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Original poster

Find me a new book to love

92 replies

LadyPeterWimsey · 21/01/2019 17:26

I am desperate, desperate I tell you, for new books. I have spent the weekend trying to find things I might fancy and I have lots of samples on my Kindle and nothing I feel like continuing to read.

A few years ago, a lovely MNetter introduced me to two writers she thought I might like - Dorothy Dunnett and Lois McMaster Bujold - and I loved and adored them, especially Bujold. But now I need another hit of new fiction, and the problem is that I am quite fussy, if my weekend of reading downloaded samples is anything to go by. There are lots of books I enjoyed - for example, the last couple I read were Case Histories and Station 11 and they were great - but I want something I love so much I have to read it again as soon as I have finished it and then bore my family endlessly with how wonderful it is.

So if I write down the authors that I read and read again, would anyone be kind enough to cast their eye down the list and recommend me something new? I'm looking for humour, intelligence, excellent writing and a happy ending. (I do not like sad endings.) I love crime, don't really read chick lit unless it is very, very funny, and have a penchant for historical fiction. I'm willing to branch out in terms of genre, but don't do horror. As you can tell from the list below, I love a romantic plot line but don't really like romance novels as such (Heyer excepted).

Here goes:

Dorothy L Sayers (of course) - crime, humour, romance and intelligence. Gaudy Night is probably my Desert Island book choice
Jane Austen - but no Brontes because I don't really enjoy Victorian literature
Georgette Heyer
John Le Carré - earlier books are much better than his later ones
Nancy Mitford
Josephine Tey - very fond of Golden Era detective fiction
John Wyndham - closest I get to science fiction, apart from Bujold, who is absolutely wonderful
Dorothy Dunnett
Douglas Adams
Lee Child - Blush

Books I loved as a child and still re-read when I need consoling:

Emily of New Moon, and Anne of Green Gables
Ballet Shoes, and all the other Streatfeilds
The Sue Barton series
My Family and Other Animals
The Swish of the Curtain
My Darling Villain (I do like other Lynne Reid Banks but this one is my favourite)
I Capture the Castle
Daddy Long Legs
What Katy Did Next
All the Little House on the Prairie books
Eagle of the Ninth and other Sutcliffs

OP posts:
WisestIsShe · 26/01/2019 21:05

LadyPeterWimsey I like a lot of the authors you mentioned. Have you read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles? It's a really lovely read, I couldn't recommend it enough.

Original poster
LadyPeterWimsey · 26/01/2019 18:22

Will do, Ada

I finished the most recent Robert Galbraith this week, so haven't had too much time for other things, apart from the Mary Stewart. Feeling guilty for previously being so sniffy about JK Rowling's writing, given that I gulped the 600 pages down in a day...

OP posts:
AdaColeman · 26/01/2019 18:18

LadyPW "Pompeii" is very different in style and in characters from the Cicero books, with far less political content, and much more action. I think you would enjoy it.

Original poster
LadyPeterWimsey · 26/01/2019 17:48

mynameiscalypso I've just ordered Slow Horses from the library on the strength of the sample - thanks

OP posts:
Original poster
LadyPeterWimsey · 26/01/2019 17:44

AdaColeman I read the first of his Cicero trilogy but was strangely unmoved - odd since on paper they are my thing. DH really enjoys them, so I might give them another go. Sample of the first Marcus Corvinus downloaded.

I'm afraid I tried the St Mary's mysteries but didn't really get on with them.

GrouchyKiwi I've just read the sample of Uprooted, and enjoyed it enough to order from the library - thank you.

DelphiniumBlue I loved Possession, enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm, and had forgotten that I meant to read Song of Achilles. I'll look at Flashman too. I have only ever read Rebecca but on paper du Maurier should be a good fit.

Lambbone sample downloaded

ChristmasCalamity I did enjoy No 1 Ladies and a few of the sequels. I keep trying to get into his Edinburgh novels but can't quite do it. Will look at your other recommendations. I liked the bit of The Morning Gift that concretesieve recommended so Ibbotson is now on the list.

OP posts:
ChristmasCalamity · 26/01/2019 17:22

Oh yes and another vote for Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

LydiaGwilt · 26/01/2019 17:04

'The Captain's Wife' by Eiluned Lewis. This Amazon summary is pretty accurate. www.amazon.co.uk/Captains-Honnos-Welsh-Womens-Classics/dp/1870206983/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+captains+wife&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1548522173&sr=8-1

ChristmasCalamity · 26/01/2019 16:18

Some of your favourite authors are also some of mine (Dorothy L Sayers, Josephine Tey, Jane Austen, nearly all the children’s ones) so have you tried Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies Detective Series, Jan Karon’s Mitford series, or anything by Margery Allingham? I recently read the Cazalets series and really enjoyed it although didn’t love it; the 5th book is disappointing but I think EJH was about 90 when she wrote it, to be fair.
I also stumbled on A Song For Summer by Eva Ibbotson in a charity shop and adored it. Made me want to read more of her YA romances, but A Song for Summer is still the best imo.
And another children’s book: I discovered an ancient hardback in my bookcase called The Lark on The Wing - I have no idea where it came from! such a mystery!! - and I loved it. Part of a three or four part series by Elfrida Vipont about a Quaker family, main character is a girl called Kit Haverard who wants to train as a singer. Fairly offputting title but very enjoyable to read Smile
I hope you find something!

TonTonMacoute · 24/01/2019 20:14

Oh, it's so nice to find someone else who's read it, Lambbone! I've read it several times ( in fact my copy fell to pieces) and never been disappointed. I've just discovered that there's a sequel too, so another reread may be in order soon

Lambbone · 24/01/2019 15:19

TonTonMacoute The World is Not Enough is brilliant

The opening scenes with the wedding have never left me.

I've just finished a new book LadyPeter which you'll enjoy - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Golden Age meets Groundhog Day meets bloody weird.

TonTonMacoute · 23/01/2019 21:27

My suggestions are both by French authors, but that is coincidence!

Historical saga, Zoe Oldenburg 'The World is not Enough'

Crime Fred Vargas. She has two series, although sometimes they overlap, the Inspector Adamsberg series (first on The Man in the Blue Circle) and the Three Evangelists (can't remember which is the first). Clever and funny.

exexpat · 23/01/2019 11:00

LadyPeter - I agree with what AdaColeman says about Saplings, so maybe not great if you can't take sad books. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day on the other hand, is definitely not sad - funny and uplifting.

DelphiniumBlue · 23/01/2019 09:18

My reading history is very similar to yours.
Have you tried the Flashman series? Historically quite accurate, very funny, and a series, so if you like it there's lots more!
The other books which stand out for me are Possession by AS Hyatt, and Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller. And just in case you've never read them, Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and Frenchmans Creek by Daphne duMaurier. Oh, and Cold Comfort Farm.

whiteworld · 23/01/2019 09:04

The Hate U Give. Inbcredibly powerful book.

SE Lynes' The Proposal. A gripping psychologal thriller that actually is.

GrouchyKiwi · 23/01/2019 09:02

I loved the first of the St Mary's Chronicles, but apparently not enough to read the next ones. One day.

It has been years since I read The Blue Castle. I'd love to reread it, so thanks for the reminder, babybythesea!

Costacoffeeplease · 23/01/2019 00:17

Same goes for the St Mary’s chronicles - that gets recommended so often on here but, just meh

Costacoffeeplease · 23/01/2019 00:16

I’ve almost finished ‘The heart’s invisible furies’ after seeing it recommended on mn- can’t say I’m overwhelmed with it and don’t quite understand the adulation Confused

ommmward · 23/01/2019 00:05

St Mary's chronicles. Blooming auto correct

ommmward · 23/01/2019 00:04

If you want silly historical, read the story Mary's chronicles 😎

Daisymay2 · 22/01/2019 23:58

I share some of your tastes , love Austin no to Bronte and don't enjoy Dickens.
I have recently discovered Helen Dunmore and am reading Birdcage Walk set in Bristol at the time of the French revolution. Also enjoyed the Greatcoat which was quite creepy.

AdaColeman · 22/01/2019 23:58

And have you discovered Marcus Corvinus? A good fun holiday read.

AdaColeman · 22/01/2019 23:54

Have you read any Robert Harris? Pompeii would be right up your street.

ommmward · 22/01/2019 23:53

Another vote for allingham and marsh. You might also try the dornford yates thrillers? The chandos books are the place to start. Glorious, 1920s, page turners

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 22/01/2019 23:48

I’d second Gladys Mitchell. Also Ruth Dudley-Edwards academic mysteries. If you’ve ever sat through a committee meeting and lost the will to live, you might enjoy these.

Emma Lathen wrote a series of books featuring a ban executive. It’s an older series, but the gore factor is low and they have a quiet, gently sardonic charm. If you enjoy Georgette Heyer’s mysteries, I suspect they’d appeal.

And Gillian Linscott’s Nell Bray series about the sleuthing suffragette.

gnushoes · 22/01/2019 22:54

Shardlake series.
Rebus?
Definitely Ngaio Marsh
The Art of Fielding by Chad someone
A spool of blue thread by anne Tyler
We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Also - I know you said no Victorian but Trollope can be wonderful - beautifully written, a bit arch, happy endings.

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