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Original poster

Recommendations not chick lit or thrillers?

30 replies

bendanana · 01/08/2019 21:23

Just that really!

Looking for a book or two for a holiday. I haven't read anything for ages - I don't want to waste this reading opportunity!

Not a big fan of chick lit. I will read it and generally forget it after about a day!

I want something that will move me and I want something that my mind will go back to again and again.

Be really grateful if people could tell me of books that have just made them want to go right back to the start and read it again. The kind where you feel jealous when you lend it to somebody who gets to read it for the first time. Not asking for much! Grin

OP posts:
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JiltedJohnsJulie · 17/08/2019 17:02

Another vote for Kate Atkinson, I only discovered her a couple of years ago and love every book I've read of hers so far.

It's the same with Anne Tyler. Breathing Lessons is one of my favourite books.

One I've enjoyed this year is Britt-Marie was here and I can recommend Circe too.

ZenNudist · 14/08/2019 22:38

Everything by Kate Atkinson but especially Life after Life and (its companion book) A God in Ruins. Amazing

Little Fires everywhere by Celeste Ng

Where'd you go Bernadette?

Dear Mrs Bird

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

The 15 lives of Harry August

CassianAndor · 14/08/2019 22:36

I love Barbara Kingsolver and have just read her first, The Bean Trees, which has certainly stayed with me, also recently read her latest who’s name I forget, also very good.

The Help

the Secret Life of Bees

I’ve always enjoyed Fanny Flagg, so I’ll suggest her best known, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

There’s a theme with these, you might have noticed, all set in the US, mainly the south, and all about women (but not chick lit)

BrigitsBigKnickers · 14/08/2019 22:32

The tattooist of Auschwitz

BrigitsBigKnickers · 14/08/2019 22:29

Ooh thought of another one- Patrick Gale- love everything he has written but recently read "Take nothing with you"

Beautiful story.

BrigitsBigKnickers · 14/08/2019 22:23

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Harrowing but heartwarming

Original poster
bendanana · 12/08/2019 22:08

cheesecake I've not read this but I plan to! Thanks.

OP posts:
Original poster
bendanana · 12/08/2019 22:07

Thank you! I have now come back from holiday without having seen any of these suggestions 🤦‍♀️ I read a Victoria Hislop book (The Sunrise) which I enjoyed I've read a couple of her books so it worked out ok.

BUT I have invested in a kindle so shall be downloading these recommendations. I read thousand splendid suns and kite runner a couple of years ago and that was exactly the sort of thing I was thinking.

Thanks again!

OP posts:
hippoherostandinghere · 05/08/2019 00:07

Some great suggestions here. I'm also going to recommend:
The hearts invisible furies
A thousand splendid suns
All the light we cannot see
Cutting for stone
Some of my all time favourites.

I'm just back from holidays and read 4 books when I was away. Would really recommend 'the trouble with sheep and goats' and 'room'

Northernsoullover · 04/08/2019 21:42

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay, its memoirs from a junior doctor. It was very funny (and heartbreaking in places) easy, entertaining holiday reading.

Zxcvbnm1234567 · 04/08/2019 21:40

The space between us. By Thirty Umigar. About women caught up in the Indian class system

JaneR0chester · 03/08/2019 11:28

A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel
The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell

CheesecakeAddict · 03/08/2019 11:22

Have you read All the Light We Cannot see?

Ellmau · 03/08/2019 11:20

Dorothy Dunnett, The Game Of Kings - historical, leads into a series but you can read the first one as a standalone, one of my favourites ever, very rich and complex
Francis Spufford, Golden Hill - historical
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion - fantasy in vaguely Spanish world
Marina Endicott, The Little Shadows - set in the North American vaudeville circuit in the 1910s, and absolutely lovely

PrincessFabian · 03/08/2019 08:43

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, it's my favourite book and I wish I could read it for the first time again.

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 03/08/2019 01:18

Keri Hulme - The Bone People

Robert McFarlane - The Old Ways

florentina1 · 02/08/2019 19:59

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Set in USA during WW11

Waterlemon · 02/08/2019 19:48

All the light we cannot see

The hen who dreamed she could fly. Sun-mi Hwang
This is an amazing story about being a mother, parenthood, life. The main character is indeed a chicken! It’s quite a short story so you could get through it in one sitting (if you so wished)

rosegoldwatcher · 02/08/2019 11:45

Fernie by James Long. I have read this at least 3 times and it is my go-to purchase for book loving friends. Each and every one of them have loved it too.

Alislia17 · 02/08/2019 02:43

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TheIntenseAmorousHeart · 02/08/2019 02:12

Kissed by an angel

Sparklypen · 02/08/2019 00:35

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks
All the Light we Cannot See by Antony Doerr
Never let me Go by Kashuo Ishiguro (sp)

bionicnemonic · 01/08/2019 23:30

Les Miserables
No stage play or film can live up to the book. I carried it everywhere. Stayed in a hotel room rather than go out and walk so I could continue to read (and surprised the lady who came in to tidy as I was sobbing at the story!)
Less moving but definitely stuck in my mind The Electric Michaelangelo
And unputdownable sci-fi by Orson Scott Card, Enders Game

IvanaPee · 01/08/2019 23:28

Where The Crawdads Sing

The Shadow Of The Wind

Eleanor Oliphant

Catquest1 · 01/08/2019 23:26

The Shepherds Life by James Rebanks. I first read it a few years ago its really stayed with me.

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