Would anyone like to help me get my holiday reading sorted?

[VolumniaDedlock]

Lovely mate just got me some Waterstones vouchers for my birthday. I'd like something cheerful/whimsical, as I've been reading some properly bleak stuff recently. Nothing too challenging. I quite like Sarah Waters, Kate Atkinson, Ian McEwan, that sort of thing.

[Provencalroseparadox]

Kate Atkinson has a follow up to Life After Life out in early May.

Have you read Joanne Harris? Also things like The 100 Year Old Man, Where'd you go Bernadette and The Night Circus?

You might like Carter Beats the Devil as well.

[VolumniaDedlock]

I have read a couple of Joanne Harris, although not Chocolat - I might finally get round to that one. I enjoyed Where'd you go Bernadette, so I am guessing that your other recommendations might be the sort of thing I'm after - will have a google, thank you.

[ShanghaiDiva]

Maggie o'farell.

[VolumniaDedlock]

thanks - think I've read all the Maggie O'Farrells though! is there anyone similar you can recommend?

[Costacoffeeplease]

Liane Moriarty? Lisa Jewell?

[CoteDAzur]

If you like Kate Atkinson & Ian McEwan, Donna Tartt would be right up your street. I would really recommend The Goldfinch.

Lisa Jewell is chick-lit. I don't think you will like her stuff.

[VolumniaDedlock]

Cote, I just finished The Goldfinch (liked it a lot, although the Vegas Years needed some more assertive editing).

[juneau]

Americanah: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The White Tiger: Aravind Adiga
White Teeth: Zadie Smith
The Luminaries: Eleanor Catton
Or Maggie O'Farrell - yes - she's great!

[SisterNancySinatra]

I'm reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters , quite a thick book, very intriguing so far .

[cdtaylornats]

The Jeeves and Wooster books have all been reissued

[cosytoaster]

Number 1 Detective Agency?

[nashvillerocks]

Rose Tremain

[CoteDAzur]

Then, I think you would also like The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It won the Booker Prize in 2013. So beautifully written that it is hard to believe the author was only 28 when she wrote it.

[highlandcoo]

The Observations by Jane (not Joanne) Harris is great. Funny and intriguing.

Ann Patchett is also excellent. Bel Canto and State of Wonder are good ones to start with.

Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido. Lovely book.

And I think you would like Sue Gee too. The Hours of the Night, The Mysteries of Glass and Earth and Heaven are all good.

[VolumniaDedlock]

thanks again everyone
I'll have a read around every one of the recommendations once I've got these pesky kids to bed.

[RyanAirVeteran]

I very rarely do "worthy" books these days.

My best reads lately have been.


The girl on the train.

The Harry Quibert Affair

I Am Pilgrim

Apple Tree Yard

[DonnaKebab66]

Lisa Jewell is far superior to chicklit writers IMO. I love her books. I also like Dorothy Komsoon, who some may describe as chicklit, but she isn't, again IMHO.

[CoteDAzur]

Lisa Jewell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lisa Jewell (born 19 July 1968, Middlesex Hospital, London) is a popular British author of chick lit fiction.

[CoteDAzur]

Chick lit author on Dream Street with literary prize
The Guardian
Lisa Jewell wins top prize at awards set up to rebrand chick lit and bolster its literary credentials.

[DuchessofMalfi]

Noooo not the chick lit debate again :o

Lisa Jewell can write rather well. Maybe she does pick lighter subjects for some of her novels but she does them well. The House We Grew Up In, which I read recently, is quite dark and deals seriously with hoarding and the associated mental illness of the central character. Not one I would classify as chick lit by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn't want that as a holiday read though.

[Southeastdweller]

It might be too 'light' for you, but I recently enjoyed Not Quite Nice, by Celia Imrie.

[CoteDAzur]

Duchess It's not a debate. Just showing DonnaKebab that Lisa Jewell is indeed a chick-lit writer.

[DuchessofMalfi]

Maybe she is a writer who can step in and out of a genre depending on her subject. Marian Keyes dealt with the unpleasant subject of domestic violence in This Charming Man. Again not one I'd want with me on holiday.

I rather like a good thriller for holidays. Something gripping that keeps me turning the pages or a good old fashioned crime novel like Agatha Christie or Ellis Peters' Cadfael novels.

[CoteDAzur]

Sure, like all great literary writers step in and out of chick-lit

I guess she is trying to appear like a better more serious writer by deliberately choosing one sad/serious/tragic subject matter after another.

Marian Keyes is another chick-lit writer.

What is the relevance of books you would or wouldn't like to take with you on holiday to chick lit? I just read books I like to read when on holiday, as at any other time (which is not chick lit, whether it talks about domestic violence, mental illness, or whatever )

[DianeLockhart]

Everything i never told you - Celeste Ng
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Moth smoke - mohsin hamid
Snowdrops - AD Miller
Tiny sunbirds far away - Christie Watson

Not really whimsical but all books I really enjoyed and which I think might suit you.