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Original poster

can you reccmoned some novels fo me please( esp modern ones)

139 replies

CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 11:45

htink i need bossykate - she likes books i do

ok have liked int he past:
secret history
Mitford biog
piers moron
that zoe heller
margaret forster
isabel allende
last king of schotland

etc

NO chick lit

NO dead babies or kids in horibel circstmancces( is we need to tlak abotu kevin terrible?)
no indian books
no farking grails

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Original poster
CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 12:36

maggie ofareel is chcik lit non?

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ArtichokeTagine · 20/05/2007 12:29

If you like Maggie O'Farrell her new one is good. Its about a woman needless held in an asylum for 60 years for being eccentric

Have you read Steinbeck? Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden are my favs.

BreeVanDerCamp · 20/05/2007 12:25

You are right, his early stuff was excellent but I find his later stuff formulaic and if I have to read another passage about a) Wrestling b) Germany then I will go bonkers.

Boco · 20/05/2007 12:25

David Mitchell i love him. REad Black Swan Green - about being 13 in the 80s, its so familiar its wierd. Also Cloud Atlas and ghostwritten by him.

Rebecca is great. Best Evelyn Waugh is definitely 'a handful of dust'.

ledodgy · 20/05/2007 12:24

What about Jonathan Coe?

KTeePee · 20/05/2007 12:23

Oops yes I did - put it down to being up at 5.30 with ds2....

BreeVanDerCamp · 20/05/2007 12:21

Did you mean John Irvings ??

KTeePee · 20/05/2007 12:21

I would second "A Widow for one year" mentioned below - I find John Osbornes books very mixed - some I love, others I abandon half-way through (still haven't finished the most recent one, whatever it is called...)

I liked Lovely Bones - not at all what I thought it would be like (thought it would be "kids in horrible circumstances"...)

What about "My Sister's Keeper"? I thought the subject matter was interesting but the characters were too 1-dimensional....

Have you tried Douglas Coupland? He is one of my fav modern authors - very light and easy to read in some ways but good at capturing modern life.

Original poster
CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 12:15

ok added the bat ( fgs) and crawford loke great
adn dtepehne fry
and the du mariere and wesley

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Original poster
CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 12:14

no never read rebecca
ro dont THINK so

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Swizzler · 20/05/2007 12:13

Ledodgy: heard that on R4 - it was brilliant

MrMariella · 20/05/2007 12:12

HM tale - it was disturbing......

Balanced though at the time with "Woman on the Edge of Time" from Marge Piercy. Uplifting..just brilliant. Not had such a good time reading a book before.

ledodgy · 20/05/2007 12:12

this is fab too

KerryMum · 20/05/2007 12:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BreeVanDerCamp · 20/05/2007 12:11

This has popped up on lots of threads, it appears to something that endures.

Swizzler · 20/05/2007 12:11

sometimes the old ones are the best

ledodgy · 20/05/2007 12:11

Here it is.

Original poster
CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 12:10

maybe i ll read all the du maruierier then the biog

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BreeVanDerCamp · 20/05/2007 12:10

I hated the HM tale. It was deeply disturbing.

ledodgy · 20/05/2007 12:09

I tell you what I read recently that someone lent me when I was having a drought and I really didn't think i'd enjoy it. It's a biography about about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford called Bette & Joan The Divine Feud. It may be out of print now because it was from a charity shop but it was a great read.

MrMariella · 20/05/2007 12:09

BVDC - sound like the sort of story I adore.

Original poster
CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 12:09

is this good?

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BreeVanDerCamp · 20/05/2007 12:09

Anita Shreve leaves me cold.

And she threw away the ending of the Pilots Wife. Lazy, Lazy, Lazy.

suzywong · 20/05/2007 12:09

oh oh
I know
Stephen Fry's Revenge - unputdownable

do you serioulsy mean you haven't read rebecca

Original poster
CODalmighty · 20/05/2007 12:08

really?
go dmayeb i shodul get rebecca tooo andread it
there was ahtign on radio 4 abtou classic novels fomr that era and htere wa antoher one mybe by herabotu dead tiwns? or somwhting?

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