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Original poster

I need a book that will make me forget what time it is.

95 replies

Kayemm · 31/05/2020 19:04

You know what I mean. One that you don't actually read because you are there with the characters.

I've loved:-
The Woman in White
A Prayer for Owen Meaney
Persuasion
Watership Down.
The Book Thief.
A Tale of Two Cities.

Not so much
Eleanor whatshername.
Misery memoirs.
Cloud Atlas

Throw your best suggestions at me?

Thanks.

OP posts:
daytripper28 · 14/06/2020 18:22

Definitely The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Anything by Patricia Highsmith or Sarah Waters

And agree that Bleak House is one of my favourite Dickens Smile

Chickoletta · 14/06/2020 12:36

The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Frenchman’s Creek
The Poldark series.

Ellmau · 14/06/2020 00:49

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles - starts with The Game Of Kings

waltzingparrot · 07/06/2020 18:02

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
The Painted Veil and Liza of Lambeth by W Somerset Maugham
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett

tothesea · 07/06/2020 17:35

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber, I read it years ago and still sometimes wonder what became of the main character.
Also agree with Life after Life, I was inside that book.

Quackersandcheese3 · 07/06/2020 17:13

Seven sisters series by Lucinda Riley

WhenPushComesToShove · 04/06/2020 01:49

Me before you by JoJo Moyes if you want a serious sob - loved that book and read the last couple of chapters with tears just rolling down my cheeks.

KingSheathBelle · 03/06/2020 22:58

MY kindle is full of samples of all these books now, thanks OP, thanks everybody!

GrouchyKiwi · 03/06/2020 22:39

The most absorbing books I've read this year are:

  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
  • Codename Verity by Elizabeth Wein
  • Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang

Other favourites are absolutely everything by JT Geissinger, who writes romance with incredible depth, and Donna Augustine, Helen Harper and KF Breene if you like Paranormal stuff.

Chillipeanuts · 03/06/2020 22:37

Bit corney but you just can’t go wrong with Jane Eyre.
Harvey Angel is good too.

BikeRunSki · 03/06/2020 22:34

The Pursuit of Happiness - Douglas Kennedy

I was reading it in the canteen at work one lunchtime, and had to take the afternoon off to carry on reading!

amillionnamechangeslater000 · 03/06/2020 22:30

A bit of an old one now but I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb is a big American saga type (slightly reminiscent of Owen Meany). Second The Nightingale mentioned upthread.

Greentrees33 · 03/06/2020 13:33

Language of flowers

Piglet89 · 03/06/2020 13:31

I’m listening to “never let me go” by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is a beautifully-written, tragic and disturbing tale. Just under halfway through and I can’t stop thinking about it.

WhenPushComesToShove · 03/06/2020 00:12

River God and the follow on book The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith. Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 02/06/2020 22:55

Discovery of Witches trilogy - witches, vampires and time travel, almost a twilight for grown ups but very well written. The adaptation on sky was terrible but the books are great.

Tracy Borman's Kings Witch series - set as James 1 takes the throne. Written by a historian so very accurate, Witch trials and life at court.

eightytwenty · 02/06/2020 22:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Yoyomar · 02/06/2020 22:31

Sandysmam I searched for some of these books on my library app and the first one I found was The Help.
I'm going to curl up in bed and start it right now!

FairNotFair · 02/06/2020 22:14

The House of Mirth (Edith Wharton) and Washington Square (Henry James)

Also I'd second the PP who recommended Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Morland Dynasty series. I've lost count of the number of times I've reread them, and I started them back in the mid-1980s

TheoriginalLEM · 02/06/2020 22:13

Jonathan strange and Mr norrell
Rebecca
Crime and punishment
The 100 year old man that climbed out of the window

MyHipsDontLieUnfortunately · 02/06/2020 22:10

Also what about the Cazalet Chronicles if you fancy a saga to really get stuck into?

MyHipsDontLieUnfortunately · 02/06/2020 22:07

I love A Tale of Two Cities. My other Dickens faves are Bleak House and Little Dorrit.

sproutsandparsnips · 02/06/2020 22:07

Oh and Colleen McCullough:
The masters of Rome series
Morgan's Run

sproutsandparsnips · 02/06/2020 22:06

Anything by Robert Harris especially:
An officer and a spy
The trilogy about Cicero
Pompeii
Fatherland
Munich

hagsrus0 · 02/06/2020 22:04

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Raising the Stones by Sheri Tepper

Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer