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Original poster

In a reading rut, help!

83 replies

1wokeuplikethis · 18/01/2018 17:13

Automatically I click on kindle bestsellers, look for what has the most reviews, try a sample, read, buy, sigh, feel dissatisfied, repeat.

I am really sick of reading "thrillers" you know; the "most unputdownable (worst descriptive word ever invented and utterly overused) thriller that will keep you guessing with a TWIST AT THE END YOULL NEVER SEE COMING!!!! Richard & Judy book club best seller hot new debut fab fab fucking head exploding incredible thrilly mind bending twisty twerker edge of your seat MUST READ that you'll have to finish in one go!" Etc etc and they are all pretty...meh.

In my dissatisfied rut I've returned to some old favourites and read some Stephen Kings I've not read before. Read Marian Keyes new one and then one of her old ones I've read before. And I'm thinking I'll just buy penny vincenzis new one and maybe when I come back to bestsellers there will be something decent.

I do like thrillers when they are good, but there is a lot of bumpf about right now as it seems the hot topic. I like real-life fiction and I like horror and I like a bit of humour like the 100 year old man or Danny Wallace. I'm rather eclectic, most of all I just like a GOOD BOOK. That I want to get to bed early for to read. Probably not felt like that since I read the hunger games.

Help a bookworm out, please!

OP posts:
Original poster
1wokeuplikethis · 20/02/2018 09:36

I'm not struggling to access books, I regularly go to the library (albeit to borrow 2836 books for my children). It is the content that is boring me 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
Ilovecamping · 20/02/2018 00:34

The library is free.

LurpakIsTheOnlyButter · 20/02/2018 00:34

An older one that I love. Everyone I recommend it to loves it.

Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

brizzledrizzle · 20/02/2018 00:22

I never thought I'd say this but I'm going off reading,I just can't find anything that isn't either too light and fluffy or just plain dull.

Avebury · 20/02/2018 00:09

Chris Cleave also writes brilliantly and makes a nice change from the current genre of supermarket paperbacks.

Original poster
1wokeuplikethis · 19/02/2018 22:45

Wow thank you for all of the suggestions and replies, I literally followed the first response from George and just finished reading two Kate Atkinson's back to back; started early and life after life. They were fantastic! Thank you so much for the tip!

I've only ended up back on here seeing all of the replies because I felt back in that rut and could see myself just going through all of atkinsons books now (like I did with liane moriarty, fab!)

I read a sample of Eleanor oliphant and didnt think much of it. But now there's all this hype over it, I'm wondering if I should try it again.

Some great suggestions, I've downloaded a bunch of samples from recommendations on here.
One more thing I'll add though, I hate any novel that mentions dead babies and children, or missing children or anything bad regarding children as I simply can't handle it. I read an Amanda prowse book (love her too) think it was a mothers love or similar named title and one part of that regarding a child had me literally sobbing. My husband had to comfort me - completely alarmed by his mad wife in hysterics at 11pm in bed - and it stayed with me for weeks.
Anyway, I will keep returning to this thread. Off I go to give oliphant another bash.

OP posts:
Sounbelievablydull · 17/02/2018 09:07

Thankyou some really nice suggestions on here that I’m looking forward to reading.
Just one more suggestion from me- if you want a real change from thrillers but want a fun entertaining read the rich Asians trilogy by Kevin Kwan is great- very funny I read one after the other and feel v sad that I’ve finished them

Hygge · 16/02/2018 20:51

I just read The Girl Before by Rena Olsen.

This is not the big budget book with the same title, it's 100% better than that one, which is by a man writing under the name of JP Delaney. I don't recommend the JP Delaney one at all, and I'm not going to read any of his others.

The Rena Olsen book is about a woman called Clara, who is at home with her family one morning when armed men break in and take her and her family. The last thing she hears is her husband shouting to her to say she's not to tell them anything.

As thrillers go, you know quite a lot quite quickly, but that makes no difference to how good the story is because I just couldn't put it down, I had to know what happened in the end. Plus the story alternates between 'then and now' so you find out about Clara's life before she was taken as well as after.

I've also just bought Force of Nature by Jane Harper, who wrote the book recommended earlier on this thread. It's only just arrived so I haven't started it, but it sounds very good. Five women go on a hike and only four come back. A police officer looking for her is keen to find out what happened, as she is the whistleblower in a big case he is working on, but she also knows a lot of other secrets that might have put her life in danger.

Taffeta · 16/02/2018 09:16

I so hear you with the thriller ennui

I’m trying a few different ones at the mo:

The gargantuan A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
The Seven Lives of Evelyn Hardcastle
The Book of Dust

Sounbelievablydull · 16/02/2018 09:12

Yes they sound so hard work but really are not try olive kitteridge it's great

ReluctantlyRedundant101 · 16/02/2018 08:01

Agree with the Pulitzer Prize I’ve just finished Middlesex by Jefferey Eugenides - great book!

Sounbelievablydull · 15/02/2018 22:07

I exactly know what you mean - do you have a period of reading where everything is wonderful then book after book of tedium?
My top tips are anything that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction withoutout exception wonderful.
If you want a super fun easy read the trilogy by Kevin Kwan is great escapism well written trash.
Looking forward to others tips here

buckeejit · 15/02/2018 22:05

The heart's invisible furies.

I cannot fathom that anyone would not like it. Great on audio

Frouby · 15/02/2018 20:55

I have just read The Rosie Project and absolutely adored it.

And just started The Woman In Black amd seems quite promising.

I loved the Vera series and the Shetland series. And the Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French. And the Lewis trilogy by Peter May.

I get stuck in reading ruts too. Am also fed up of must read thrillers. They seem to be getting very samey.

A couple of Lisa Jewels recent ones have been good tho. The Girls is one I think and also I Found You.

SnapesTears · 29/01/2018 10:16

Go to the library and try something totally different to your usual read.

Have you read Patricia Highsmith?

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 29/01/2018 09:14

I really recommend Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I resisted it for ages but then read it within 24 hours.

waycat · 29/01/2018 09:06

This is so interesting because at the moment I feel as if the market is saturated with so-called best selling thrillers that seem to be churned out with alarming rapidity, often to the detriment of the quality of the writing.

As far as Amazon goes, I have trawled through their thriller/crime/adventure recommendations many a time, only to come away thoroughly uninspired and disheartened, or let down and disappointed if I have bought something, read it and then puzzled over what all the fuss and hype was about.

I understand that all new authors need a platform, be it self-publishing or maybe signing with a small independent publishing house. However, these sorts of offerings can be a bit hit-and-miss, although sometimes you do discover some absolute gems among the poorer publications.

At the moment, I am steering clear of the so-called "unputdownable bestselling thrillers of the year", and am instead sticking to tried and tested established authors.

I'm sure I will return to trawling the Amazon recommended lists in the future, but for now I prefer to either buy or borrow something that I know will tick all my boxes, whatever the genre.

KatsutheClockworkOctopus · 28/01/2018 13:23

I've just finished the Plague Times trilogy by Louise Welch which were good. I'm going to try some of her others once I've read the new Natasha Pulley one.

Avebury · 19/01/2018 22:29

Dorothy Koomson

43percentburnt · 19/01/2018 21:12

Argh Michel

43percentburnt · 19/01/2018 21:11

Sorry the crimson petal and the white! Michelle Faber

43percentburnt · 19/01/2018 21:08

The secret history by Donna tartt.
The crimson and the red - fab book!
Anna karanina.
Never let me go by Kazuhiro Ishiguro
The sense of an ending by Julian Barnes.
A suitable boy by vickram seth
Emma donaghue.

EssaysOfElia · 19/01/2018 20:59

I would also recommend Kate Atkinson. The Jackson Brodie series is great, the first one is called Case Histories and as a PP said there are four in the series. All her books are fantastic though!

parklives · 19/01/2018 20:47

I have the same problem, I love reading but haven't a clue what books I like as I really like a mixture of styles/authors etc, but I don't like every book I read.
I have decided to follow radio 2 book club as due to my work I can't really commit to a real life book club.
I think it's every 2 weeks, and they pick a random mix of I assume good books.
I'm starting with the next book.
I'm hoping to read a wider variety of books, and no more agonising over the amazon ratings!

TractorTedTed · 19/01/2018 20:45

Have you read Maggie O'Farrell? Her books are great.