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Original poster

Help me decide on a book to take on holiday next week

163 replies

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 15:45

A real, live book - not Kindle. Has to be one I've not read before and has to be big. Ideally it will - be well written without being literary, have either a who-dunnit or historical or dystopian or apocalyptic element to it, or indeed all of those.

Things that would tick those boxes but that I've already read are:
Anything by Wilkie Collins
The Passage / The Twelve
CJ Sansom's Shardlake books
This Thing of Darkness

Don't fancy sci-fi at the moment and don't want anything in the best seller lists.

Thanks in advance.

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DuchessofMalfi · 07/04/2014 08:29

How about this?

On my to read shelf, not yet read, but on the strength of other novels of his that I've read it should be good.

Mygoldfishrocks · 06/04/2014 22:52

probably far too low brow but Forever Amber is a great read as is Rumours of a Hurricane. very different to each other but equally engrossing

overthemill · 06/04/2014 22:23

Joyce carol Oates? Really meaty big books. Could recommend a few titles if you like. Also Annie proulx

SerenaJoy · 06/04/2014 22:22

Crikey, am a bit scared to suggest anything but here goes Grin

Shogun by James Clavell?

It's big, historical, written by a man.

[hides]

Designjunkie · 06/04/2014 21:55

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Next on my list, her bestseller Secret History was fantastic.

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:52

Have read Poe.

Well written as in knows how to string a sentence together, paragraph and punctuate, whilst not peppering the pages with brand names, cliches or clunky dialogue, but not literary in the sense of Ian M or Seb F etc.

Don't fancy Shriver - didn't like 'Kevin.'

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nkf · 06/04/2014 21:49

I don't get your criteria either. What's "well written without being literary?"

Anyway, I recently read Big Brother by Lionel Shriver and thought it was good.

PoisonedApple · 06/04/2014 21:47

Edgar!

PoisonedApple · 06/04/2014 21:47

How about the complete works of Wdgar Allen Poe?! Also hate Kate Moss, utterly pants writer, found 'Labyrinth' totAlly cringeworthingly bad and am completely mystified as to why it was so well received. Glad to get that off my chest!

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:46

Not that one but read another about them. Really looking for a novel though - have got various non-fiction books, as I find it much easier to find non-fic I fancy reading, than novels.

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MrsBungle · 06/04/2014 21:41

Have you read the Mitford girls? Quite long, a bit recent historical?

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:30

Have read, 'Carter' and, 'The Monk' and 'Fingersmith' (really don't get on with Waters though). Couldn't get on with Melmoth; not read Justified Sinner so will add to non-holiday potentials list.

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Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:28

Have read, 'Alice Grace' and liked it until the final quarter. Atwood has a horrible tendency to let her 'message' get in the way of her stories, imvho. That works in, 'The Handmaid's Tale' but gets a bit wearing in her others.

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Cheboludo · 06/04/2014 21:27

Oh, I've just remembered Carter beats the Devil by Glen David Gold. I loved it in the way that I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, The Crimson Petal and the White and Fingersmith. All very different books with fully created worlds/ societies.

Gothic any good? Melmoth the Wanderer is long (I haven't read it). The Monk and The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner are shorter but excellent.

booksshoescats · 06/04/2014 21:24

Have you read Alias Grace? Big, historical (in that it's based on a true story), don't usually like Margaret Atwood but I love this one. Wonderful book.

And another writer who's thoroughly brilliant is Katherine Webb, and her latest, The Misbegotten, is fab - I'd describe her as a commercial author but her writing is as good as any 'literary' author. Her sense of place is amazing and she gives equal weight to plot and characters, which makes for a thoroughly satisfying read.

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:21

Read The Historian. Not going to bother with The Goldfinch as didn't think a great deal of her other two. Will google Andrew P, thanks.

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traviata · 06/04/2014 21:21

China Mieville does a lot of urban dystopia, and he is a man.

booksshoescats · 06/04/2014 21:20

How about Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian? Very chilling and gripping. Or Andrew Pyper's The Demonologist. Both a bit gothic, mystery, thriller-y. The Historian has it for size, though - kept me going for ages!

Just read and loved The Goldfinch - I would actually say that although Donna Tartt is 'literary' this is very page turning, but it seems a bit of a Marmite book as I know some people have found it not as gripping as I did. There is a very dreamy section in the middle - dreamy and disturbing and quite dystopian, actually, set in Las Vegas.

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:17
Grin
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CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 21:16

I'm reading Wolf Hall now and frankly regretting it.

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:12

Thank you. Sorry.

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Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:11

Ooh Marcel T - I read one of his once and liked it. Brilliant.

Can't be doing with Hilary M though - hated Beyond Black & Fludd and just about coped with Wolf Hall.

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traviata · 06/04/2014 21:10

Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black, or Fludd, or Vacant Possession

Jane Harris - The Observations, or Gillespie & I

Marcel Theroux - Strange Bodies ( modern Frankenstein tale)

alas these are not very big, but you could take two.

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:07

The Lighthouse looks promising - not for this hol, but maybe one for later.

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Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 21:06

Dili - ignore me. Am a bloomin' fussy bugger.

Wild Swans - read it / didn't like it. Told you I was a fussy bugger!

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