Can anyone recommend three books for holiday reading?

[Rosieeo]

It might be wishful thinking with two little 'uns, but I plan on buying three books for my hols and don't want to do it last minute at the airport.

I want something really thick and meaty, that I can really get into. It's been so long since I read a book like that!

I (generally) don't like chick or victim literature, not too keen on detective stuff or Dan Brown stylee. I normally like the bookclub type novels but have been a bit with some of them recently.

It would be great to have recommendations, if anyone has any?

[cilldara]

"American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld... intelligent and a real page turner.

[Bink]

I really enjoyed This Book Will Save Your Life (A M Homes) - it's sweet and funny and makes you think a bit. Very much bookclub material (but I am not being disparaging either to it or to bookclubs - it is genuinely good).

The other thing I've liked a lot and thought was worth the time spent was The Testament of Gideon Mack (James Robertson) - similar quality level - not sweet'n'funny though, more fascinating and odd.

[londonartemis]

What about Restless by William Boyd? I was drawn in really fast and loved it.

[londonartemis]

PS What about Crow Lake or The Other Side of the Bridge (?)by Mary Lawson. I read them last summer and loved them. Well written.
Also, have just recommended on another thread here Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido.

[dizzymac]

I second the American Wife. I read it recently on holiday. It was just right as a holiday read light but well written.

[Overmydeadbody]

Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing. It is the best book I've read this yaer and so far I have read over 50 books.

[Rosieeo]

I'm on Amazon as we speak! I think my mum has American Wife, so that's one in the bag already and I'm just looking at the rest now.

Has anyone read Guernica or The Gargoyle?

[Rosieeo]

Overmydeadbody, I've heard Mara and Dann mentioned before, but isn't it part of a series? Do you need to have read the other books?

[fishie]

i liked this book will save your life too, funny i did think she was a man because there aren't many women in it.

you'll probably enjoy rebecca miller - the private lives of pippa lee. and diane setterfield, the thirteenth tale.

i have got as byatt children's hour on order from library, hopefully will arrive in time for hols. i sat at computer and ordered all those books the sunday supplements say we must read during the summer, but now can't remember what i ordered and what i have got is all japanese or iris murdoch.

[Maria2007]

Sorry, don't agree about the Private lives of Pippa Lee. Didn't like it at all, very self-satisfied & pretentious writing; and certainly not meaty.

How about 'Any human heart' by William Boyd. Or something by John Irving or Anne Tyler? I also enjoyed 'The little stranger' by Sarah Waters which I read recently; certainly a novel to draw you in. Oh, I know, another one 'The feast of love' by Charles Baxter, I've loved that since I read it.

[pollywobbledoodle]

also disliked pippa lee a bit smug and lazy.

just read the nightwatch by sara waters fascinating and quick to get into.

[AvengingGerbil]

What about historical fiction? I took Philippa Gregory's 'The Constant Princess' with me and it kept me going for a good while.

[changenameruk]

took the latest jodi picoult and maeve binchy and found them a great holiday read.

[linz76]

What about the blind assasin by margaret atwood? I know it's been out for years but it's a great read. Only read one of jodie picoult's. I'm currently reading the believers by Zoe Heller, am loving it.

[Rosieeo]

Fab, thank you!

Have ordered This Book Will Save Your Life and Mara and Dann. Mum has American Wife, so that's good.

I've read Blind Assassin and the Philippa Gregory one, they were great. Jodie Picoult tends to upset me, My Sister's Keeper and the one about the little boy who has abused by the priest were awful (not bad awful). It might have been because I was a bit post-baby I suppose.

[saadia]

I took Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks on holiday and found it fascinating, informative and gripping.

[choosyfloosy]

Reckless by William Boyd
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, or if it will take you over the baggage allowance, An Equal Music by the same guy
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis - massively underrated IMO.

[daisyj]

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (author of The Virgin Suicides). Wonderful. Also, The Secret History by Donna Tartt - it's a literary whydunnit (but not detective fiction - I know you said you don't like that). Curtis Sittenfeld a great suggestion too. An if you like Margaret Attwood, Alias Grace is gripping.

[tiredemma]

I just read The Other Hand by Chris Cleave on holiday. I really enjoyed it, couldnt put it down.

[MrsGuyofGisbourne]

'The House on The Strand' by Daphne Du Maurier
'The Shape of Water' by Andrea Camilleri
'Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' Henry Licoln

[cookielove]

the memory's keepers daughter by an author i can't remember, anything by sophie kinsella or jodi picoult

[saadia]

I would also second Alias Grace - that is a must-read IMO.

[abgirl]

Would really recommend 'The Gargoyle' - a fab read, also 'The 13th Tale' - Diane Setterfield and 'The Book Thief' - could go on and on actually...

[ViktoriaMac]

The latest Wally Lamb is great, I'm just finishing it, it's called "The Hour I First Believed."

[mrskeegs]

A vote for an oldie that you may well find in a charity shop - Gone with the wind. I loved Scarlett and Rhett even more at the end of it than I did after the film. I can also second The thirteenth tale by Diane Setterfield, and also Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, enormous, engrossing and excellent. And a more traditional one, Middlemarch, George Eliot. Utterly brilliant.