To think so many books these days are fairly crap and unoriginal

[goddessoftheharvest]

I'm going away for the weekend, so I decided to get some new books for my kindle.

There's thousands of books in the Kindle store, it shouldn't be so hard to locate something decent!

They all seem to be trashy crime (there's a time and a place for a good crime thriller, but really)

Or else they have awful twee names, along the lines of "The Cotton Candy Teashop For Hopeless Cat Ladies In Badly Patterned Retro Swing Dresses"

Or they look ok, then you read the description and it's one of those plots where Mandy finds a letter in her granny's shoe, and for some reason this means that every other chapter flashes back to Cynthia in 1914, who has a dark secret that is actually bloody underwhelming, once you are 554 pages in.

Then there's the ones where the author can write well, but they try to be a bit too highbrow, and they churn out some huge fucking tome which tarts itself out as "a moving depiction of the disintegration of a marriage",when really it's about Barbara finding out that Cyril has been shagging round with the lady in the chemist.

I love books, and I'm not even that picky. I don't think it has to make big statements about love, or war. I'm not adverse to trash, especially when it's fairly well written, you can tell the author has just had a good time writing it, tongue firmly lodged in cheek

Everyone seems to feel their book has to be deep, to say something really original and meaningful and subversive. Either that or it's a story about Mary Sue opening a fucking organic cupcake shop

AIBU? Suggestions welcome, by the way. So far I've only downloaded a book about Nepalese cookery,which is lovely but not exactly what I'm looking for

[NuggetofPurestGreen]

YANBU but there is still plenty of good stuff around. Get over to 'what we're reading' I've gotten some great recommendations from there.

[NuggetofPurestGreen]

I've just read The Fireman by Joe Hill. Also liked The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney (won the Baileys prize).

[FlowerOfTheWest]

at The Cotton Candy Tea Shop for Hopeless Cat Ladies. That would be a surefire Amazon bestseller!
Anyway, I'm currently reading and enjoying The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. It's sci-fi and usually I avoid sci-fi so it must be good. Next up I've got The Girl From The Savoy because I enjoyed the writer's other book about the Titanic.
Are you looking mainly at free Kindle books btw, or Kindle books in general? IME the free ones are mostly shite.

[TowerRavenSeven]

Yanbu. No suggestions as I am picky and it's been a good while I've read anything truly good.

The best way for me to find good kindle books is to go to the library itself and find ones that look decent. Then I snap a photo of the cover and add it to my 'database' of books I may consider getting for my kindle - hopefully from the library digital resources for free.

I subscribe to a reduced and free kindle book website...and have been so disappointed with it as late I just delete them. Unfortunately for the readers (not the authors) it's so much easier to get 'published' with kindle that there is so much more crap out there. I don't care if I get it for free, if a book is full of editing errors I don't want to read it. Books imo should be a perfect read - no editing issues. And if I'm paying, even .99, I want it to be perfect editing wise.

I feel your pain.

[FaFoutis]

YANBU. I have given up on modern fiction.

[MitzyLeFrouf]

Mandy finds a letter in her granny's shoe, and for some reason this means that every other chapter flashes back to Cynthia in 1914, who has a dark secret that is actually bloody underwhelming, once you are 554 pages in.



This certainly seems to be a growing genre since Kate Morton's success. And yes, the big reveal is generally a bit of a snooze.

And these books always have a cover photo of a gate leading into the garden of some crumbling stately pile! Gate Fiction.

[sassytheFIRST]

Liking your description! But recommend The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Fits none of your listed irritants - it's a rather beautiful modem fairy story set in 1920a Alaska.

[RuggerHug]

Ok what type are you looking for? If you want a good crime thriller have you read stasi child? Just finished it and loved it. But other genres please otherwise I could waffle on for ages here

[spankhurst]

YANBU. I was an avid reader in my youth but find so many books now pretentious/poorly written/ predictable tosh. A Good Read on Radio 4 has given me some good tips. A Short Gentleman and The Ice Palace are both very well written.

[TheHiphopopotamus]

The Cotton Candy Teashop For Hopeless Cat Ladies In Badly Patterned Retro Swing Dresses

I read that, twas rubbish.

I recently read Fellside, which I enjoyed enormously but not sure it would appeal to everyone. Also The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell. Didn't think it would be my cup of tea but couldn't put it down.

But agree with your OP, there's a lot of shite out there at moment. Lots of crappy chick lit and thrillers trying to be clever with twists that don't make any sense.

[Banderwassnatched]

Booker Prize Winners, that's what i'm reading..Just finished Julian Barnes' 'The Sense of an Ending', that was good. Wolf Hall was marvellous. Margaret Attwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy is fabulous. Yes most published books are dross, same as most TV, but it always was.

[justnotaballetmum]

House I Grew Up In - Everyone Shags Everyone Else; Woman Has Too Much Stuff

Can we rename popular books, in spirit of the OP, which has had me genuinely LOLing for the first time in aaaagggess

[goddessoftheharvest]

Gate Fiction! That's it exactly. I think I read Kate Morton's first book, iirc it was OK but nothing special, now there's duplicates everywhere. The heroine is always a drip who never just gets on with things, but just drips around, taking weeks to read the diary of some 19th century heiress.

And they always end up shagging a tree surgeon with a thatch of hair, muscles,an adorable labrador and a land-rover. Fuck off!

Anyway, thank you for the recommendations. I'm downloading samples now. I've read a couple already and really liked them. The Snow Child was beautiful. I lent it to my parents and they both loved it too

[TaraCarter]

The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet was fanbloodytastic. OP, read that.

[HumptyDumptyBumpty]

Two recent gems:
Putting Mankind First, by Irwin Monk - funny, scathing, interesting, historical sci-fi (trust me, it works)

The St Mary's Chronicles by Jodi Taylor (series, v funny romps through history).

[Confusednotcom]

The last real page turner I read was I am pilgrim. Lianne Moriarty is great for holiday feel good reading. Marking thread as I love books. My biggest bugbear lately is I've found so many wrap up in a slightly unbelievable way which spoils the sense of being lost in it a bit. Even I am pilgrim is guilty of this but I'd still recommend it.

[justnotaballetmum]

Any chance of a synopsis of Snow Child, OP? :)

[hollie11]

Desert flower, by waris dirie.

[acasualobserver]

OP, I solved your problem by giving up fiction. Haven't looked back.

[HolesInTheFloor]

Yes, yes to Booker shortlist. I've just read A Little Life by someone I've forgotten and am too lazy to google but it was heartbreakingly lovely.

[FoxesOnSocks]

Well if you like Snow Child the take a look at The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen (I suggest this as it come up on The Snow Child 'Readers also Enjoyed' on Goodreads. I appear to have liked it too!!

[goddessoftheharvest]

Funny you should say that. I've been reading a lot more travel/history books recently. Much more satisfying than fiction these days. I particularly love mountaineering books. I'd rather climb to the bottom of a bottle of Merlot than I would Everest, nonetheless I find it fascinating

Synopsis of Snow Child- slightly saggy middle aged couple move to Alaska because they feel Eastbourne is passe. They miss the public transport network and contrary to all expectations, they are not eaten by bears.
It is a genuinely lovely book though.

[ChipStix]

Ha ha - that is exactly what I think as I browse. So much is soooo dull.

Wolf Hall was wonderful though


The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
I was looking at thus in waters tones and might get it as a holiday read.

I recently read American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield - she is a great writer and it's so well imagined and so interesting and beautifully written but not overwritten

Elena Ferrante - am liking the and apparently the get better as you go along.

I take it yiu have read The Secret History and The Poisonwood Bible.

[Balonder]

The Circle by Dave Eggers is on offer on Kindle now, monthly deal I think. It's excellent. A look at world's obsession with social media in the near future

[scarednoob]

Agreed there is a lot of generic stuff being published. I did a masters in creative writing recently (for fun, I won't be publishing anything any time soon!!) and we were told that the 2 best selling things at the moment are vampire fiction.... And pet biographies. Slit my wrists now.

Have you read Sarah waters? She's amazing. And jojo moyes, ship of brides and the girl you left behind are brilliant. And the hourglass factory, about suffragettes. And frog music, about exotic dancers and murderers in 1900 San Francisco.