Coming off a literary high - please help

Another vote for "Love in the Time of Cholera" here.

I liked "The Help" a lot - I thought you would have to be interested in the Deep South and civil rights movement to enjoy it, but strangely, that wasn't the case. It's also much, much deeper and more enjoyable than the movie.

Withering Heights? What's that, one of Oscar Wilde's lesser known works?

Is Dark Towers 'His Dark Materials'? If so I also thought that ended badly, almost like he disappeared in an overwritten vacuum of his own making. I wanted to love it, as I loved the series in general, but ended up speed reading it to the end which probably didn't help.

Remus - yes, Book Thief is a children's book, and is best understood as that. As a book written for adults it is ludicrously patronising. It is interesting how different people find things - I found the voice of death clunky and cheaty - enabling the author to get around some difficult problems with the story.

THis is a great thread - I was looking for some inspiration myself!
1000 autumns of jacob de zoet (same author) is great - although takes a while to get into. Just finished the white tiger - easy to read but really interesting book. Of course withering heights is always a good one to go back to.

Remus- i know what you mean about the ending but it was still a disappointment !

I was initially a bit surprised/put out by the Dark Tower ending but on reflection decided it was probably the only way it COULD have ended and on re-reads I've thought it was perfect. Won't say anything else for fear of spoilers!

Jigo I recommend you start another thread. I hope that doesn't come across as nasty, as it isn't intended to be - it's just that your own thread is more likely to suggest something you'll want to read, I think. Congratulations on your pregnancy.

I quite liked, 'My Life As A Fake' and, 'The Kelly Gang' (which I think I mentioned earlier) but I think he's a flawed writer and is particularly bad at endings (but then again, so many books are let down by their endings).

Rose Tremain not bad but probably not 'hard' enough for what Cote wants. I recently read one of hers about an immigrant coming to Britain - it was okay but too much sex for my liking and a bit lightweight.

I really liked, 'The Book Thief' - it surprised me how much so many people on here hated it. I read it thinking it was a children's book but actually not sure if it is or not. I liked the voice of Death - a bit like Pratchett!

For recent ones how about a brief history of the dead by Kevin Brockmeier - not sure what this counts as - sci fi? fantasy. Also pilo family circus
Does Magnus Mills count?

Re the Dark Tower series- I loved the first 2 0r 3 of these but then it tails off and I thought the ending was very weak.

londonlottie - I read the Book Thief at my book group and we ALL hated it with a passion. I think it's a dreadful book, manipulative and really badly written.

The book group discussion veered round to the subject of 'how should you teach children about the Holocaust?' and I said much better to read real accounts than some fictionalised version of it.

So, to add to the list, if anyone hasn't read Anne Frank's diary, I recommend it. (The Modern Penguin edition, The Diary of a Young Girl, is good as it put back in some things that were edited out of earlier editions, relating to the approach of puberty, her fallings-out with her parents, etc).

Just read "I don't know how she does it" by Alison Pearson. As a rule don't read chic lit - actually don't read much! But as first baby due - half way there - got me thinking about balancing work and motherhood and really enjoyed this book. Can anyone recommend anything similar? Thanks.

Am loving this thread - not least because I was a huge fan of Cloud Atlas and was just recoiling from reading a FB friend's update which involved her cooing over the Book Thief but left me thinking that I was in need of a good book recommendation. (Now there's a title - read it for my first ever foray into a book club. I completely and utterly detested it, and was the only person who did, which made for an interesting introduction to everyone else as this newcomer ranted inexplicably in the corner at them all...)

After reading this thread last night I downloaded This Thing Of Darkness to my Kindle and started reading, so thanks for that.

I've never got into magical realism either, really. Allende wasn't for me. Also found Marquez impenetrably dense to read. Would sit staring at a page and realise an hour had passed and I had barely shifted a paragraph. Haven't read Middlemarch but did love Silas Marner. Really enjoy being surprised by some of the classics that they really were exceptional yarns, the biggest joy in recent years being Grapes of Wrath - which I'd never read.

(By the way, I have read other Mitchell, and found them variable - but IIRC I quite liked Black Swan Green. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de wotsit I found incomprehensible.)

Re: Cloud Atlas - fabulous book indeed but a movie with Hugh Grant, share basildonbond's trepidation

Cote, have you read Peter Carey's novels. Think you might enjoy him - I really enjoyed True History of the Kelly Gang and also My Life as a Fake. Also, I see jkklpu suggested Rose Tremain - try her novel The Colour. Gritty and evocative and long after you have read it the place and the mood haunts you.

Have something light on the go while you tackle The Road! Brilliant though

Also I recommend Kent Haruf to anyone who hasn't read him

Magic realism is when the story potters along as normal and then every now and then something clearly abnormal happens- a child is born with bright green hair/ a woman bursts into flames after eating matches etc and crucially no- one says ' good lord we must get the water tested' or 'call health and safety' but carries on as if this is all par for the course.

Down and Out is fantastic. Not much from Orwell I don't like. Similarly Roald Dahl is always worth another look as an adult.

I just couldn't get on with the Bell Jar it just plodded along, we had a discussion and decided to part on good terms.

Enders Game? Orson Scott Card. Sci fi but palatable to quite seriously anti sci fi readers (aka my dad). Ignore the self congratulatory intro telling you how wonderful it is and just read it- without the hype, v good.

Have just finished the The Children's Book AS Byatt- which I enjoyed as I am a sucker for a long running family saga although I now know far more about pottery glazes and the Fabian society than is probably necessary- not sure if that counts as brain hurty parts or just lecturing.

Yes, Down and Out! I read that when I was an au pair in Paris, and felt very akin to him!

Now might be the time to mention, 'Down And Out In Paris And London' and, 'The Road To Wigan Pier' too.

Ooh - I haven't read, 'Travels With Charlie.' And there was me thinking I'd 'done' Steinbeck entirely!

I suspect that Cote would detest magical realism. I like Isabel Allende but vastly prefer her non-fiction. I think I may have mentioned 'Paula' earlier on this thread. Now there is a book that everyone should read.

Am quarterways through Bonfire of the Vanities, but keep searching for shorter, faster books to read alongside it! Feels a bit slow-moving at the moment.

They Shoot Horses Don't They? by Horace McCoy. Read it yesterday, very good.

East of Eden amazing book, isn't it Remus? (and yes, you do want to read Slaughterhouse 5!) I watched the E of E film after reading the book and couldn't believe how little it touched on yet it was still a beautiful film.

Travels With Charley by Steinbeck is good too.

Yes to Marquez, anything by him.

I went through a phase of reading lots of Charles Bukowski books a few years back. Not the most sympathetic of writers, especially towards women, but tragically honest about himself.

And continuing with booze and grittiness, I loved Zola's Drinking Den and Belly of Paris. I didn't find them flowery, although packed with description!

Castles Burning by Magda Denes