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Original poster

Bed-bound and bored

62 replies

LadyHester · 06/03/2023 09:24

Have just had a fairly major operation (successfully) and will be confined to barracks for some time. I’d organised lots of Improving Literature to keep me entertained but am now in pain, fed up, and just don’t fancy anything I’d planned.
I need recommendations for well written trash - please come to my aid!

OP posts:
DumpedinKilburn · 07/03/2023 22:06

No, you're right she is very far from trash but I suppose I mentioned her because they are easy to read.

I also agree with your suggestion of Forever Amber

HappyHolidai · 07/03/2023 22:03

Wouldn't call Georgette Heyer trash <quite offended> but definitely recommended for a light-hearted and fun read. Except Penhallow. Avoid Penhallow.

Came on to suggest Forever Amber: a great romp - and very long!

DumpedinKilburn · 07/03/2023 22:00

Georgette Heyer-lots of them and fantastically well researched.
Stephen Fry puts the case better than I can in The Guardian. If you google 'Enduring appeal' + 'Stephen Fry' + 'Georgette Heyer' -'The Guardian', you should find it. It was published in 2021.

Other than that, not trash but both 'The Diary of a Nobody' and The Mapp and Lucia novels by EF Benson always cheer me up!

Or Dorothy Whipple-most now published by Persephone. Start with, 'They Were Sisters'-you won't be able to put it down!

BasilParsley · 07/03/2023 21:25

Elly Griffiths ..., ellygriffiths.co.uk/my-books/the-ruth-galloway-novels/

Bbq1 · 07/03/2023 21:14

Chewbecca · 06/03/2023 19:21

Have you read Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters series? Easy reading for recuperation, quite long and engrossing.

All the best.

Though most definitely not trash!

Papergirl1968 · 07/03/2023 21:06

Ah, Lace. The goldfish scene...😆

JaninaDuszejko · 07/03/2023 20:43

I kep meaning to reread Lace. Loved it as a teenager, my Mum was horrified at it but (luckily for me) didn't believe in banning books. She'd gone to a girl's boarding school that had a list of banned books, the girls slowly worked their way through the list and passed them round the dormitories in secret. So she knew it was pointless 😁

Original poster
LadyHester · 07/03/2023 19:21

I used to love Lace! None of her subsequent novels were as gripping, alas - I suspect because she put so much of her own experience into Lace.
I wonder about Barbara Taylor Bradford? My grandmother, a native of Leeds, was very disapproving of her inaccurate topography so I have always avoided her out of (arguably misplaced) loyalty.

OP posts:
noodlezoodle · 07/03/2023 18:59

LadyHester · 07/03/2023 06:50

@noodlezoodle You are so right! I know most of Jilly Cooper by heart but haven’t read nearly enough Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins.

Yep, Jilly would be my specialist subject on Mastermind Grin

Never read much Jackie Collins but I remember really liking Judith Krantz when I was younger, so last year I bought and re-read I'll Take Manhattan, and it was an absolute riot. Same with Shirley Conran's Lace.

LMBoston · 07/03/2023 07:26

If you want well-written but highly entertaining crime, Jane Casey’s DS Maeve Kerrigan series is brilliant and there’s 10 books to go at. Clever, witty and some great smouldering sexual tension with the obnoxious yet hilarious DI Josh Derwent (swoon). I’ve had to admit defeat and take a few days off this week with excruciating joint pain and have just started Book 10 (Kindle propped up on a Heath Robinson-style pillow arrangement); it’s so good I’ll have finished it by tomorrow so thanks for all the recommendations!

Hope you’re on the mend soon OP :)

rubbishatballet · 07/03/2023 07:08

Potentially a bit of a marmite one this (dependent on baseline interest level in the royal family!) but if you're looking for anything non-fiction and light, then I was completely and surprisingly absorbed by The Palace Papers by Tina Brown. Well written and easy to read.

Clarabellawilliamson · 07/03/2023 06:56

I really like mhari McFarlane if I'm after some easy reading. Well written trash is probably a good way of describing them. She writes about friendships really well, and they are quite funny too.

Original poster
LadyHester · 07/03/2023 06:50

@noodlezoodle You are so right! I know most of Jilly Cooper by heart but haven’t read nearly enough Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins.

OP posts:
Cookiecrush · 07/03/2023 06:32

Oh get well soon! I wondered if you had seen the list of books in the Reece Witherspoon book club? They are all really great page turners, light, interesting: I'm working my way through them all now!

rachelagain · 07/03/2023 06:26

@SettlingForAnotherMuffin She's wonderful isn't she?
And the Putin one is on my reading list - thanks for the spoiler 😂

I agree with @yoshiblue about Steve Cavanagh too for a gripping entertaining read. I picked up Thirteen because of its cover line ('The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury') and raced through it.

SettlingForAnotherMuffin · 06/03/2023 21:52

rachelagain · 06/03/2023 09:27

When I was bed bound for ages last year a friend sent me Eva Ibbotson's The Morning Gift and I adored it. It was exactly the thing. Romantic, well written, not trash at all but incredibly readable.
Hope your recovery goes well!

Eva Ibbotsons Madensky Square is my favourite book of all time.

I am currently reading 'Putin's People' by Catherine Belton. Spiler alert- Putin is not a ncie guy.

noodlezoodle · 06/03/2023 21:50

This sounds like a job for a good old-fashioned 80s bonkbuster.

Excellent (old) article from Sarah Hughes on their joys: www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/30/judith-krantz-bonkbusters-female-friendships-confident-women

yoshiblue · 06/03/2023 20:15

Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh?

doadeer · 06/03/2023 19:55

Do you like fantasy? Sarah J Maas Throne of Glass series is very entertaining and 9 books

chocolateisavegetable · 06/03/2023 19:54

I find Carole Matthews enjoyable - romantic with a bit of humour. If you remember the 80s and fancy a laugh, I highly recommend Do They Know It’s Christmas Yet (they went back to 1984 and broke it) by James Crookes. If you enjoy it, there are 2 more in the series.

Chewbecca · 06/03/2023 19:21

Have you read Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters series? Easy reading for recuperation, quite long and engrossing.

All the best.

beguilingeyes · 06/03/2023 19:03

Have you read Lee Child? The Reacher books are great and fantastically easy to read. Proper page turner's.
The early Jilly Cooper's with girls names, Emily, Harriet etc.
I really like JoJo Moyes.

junebirthdaygirl · 06/03/2023 18:56

Just read Daisy Jones and the Six and enjoyed that. Also enjoyed Beartown by Fredrick Backman.
Easy reading but a good story It's part of a 3 part series. .

Original poster
LadyHester · 06/03/2023 18:51

Really grateful for all these recommendations! Should give Daisy Jones a go, and if I get bored can watch it on TV. Hadn’t heard of Manda Scott but looks interesting.
Lindsay Davis is an old friend!
Didn’t get on with Still Life - pointless and twee.
Ben Aaronovitch is new to me, as is A Town Called Solace.

OP posts:
JaninaDuszejko · 06/03/2023 18:31

Sounds like you need some Taylor Jenkins Reid. Very popular with the 50 bookers.

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