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Original poster

You know that heart-achingly wonderful, bittersweet feeling you get when you finish an incredible book? I want more of that in my life.

135 replies

SpaghettiBologneighs · 21/03/2013 21:56

That feeling you're left with when you've been utterly immersed in another life or another universe. I've just finished a wonderful series. Not high literature by any stretch, but beautifully written with characters who lived and breathed and moved me. I finished with my eyes full of tears and I feel bereft, but in a good way :).

I want more of that in my life. What books have left others feeling this way?

OP posts:
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 22/03/2013 16:13

HC - awful and perfect and lovely and heartbreaking, and just right - all at the same time! In fact, I now want to re-read them all again and I've already read them all at least six times!

HumphreyCobbler · 22/03/2013 16:09

Oh Goodness, is the ending of the Dark Tower awful? Book four just arrived in the post.

MandyAJ7 · 22/03/2013 16:03

Eagle in the Sky by Wilbur Smith
Shabby Tiger by Howard Spring
Venetia by Georgette Heyer
More recently - One Day by David Nicholls

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 22/03/2013 15:55

Yes to the ending of 'His Dark Materials' although those bloody horse things left me cold.
Yes to This Thing Of Darkness and its desperately sad ending.
Yes to The Book Thief.

Owen Meany and A Fine Balance both left me really angry and cheated though - they annoyed the hell out of me.

King's Dark Tower series - the ending is just so, so awful but so, so right.

A Handful Of Dust.

The end of the Harry Potter series.

Persuasion - beautiful, tender and just so, so satisfying.

Original poster
SpaghettiBologneighs · 22/03/2013 11:42

Arf at Dick Lit - the next publishing phenomenon?

Champagne, I know what you mean about needing extra hours in the day. I'm at home on mat leave with three week old DS2 atm and shamelessly taking advantage of the fact that we have inlaws staying to focus on reading as much as possible establishing breastfeeding before they go home and the full chaos of looking after a newborn and a boisterous toddler becomes real.

I miss my commute!

OP posts:
maybeyoushoulddrive · 22/03/2013 11:27

Oh yes, I ached after A Fine Balance! So many emotions - I have Shantaram and A Suitable Boy to try as a follow up...

Entirely different, and much more light weight, I always enjoy books by Adriana Trigliani. She tells such a good story Smile

BookFairy · 22/03/2013 11:13

I had that feeling late last night as I stayed up to finish Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much Is True". Fantastic :)

champagnesupernovum · 22/03/2013 11:00

I felt like this when I read a Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

And I havejust seen refs to Summer of My German Soldier - I always think of it whenever I hear the word FORMIDABLE

Need that feeling more too (also need another 3 hours in the day. )

maybeyoushoulddrive · 22/03/2013 10:57

Really really enjoying this thread! It is making me appreciate that we should just enjoy books and try not to be too swayed by the opinions of others.

I was reading through the list, nodding away to myself at so many of the books mentioned, but then I came to a few I absolutely hated. But that's alright, we are all different!

yy to Nevil Shute. I read his books voraciously as a teenager and have just been coming back to them now and enjoying them all over again.

Greenshootsandleeves I read Summer of my German Soldier as a teenager - loved it Smile Also greengage Summer, When Hitler stole Pink rabbit, and Joan Lingard's Kevin and Sadie stories. Aaaah happy days!

Rose Tremain is a great author - I always find myself totally immersed in her characters and the setting she creates for them. I haven't read Restoration though - am off to the library later so will see if they have it.

SorrelForbes · 22/03/2013 10:56

His style is quite 'British, stiff upper lip' I suppose but I just love his books. My BiL has a full set of NS hardbacks which he's never read but won't give to me [mean]

Allalonenow · 22/03/2013 10:44

YY to Requiem for a Wren, I can't understand why Shute seems to have fallen from favour now.

SorrelForbes · 22/03/2013 10:24

Just seen your post! Pied Piper is another favourite. I love A Town Like Alice but I don't consider it to be his best. Have you read Rainbow and The Rose or No Highway?

Poor old Neville doesn't seem very popular these days.

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 22/03/2013 10:15

SorrelForbes I've just posted about Shute's Pied Piper on the thread about books about the war. One of my very favourite books.

I love A Town Like Alice, too. Haven't read Requeim for a Wren so will add that to my list.

SorrelForbes · 22/03/2013 09:26

Requiem For A Wren by Neville Shute. Beautiful.

Ilovemyteddy · 22/03/2013 09:23

Greenshoots there are three sequels to the Frost in May books
The Lost Traveller
The Sugar House
Beyond the Glass

I remember reading them when they were republished back in the late 70s and loving them.. I read Beyond the Glass in one go, and the world around me just stopped for those few hours that I was reading it.

I've just taken my old Virago editions off the bookshelf and see that they were only £2.95 each. Those were the days!

Umlauf · 22/03/2013 07:27

Another vote for A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I mourned finishing that book for weeks. One of the only books I've cried at too.

Also the Carlos Ruiz Zafon novels do it for me, but they're not everyone's cup of tea.

LittleBunnyFeileFooFoo · 21/03/2013 23:54

I just read The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. Its not what I would usually read, it's gritty man fiction (dick lit?) and I tend to read sci-fi/fantasy. But it was amazing, really truly moved me.

There's some magic in it, but lots of swearing and some violence. Oh, and tragic romance.

SconeRhymesWithGone · 21/03/2013 23:49

Another vote for Restoration. I also think the film of it is good as well. It stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Sam Neill.

BertieBotts · 21/03/2013 23:48

Oh I want to read The Book Thief.

jenrendo · 21/03/2013 23:47

I have just finished 'The Secret Keeper' by Kate Morton and can think of nothing else. The ending is so bittersweet but also gives you a satisfying conclusion too. I am still thinking about it and can't begin another book :)

Allalonenow · 21/03/2013 23:35

Read some time ago, but probably could be ordered from the library, At Swim Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop should be easy to get hold of.
Recently I've enjoyed Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom.

If you especially like a series where the characters develop, the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian are very enjoyable.

BumgrapesofWrath · 21/03/2013 23:35

The books that have made me feel like this

The Book Thief
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Time Traveller's Wife
Catch-22

BertieBotts · 21/03/2013 23:22

I've just remembered that I got this with One Day as well! I know a lot of people thought it was drivel but I loved it. I think because it reminded me a bit of a relationship I'd had when I was younger!

BlatantRedhead · 21/03/2013 22:52

Thanks to this thread I literally just welled up trying to explain Lyra and Will saying goodbye to DP! I had forgotten how much I loved HDM, must read them again.. Hunger games took a long time to let go of after finishing the series, so did Harry Potter (I am of the generation that grew up reading them so was deeply emotionally invested).

One book that really got me was Jodi Picoults' My Sisters Keeper. The ending in the book left me an emotional wreck and I didn't read again for quite a while after. I also made every single 'reader' in my family read it. I was so excited about the film and gutted that they changed the end of the story completely.

Greenshootsandleeves · 21/03/2013 22:52

When I was younger I liked "Summer of my German Soldier", it was fab and I've ever met anyone else who has heard of it