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Original poster

What's the last brilliant book you read?

135 replies

HoggleHoggle · 04/03/2016 17:55

I'm very excited to be going to an actual bookshop on Sunday rather than buying online but I'm all out of inspiration! I read a lot and am running out of stuff I'm aware of.

Can anyone tell me the last book they read that they absolutely loved?

Mine was The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Picked up solely because it has an outrageously beautiful cover Blush I'd never heard of it before but it was AMAZING. And the first of a five volume series so that's how I've been spending the last month of my life!

Am interested in novels mostly but also happy to hear about non-fiction. Thank you!

OP posts:
ThomasRichard · 08/03/2016 12:38

I picked up Rebel of the Sands in Tesco the other day and really enjoyed it. I'm not usually one for supermarket fiction at all but it had a pretty cover Blush

ExitPursuedByABear · 08/03/2016 12:30

Place marking for ideas.

GoblinLittleOwl · 08/03/2016 12:22

The Grass is singing Doris Lessing
Cry, The Beloved country Alan Paton

Both written about 60 years ago, but amazing.

MorrisZapp · 08/03/2016 12:12

Totally agree re This Book will Change Your Life. It's a total fame changer, hilarious and entertaining too, if a tad arse obsessed.

roselover · 08/03/2016 12:07

A M Homes - THis book will change your Life" - was the last great book I read ...amazing writer - transformative - hyper realism in literature...

Queenelsarules · 08/03/2016 09:13

A little life is the best book I've read in a long time, beautiful, harrowing, engrossing, I hated finishing it. I can't seem to read any thing else since I read it, most unlike me!

Sirona · 08/03/2016 07:47

Glad to see recommendations for Station 11. I started reading it two days ago and loving it so far.

Maisie04 · 07/03/2016 21:07

You were right to give up so early! Smile. So boring, with characters that I didn't care about

Laska5772 · 07/03/2016 20:56

Oh and 'Being Dead' by Jim Crace (and 'Harvest' by Jim Crace also)

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 07/03/2016 20:56

Ms peregrine's home for peculiar children.

T'was excellent.

Jannrooo · 07/03/2016 20:53

Hare w Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. Incredible.

Laska5772 · 07/03/2016 20:53

Not the last , but I have never forgotten 'A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki , its brilliant ..

Am reading Disclaimer right now..

TeaMeBasil · 07/03/2016 20:46

Another vote for Our Endless Numbered Days - I finished it a week ago and am still thinking about it despite starting a new book.

FartyTette · 07/03/2016 20:38

I also loved A God in Ruins, Paying Guests and Bone Clocks. I also enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing, and another vote for Station 11, which is a really thought provoking dystopian novel,

Winifredgoose · 07/03/2016 20:20

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngosi Adiche. It really made me think about immigration, and reassess how I treat people working in menial jobs( not that I have ever been rude). A brilliant book.

Footle · 07/03/2016 20:17

Hope you like it, Hoggle.

AKAmyself · 07/03/2016 20:11

The last truly brilliant book I've read is The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan.

I started re-reading it the minute I finished it. Incredibly well-written, harrowing, heartbreaking, and such a rich and layered structure and character study that will make you gasp at the end. A truly beautiful reflection on what makes us human in the midst of inconceivable brutality and loss. I sobbed on an airplane, next to a very bemused businessman.

Second all those who have quoted Kate Atkinson's, I didnt think it was possible to love a book more than I did Life after Life but A God in Ruins was just as amazing.

damepeanutbutter · 07/03/2016 19:18

The End of Your Life Bookclub - beautiful. And you'll want to read all the books mentioned in it!

Original poster
HoggleHoggle · 07/03/2016 19:11

Brilliant, thanks footle

OP posts:
BirthdayBetty · 07/03/2016 19:03

Place marking for ideas. I've just started reading The Paying Guests.

TheoriginalLEM · 07/03/2016 19:00

I enjoyed The Invisible Library mentioned upthread.

Am currently reading Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookshop on my kindle, i don't think its a recent release but its very good. Interesting concept and easy to read.

Paddletonio · 07/03/2016 18:51

Another vote for a god in ruins (and place marking to check out some of these suggestions myself!)

Footle · 07/03/2016 18:39

HoggleHoggle, it was me, or I since this is a literary thread. Read Mrs Bridge first. Mr can wait.

JoBlogs · 07/03/2016 18:36

I've just started The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng and am loving it. It was recommended to me by someone who is always spot on with good recommendations. It won the Man Booker prize in 2007 and has fabulous reviews on Amazon.

AgentProvocateur · 07/03/2016 18:12

Another vote for A Little Life. Brilliant but harrowing.

I didn't like Girl On The Train or My Brilliant Friend Sad

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