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Original poster

Please help me find some literary(ish) page turners!

91 replies

FatCatSkinnyRat · 12/03/2023 21:36

Dear readers,

In the next month I will be spending 70+ hours on planes as I jet around the world for a couple of family events.

I am loading up my kindle with some novels I have not read - so far I have Frankenstein and Half of a Yellow Sun waiting to go. Am considering Lessons in Chemistry but can see it divides the masses...... I think I need at least five more.

Can anyone recommend some more page turners please - quality fiction that you can't put down? I will definitely make good progress with the two above but might need to switch to something different at some stage - esp on the 13 hour flights!

Not really into thrillers unless it's something like A Secret History (part thriller).

Thanks everyone! Dreading the flights but looking forward to reading time.....

OP posts:
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EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 30/03/2023 19:55

larkstar · 30/03/2023 19:31

My favourite Brontë book (and I try to visit the medium museum at Haworth every year) is Anne's Tennant of Wildfell Hall - a feminist text ahead of its time IMHO.

My feelings exactly, one of favourites, very underrated

Cotswoldmama · 30/03/2023 19:53

The edible woman - Margaret Atwood
The age of reason - Jean Paul Satre
I who have never known men - Jacqueline Harpman
Milkman - Anna Burns
Hot milk - Deborah Levy

larkstar · 30/03/2023 19:31

My favourite Brontë book (and I try to visit the medium museum at Haworth every year) is Anne's Tennant of Wildfell Hall - a feminist text ahead of its time IMHO.

OMGitsnotgood · 30/03/2023 19:18

Many if those I was going to suggest have already been recommended.
Not sure how you define 'literary' so not sure if these fit the bill (sorry if they have been mentioned and I didn't notice).

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernières . took me a while to get into it but loved it. The film was rubbish by comparison.

Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy

Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Noble House - James Clavell

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant

babasaclover · 30/03/2023 19:01

F

PetitPorpoise · 30/03/2023 18:14

It gets a mixed reaction on this board, but I really enjoyed Piranesi. Very unlike anything I'd read before.

America12 · 30/03/2023 17:37

If you like Audrey Niffeneger , Her Fearful Symmetry'

lancashirebornandbred · 30/03/2023 17:22

Has anyone suggested Gillespie and I by Jane Harris? I chose it for book club, and everyone enjoyed it, though people had different opinions on a crucial part of it. It’s well written and very readable.

RenoDakota · 30/03/2023 14:36

RenoDakota · 30/03/2023 14:31

The Shardlake series of novels by C J Sansom.
Intelligent without being too heavyweight, and most definitely page turners.

Just realised other people have said the same.
Also highly recommend the BBC adaptations of them on Audible - you can get the whole lot apart from Tombland with one credit.
Fabulous. Brilliantly acted and very atmospheric.

RenoDakota · 30/03/2023 14:31

The Shardlake series of novels by C J Sansom.
Intelligent without being too heavyweight, and most definitely page turners.

BelfastSmile · 30/03/2023 14:21

Demon Copperhead is excellent
The Goldfinch is another good one

GardeningQuestionTime · 30/03/2023 13:43

F

StellaAndCrow · 30/03/2023 13:36

Fredface · 13/03/2023 09:19

The Shardlake Chronicles are excellent. Book 1 Dissolution by CJ Samson. Crime and historical both genres I actually don't like but I couldn't put down this series it's so well written.

I second the CJ Sansom books. Made me interested in the era in a way that I hadn't been before. Definitely page turners, and I miss them now I've finished them.

I'd add The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
"This story is told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.
They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it – from garden seeds to Scripture – is calamitously transformed on African soil."

CarolinaInTheMorning · 30/03/2023 12:14

Another vote for Rose Tremain, especially Restoration.

Lansonmaid · 30/03/2023 12:07

I've just finished Birds without wings by Louis de Bernieres and its really got to me, to the extent I can't settle to my current (admittedly chick lit) book. His writing style isn't for everyone but it was a book full of characters and history. Not to be read if you are feeling sad though.

LydiaGwilt · 29/03/2023 19:59

'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin - deceptively simple prose
The Quiet Girl and Small Things like These by Claire Keegan

Lullabies2Paralyze · 29/03/2023 19:53

I recently read Bunny by Mona Awad…I felt like I was on an acid trip. It’s bit gore-ish but artistically done. A bit pretentious but I’m not into poetry so maybe that’s why I found it to be like that haha.

goodreads reviews say it’s like A Secret History through the looking glass.

I seem to be in a habit of reading books where I’m left thinking what the fucks just happened at the end….also just finished The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke.

Ghostofborleyrectory · 29/03/2023 19:50

Ghostofborleyrectory · 29/03/2023 19:49

I had to check i hadn't written this post and forgotten about it when I saw that list! May I recommed The Crimson etal and the White By Michel Faber for more wonderfully written Victorian set writing? Also adored the recent The Shrines of Gaity by the excellent Kate Atkinson.

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Petal- My P keeps sticking on my laptop!

Ghostofborleyrectory · 29/03/2023 19:49

Squiblet · 13/03/2023 10:11

I love it but recognise it is very much a Marmite book. Would not recommend for a long flight.

Other favourite literary (ish) page-turners are

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
A crime in the neighbourhood by Suzanne Berne (long time since I read this)
Notes on a scandal by Zoe Heller

I'd like to read Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid and No One Is Talking about This by Patricia Lockwood - they might fit the bill?

Show quote history

I had to check i hadn't written this post and forgotten about it when I saw that list! May I recommed The Crimson etal and the White By Michel Faber for more wonderfully written Victorian set writing? Also adored the recent The Shrines of Gaity by the excellent Kate Atkinson.

Sooverthemill · 29/03/2023 19:43

Can I add 'a place called winter' and 'mothers boy' both Patrick Gale, Jane Smiley 'a thousand acres' and 'still life' by Sarah winman,

DivaDarling · 29/03/2023 19:38

Try Affinity by Sarah Waters-a Victorian Gothic feel that sweeps you along.

Sarah Waters-are you working on a new book? Please hurry along!

WashAsDelicates · 28/03/2023 12:33

Writing, not fighting.

WashAsDelicates · 28/03/2023 12:32

There are two main versions of Frankenstein. The first edition was published under Percy Bysse Shelley's name (apparently nobody would buy a book written by a woman!) and he 'improved' it. Later editions published under Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's name, without PBS's changes and additions, are much better to read. Her fighting is actually much clearer and simpler than most novels of the era.

Original poster
FatCatSkinnyRat · 28/03/2023 12:01

Hi everyone, reporting live from the road! I've already devoured the first 2 Patrick Melrose novels (needed a break from the compelling misery, plus saving the 3rd for the flight home) and the first Cazalet which I really loved. Have downloaded the next, also for the flight home. DH is also now on the Melrose bandwagon.

Have started Lessons in Chemistry on audiobook but only 10% in. Too early to make a call.

I find I'm struggling to get engaged with Frankenstein. I read many classics but this is dragging a bit at 30% in. Anyone else found this? I'll plough on however, perhaps interspersed with some Cazalet...

Thank you all for taking the time to recommend these great books. I'll be adding about 30 of the above to my TBR when home!

OP posts:
Squiblet · 16/03/2023 11:42

SidSparrow · 15/03/2023 08:05

I thought Stoner by John Williams was a great book. I couldn't put it down.

Fantastic novel.... I cried buckets at that one.