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MrsOakenshield · 06/01/2014 20:41

Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet chronicles.

Penny Vincenzi did a very good series about a publishing house, half my books are in the loft so I can't remember what it was called.

I Capture the Castle
Cold Comfort Farm

Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth

William Boyd is great.

Annie Proulx's Shipping News

will keep thinking!

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MrsOakenshield · 06/01/2014 20:42

oh, absolutely Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies (the 2nd in the series), I always thought Hilary Mantel would be too highbrow for me but they are fantastic!!

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exexpat · 06/01/2014 20:43

I can think of several contemporary north American writers who might fit the bill: Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett (Bel Canto) or (veering more towards the popular fiction end) Elizabeth Berg. Have you read any Carol Shields?

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notnowImreading · 06/01/2014 20:43

Cazalet chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, starting with The Light Years. Absolutely limpid clarity and interesting characters. I love them but there is no way on earth if have picked them up had I judged them by their covers: they look like real old-lady books. They're much sharper than that, though. They're about a large extended upper middle class family living in Sussex in the 30s and 40s with multiple narrators. Lovely on relationships and forensic about emotion.

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MrsOakenshield · 06/01/2014 20:44

Sarah Walters? Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet.

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notnowImreading · 06/01/2014 20:44

Ooh, cross-posted with Mrs Oakenshield.

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DoItTooJulia · 06/01/2014 20:45

Ok, so I've read Room, Gone Girl, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Freedom, Tracey Chevalier and Sarah Waters, Harold Fry, The Hundred Year Old Man....,A Short History of Travtors in Ukranian.

I tried Wolf Hall and couldn't get on with it. I felt sure I'd love it, but no. I'd even bought Bring Up The Bodies to read straight after!

Interesting suggestions though, they're in my amazon baskets!

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marlene4boycie · 06/01/2014 20:47

I have enjoyed Jonathan Franzen, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Stuart Nadler (their books :)) recently.

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