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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:
YesILikeItToo · 04/03/2016 21:13

The Martian. Gripping, funny, strangely convincing.

AgentCooper · 04/03/2016 21:10

The Sicilian by Mario Puzo. It was trashy as sin, but my God I enjoyed it!

ARichVernacular · 04/03/2016 21:09

The Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Just astonishingly good, beautiful and terrifying and funny and philosophical.

Quogwinkle · 04/03/2016 21:09

Should have included that one on my list too, Southeast :)

One more I would add is My Life in Houses by Margaret Forster. Finished it this afternoon. It was quite poignant when I realised that she had spent more than half her life living with cancer.

southeastdweller · 04/03/2016 21:00

Untold Stories by Alan Bennett.

semideponent · 04/03/2016 19:40

The Landscape of History by John Lewis Gaddis.

Convergence of 'hard' science and history hits the sweet spot in our house.

NoTractorsAtTheTable · 04/03/2016 19:35

The Incredible Adam Spark by Adam Bissett. Loved it, DH loved it too.

charleybarley · 04/03/2016 19:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StillNoFuckingEyeDeer · 04/03/2016 19:32

Disclaimer

Bolshybookworm · 04/03/2016 19:26

Tin toys by Ursula Holden, about a group of siblings and their wayward mother. Very good.

I absolutely love the Cazalet series, some of my favourite books!

Footle · 04/03/2016 19:18

I thought Life After Life was very powerful but I can't get started on the sequel, A God in Ruins. DH loved both books, which probably means I will too eventually.

WhereBeThatBlackbirdTo · 04/03/2016 19:17

Moving by Jenny Eclair
And another vote for Marvellous Ways

Footle · 04/03/2016 19:16

Mrs Bridge, by Evan Connell. Deceptively simple. Mr Bridge is also good and you need to read them both.

Hrafnkel · 04/03/2016 19:14

The bean tree and pigs in heaven are better than poison wood bible imo.

ShinyShinyShiny · 04/03/2016 19:11

apple that is my favourite book, I always recommend it on threads like these.

The most recent books I've enjoyed were Kate Atkinson "Life After Life" and, very different, "The Girl in the Spiders a Web" which I was in two minds about as I was scared it would ruin the Millenium Trilogy for me but I loved it.

Original poster
HoggleHoggle · 04/03/2016 19:10

These are all so brilliant thanks very much! Lots of options for me to look for.

Villainous dh has just read H is for Hawk and kind of liked it but also found it hard going. I know everyone raves about it though.

OP posts:
SunnySomer · 04/03/2016 19:06

A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler. It's really short and beautifully written, the (fictional) life story of a man from an Austrian mountain village.

Quogwinkle · 04/03/2016 19:00

Alex - I couldn't even make to halfway through My Brilliant Friend. I found it so dull, lost track of who everyone was and gave up.

AlexPKeaton · 04/03/2016 18:57

A Little Life, by Hanya Yanigahara. Heartbreaking, devastating, disturbing, but so so good. I usually forget what I read but this one has stuck with me. Roughly it's about 4 college friends who move to NYC and grow up but there's way way more to it.

Re My Brilliant Friend, what is wrong with me that I didn't love it? It was OK but everyone else seems to think it was amazing. Shkjkd I persevere to the second book?

applecatchers36 · 04/03/2016 18:56

The poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, read it after recommendation on here. Didn't dissapoint, very rich story of family of 4 girls growing up in the Congo in the 60's.

GrouchingTiggerHiddenSomething · 04/03/2016 18:53

"The Invisible Library" by Genevieve Cogman - getting the second one on Monday so looking forward to reading that :)

Quogwinkle · 04/03/2016 18:51

The Shardlake series by C J Sansom
Giordano Bruno series by S J Parris
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson

EATmum · 04/03/2016 18:51

Burial Rites by Hannah Kemp I think - fantastic and really unusual book about a woman sentenced to death in nineteenth century Iceland. Beautiful writing.

Elfontheedge · 04/03/2016 18:42

I have just read The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. Beautiful!

villainousbroodmare · 04/03/2016 18:41

H Is For Hawk was interesting...

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