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Original poster

Please recommend me a book. I have a criteria :)

170 replies

Greyworm · 18/07/2019 18:33

Title says it all. I'd really appreciate any suggestions as I love reading but struggle to choose as I don't want to waste a read. I'd like to read a book over the next few weeks and I have been given a voucher for waterstones so I'm really excited.

I like books that have had the below features but not completely nessesary

  • a focus on an individual /family that span over many years/decades
  • a love interest which is very deep and complicated
  • cultural - so I may learn about another culture/time in history
  • I LOVE dystopia films and TV programmes but find some books are a it depressing as I want a sort of holdiay/light read. So I really enjoyed 1984 and a handmaid tale but don't fancy one of those.
  • I love space films but not tried to read nay spacey books yet.
I like books where a story is told by many different characters too.

Books I have read again and again, so some old favourites:
Memoirs of a geisha
The horse whisperer
The thornbirds
Fear and loathing in Las vagas
I capture the castle
The rum diary (loved this)
I liked 'one day' but couldn't get into his other books.

I can't think of many more off the top of my head but I've always loved reading. I also read a story like biography of egon schiele which I really enjoyed too. So I'm pretty open. I love art and I have an interest in classics (Greek mythology) I don't fancy reading the odyssey again though.

I'll be really grateful if anyone has any suggestions :)

OP posts:
midgeland · 18/07/2019 20:08

Following GretaBritain I'd suggest any and all David Mitchell, if you've seen the Cloud Atlas film and it is putting you off. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is amazing, as is Bone Clocks which you should definitely read second.

You might also enjoy The Luminaries, which has a complicated romance, lots of characters, and interesting history (it's set in a 19th century New Zealand gold rush town). I loved it.

PixieLumos · 18/07/2019 20:05

@Pepperstripe definitely read if you liked the first two Smile

Sarahlou63 · 18/07/2019 19:59

Ah - see someone has also recommended the same as me! Also To Serve Them All My Days, RF Delderfield.

clearsommespace · 18/07/2019 19:57

I also came on to say Ken Follett or A Suitable Boy.
Ken Follett is good holiday reading. There's something about his writing style which is both compelling and a little detached. So you keep reading but when misfortune befalls the characters, it doesn't get you down personally.

Sarahlou63 · 18/07/2019 19:56

State of the Union and The Pursuit of Happiness, both by Douglas Kennedy.

Shushandpat · 18/07/2019 19:56

Definitely A Suitable Boy!

Pepperstripe · 18/07/2019 19:54

@PixieLumos - I don't think I knew about Wild Rose! I ready the first two years ago!!

Pepperstripe · 18/07/2019 19:50

The Seven Sisters series - Lucinda Riley

GretaBritain · 18/07/2019 19:46

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. If you have seen the film don't let that put you off!
Six interconnected stories spanning 18th century to dystopian future.
Beautifully written and so absorbing. I think it is a love/hate book though!!

confusedandemployed · 18/07/2019 19:45

Thirding Edward Rutherford. Sarum might be my favourite ever book.

RageAgainstTheVendingMachine · 18/07/2019 19:43

the immortalists - Chloe Benjamin

Jewish Family - 4 siblings - 4 stories (life of each) after they are told which day they will die.

1 - Dancer - San Fran at time of AIDS epidemic
2 - Magician - Las Vegas
3 - Army medic
4 - Medical researcher - longevity/animal research

Interesting premise, fits the following -
a focus on an individual /family that span over many years/decades
cultural - so I may learn about another culture/time in history
holiday/light read
I like books where a story is told by many different characters too - in this it's 3rd person narration but four stories

If you fancied sci fi then Ian McEwan - Machines like me looks interesting (clones) If you fancied something light/funny/space then K-Pax by Gene Brewer is great (made into a film with Spacey/Bridges)

EllenEyewater · 18/07/2019 19:41

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

Helmetbymidnight · 18/07/2019 19:37

I'd recommend Hearts Invisible Furies - on focussing on an ind over decades..

The Cazalets - on focussing on a family over decades.

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger - for complicated love and different cultures.

American Wife by Curtis Sitenfield - for complicated love and/over many decades/american.

Skinandbones · 18/07/2019 19:36

Hard acres and there's a follow up one, starts with a man who works on the Yorkshire coast as some one who guts the fish as they come ashore and obviously the story follows the family from there.
Jeffrey Archer has done a few like this, some just one book As the crow flies and other stories over 3 or more books.

Hecateh · 18/07/2019 19:32

Another vote for Ken Follet (particularly 'World Without End') and Edward Rutherford

Original poster
Greyworm · 18/07/2019 19:31

Thank you thank you everyone!! I'm going to get up early tomorrow and go on the pc and get googling. I'm overwhelmed by the response!! I'll feedback on which one I get. (might have to try a few!!)

OP posts:
JesusInTheCabbageVan · 18/07/2019 19:31

I second The Good Earth, loved it. Also Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi.

Oilyskinproblems · 18/07/2019 19:27

Just replying so I don’t lose this thread but I second under a thousand splendid suns, kite runner and time travellers wife

Whosafraidofvirginiawoofwoof · 18/07/2019 19:26

How about The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood?

PixieLumos · 18/07/2019 19:23

The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose or the Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly - they all follow on from each other but can be read out of order. Fairly long but easy reads with great characters and settings.

Charley50 · 18/07/2019 19:22

Middlesex by Jeffry Eugenides - fits all criteria apart from space / sci-fi.

A family saga that starts in Greece after an event in WW1 or WW2.. (or before but based on real historical events - have a poor memory ), and has a strange love story in the two Greek characters who move to the US, and set up a life there. Has a twist or two, but isn't a thriller. Has multiple characters but not too many that you can't follow. Is very funny and very well-written, is a multi-generational family saga, and explores social history and politics etc. Ooh I've sold it to myself.. gonna re-read this summer! Grin

ThinkIveFoundYourMarbles · 18/07/2019 19:22

The Thread by Victoria Hislop
Wasn't really my kind of book but it fits most of your criteria.

1Wanda1 · 18/07/2019 19:21

Any Human Heart
Love Is Blind - both by William Boyd

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

LauraPalmersBodybag · 18/07/2019 19:19

For Dystopia, read ‘A brave new world’

gerbo · 18/07/2019 19:18

Came on to say 'the hearts invisible furies' like Outsomnia- it's fantastic. By John Boyne.