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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.

OP posts:
Dilidali · 06/04/2014 21:01

Never read anything by Kate Mosse, so don't know :)
Awww, hope you find something. Enjoy your hols anyway :)

tumbletumble · 06/04/2014 20:57

I expect you've read it, but - Wild Swans?

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 20:42

You know how I feel about woman writers. I was doubly impressed that its author is a woman.

MrsBungle · 06/04/2014 20:42

I like Alison Moore, the lighthouse is quite a simple plot although very difficult to explain at the same time! Quite dark. Not sure if it's manly but it's definitely not womany either! Grin

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 20:41

The Luminaries ticks a lot of your boxes - Big tome, historical (New Zealand during the gold rush of 1860s), very well-written, beautifully drawn characters. I was very impressed by it and couldn't believe that it was written by a 27-year-old.

SheherazadeSchadenfreude · 06/04/2014 20:40

The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler.
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant

Parliamo · 06/04/2014 20:39

I never even finished foucault's pendulum but loved in the name of the rose.

Birdsong?

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 20:36

Hate Kate Mosse - dreadful writer imvho. Sorry - am being v awkward, as usual. :(

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Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 20:35

Have read most of Wilkie C's now. Not overfond of Marakami - have read Bird Chronicle; most of his too short too. Didn't like Eco but would fit length wise!

Why do I need to read The Luminaries? Deffo don't want to take it away with me, but happy to try it later.

PS - not sure if I dare admit it on here, but am finding that my patience with female writers is getting lower and lower. I want something manly, I think! :)

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Dilidali · 06/04/2014 20:33

Kate Mosse Labyrinth? It is next in my pile to read.
Oh, I think I might have one: Out
Deeply dusturbing book, it marked me, never read anything like it.

Parliamo · 06/04/2014 20:33

Or shantaram? The only of your criteria it really fits is big, but it is different, and some parts very funny without being in the slightest bit fluffy. It all gets a bit dark.

Anna karenina?

Lomaamina · 06/04/2014 20:33

The children's room by AS Byatt ticks 'thick' and 'historical'

www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/09/as-byatt-childrens-book

MrsBungle · 06/04/2014 20:31

How about the lighthouse by Alison Moore although it's not that long

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 20:31

Remus - You need to read The Luminaries.

evelynj · 06/04/2014 20:31

The wind up bird chronicle? I love Murakami & this is my fave, fantastic translator & sort of book where bits of it will stay with you forever.

Liked the snow child but it's not that long iirc. Yy to Middlesex

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 20:30

Remus - Give that book a chance. Borrow it from the library, read a few pages. It is very different than Ballard's usual weirdness.

Parliamo · 06/04/2014 20:30

In the name of the rose by Umberto Eco? Is literary, but I don't remember it being heavy going.

Finickynotfussy · 06/04/2014 20:29

I loved The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon and it fits your criteria, I think. Or how about some more Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone is the best, in my opinion.

MrsMystery · 06/04/2014 20:26

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Description:

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize 2013.

Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?

So beautiful to read, I recommend it!

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 20:24

Didn't like Harold Fry, though tbh I only tried it because a friend lent it to me. Not my sort of thing, but thanks for trying. No to Sue T - deffo not what I'm after. Want dark, gritty, maybe Victorian-esque, deffo no fluff.

Thanks for trying - am bloody awkward, sorry.

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Dilidali · 06/04/2014 20:21

*went to bed for a year

Dilidali · 06/04/2014 20:20

Something funny? Sue Townsend-the woman who webt to bed for a year?
Just bought Rachel Joyce: Perfect (I adored her previous one: the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry)

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 20:18

Can't read Ballard. Tried two and thought they were both awful. Don't want YA now either. Fed up of just about everything; don't really know WHAT I want.

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CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 20:08

By "urban dystopia", I get the feeling that you are referring to something YA and terribly juvenile Grin but if you would like to read from a master before he went senile, read some of the earlier books of William Gibson: Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Idoru are some of the best. Very urban, near future, dark, gritty. The books that started the genre.

I can't quite fit it into a genre, but I would also recommend for you J G Ballard's book of short stories called Vermillion Sands.

Original poster
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/04/2014 18:51

And it is ALWAYS that time - have avoided it for ages by only reading non-fiction and re-reads.

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