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Original poster

I’m not enjoying the books I am reading

106 replies

AnnotherReader · 31/07/2023 20:02

I am not enjoying the books I am reading at the moment. I have read 38 books so far this year and only 2 have been 5 stars and one of them was a reread.

I have been through all my favourite books and picked out common themes. Can you recommend me any books based on my likes/dislikes below. I have also listed some of my favourite books and how they fit with the list.

likes:
time period 1800-1939 (either written in this period or more recent books set in this period)
rural or wild setting
a book within a book or books to do with books/stories/reading
pirates/books set on ships
romance
adventure
magic
crime especially golden age
epistolary novels
the chosen one trope

don’t like:
thrillers
literary fiction
smut/ too much sex

favourite books:
Emma by Jane Austen (time period, romance, rural setting)
Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (time period, romance, rural setting in part)
A Month in the Country (time period, rural setting)
The Reader by Traci Chee (rural setting, book about a book, adventure, pirates/ships)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (book within a book, romance)
The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers (epistolary, crime, time period)
Dangerous Liasions (epistolary, romance)
The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb (ships, pirates, adventure, some romance)
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (time period, romance, rural setting)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (time period, magic)
Harry Potter (magic, the chosen one)
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton (rural setting, adventure) - I loved these books as a child and have never managed to find the equivalent adult adventure books

I have read all of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell and am currently working my way through the rest of Robin Hobbs Realm of the Elderlings books.

If you have read all this, thank you, as you can see from my favourite books they don’t have to include everything on my likes list but most have at least 2. Please give me some recommendations for other books I might like.

OP posts:
Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 19:09

@Glockamorra I forgot to add that the only books from your list I have read are Dorothy Sayers, I have read most but not all of them, I am working my way through them all.

I will add all the others to my list.

OP posts:
Michaelmonstera · 01/08/2023 19:09

You might like the Rivers of London series - magic & crime but it’s set it modern times.

@SomethingFun I loved this series .

I have just finished “Babel: An Arcane History”by RF Kuang which is a historical fantasy set in 1828.

Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 19:07

Glockamorra · 01/08/2023 10:32

You say you don’t like literary fiction, but lots of the books you listed as favourites are literary fiction…?

All of Elizabeth Bowen. Start with The Last September. Have you read Ivy Compton-Burnett, Rosamund Lehmann?

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes? You might like the rural and village setting and the supernatural. (Always nice to meet another JL Carr fan…)

William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault or Love and Summer?

Look at Persephone Books’ list of authors (late 19th and early 20thc women writers) for ideas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone_Books

Have you read all of Sayers? I love Gaudy Night.

Maybe Literary fiction is a bad description, I consider classics to be different to literary fiction - I mean modern prize winning books which are written to experiment with a new writing style or to highlight an issue rather than tell a good story. Books that jump forwards and backwards in time or keep hinting about a secret but won't tell you what it is until the end of the book.
Authors like Bernardine Evaristo, Sally Rooney, Zadie Smith or Kazuo Ishiguro.
I didn't like Wide Sargasso Sea which I would class as literary fiction and I think that Possession and The Name of the Rose are both too literary for me.

OP posts:
CatherineMaitland · 01/08/2023 19:03

Laura Purcell - rural and gothic, bits of magic
Joanna Cannan's crime novels are quite funny and I think are from the Golden Age (not Joanna Cannon, they are different)
I've enjoyed a couple of Joan Smith's Regencies - not overly sexy but fun.

And I really liked A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, and Mia Vincy's Longhope Abbey books. I can't recall if they were sexy or not since I usually just skip the sex scenes (no I'm not 85)

nocoolnamesleft · 01/08/2023 19:01

AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 18:56

I read the first St Mary's book and thought it was terrible. Do they get better later on in the series?

Show quote history

I think they get better and better. And love them. But honestly, if you didn't enjoy the first one they probably just aren't for you.

FindingTheFox · 01/08/2023 18:59

The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey
The Giver of Stars - Jojo Moyes
Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Affinity - Sarah Waters

Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 18:56

Hiyapeeps · 31/07/2023 23:37

The chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor

I read the first St Mary's book and thought it was terrible. Do they get better later on in the series?

OP posts:
SaltyCrisps · 01/08/2023 18:52

Have a look at Eustace and Hilda by LP Hartley. It's a trilogy. It's long been on my shortlist of favourites, vying for first place with Jane Eyre :)

ThunderclapCloud · 01/08/2023 18:34

LuciferRising · 31/07/2023 21:21

The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey. Rural and magic.

Frenchman's Creek - D Du Maurier. Pirates.

I loved both of these!

Blueroses99 · 01/08/2023 18:26

I enjoyed Julia Quinn books which are set in the regency period (including the Bridgerton series, but the books are far better than the TV series IMHO).

If you enjoyed Magpie Murders (and the sequel), Anthony Horowitz has done another series where he puts himself into the books as a character! ‘Hawthorne and Horowitz’ series, the first book is The Word is Murder.

Greenvelvetdress · 01/08/2023 18:14

The marriage portrait and hamnet both by Maggie O'Farrell might be up your street?

Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 18:08

MrsW9 · 31/07/2023 21:46

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (epistolary, 19th century, crime - according to Dorothy L. Sayers, 'probably the finest detective novel ever written. I think it probably includes another few themes on your list too)

Have you read Sayers's Wimsey books? I think the best is The Nine Tailors, if you haven't read it. Murder Must Advertise is also great (and set in a 20s/30s advertising firm, so quite a lot of fun in terms of period setting).

Totally different period (medieval) but The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is wonderful (crime, books about reading - includes possibly the best library in fiction).

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster (time period, romance, some rural setting).

The only one of these I haven't read is The Name of the Rose. I started it but abandoned it when I reached a 2 page long sentence that was describing a Church door in great detail.

OP posts:
EllieQ · 01/08/2023 18:08

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik - basically the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons.

Zen Cho has written two Regency-era fantasy books - Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s historical fantasy books would probably suit you - the Fionavar Tapestry is the only one with a ‘typical’ fantasy setting including elves, dwarves, etc.

Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 17:55

PermanentTemporary · 31/07/2023 21:25

The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens. A tad late in time period but you might like it.

Surely you'll have read The Pursuit of Love...?

I have read the Pursuit of Love but I was a bit disappointed by it.
It was years ago that I read it so I can't remember it clearly now but I think I just didn't connect with the main characters and so it didn't have the full emotional impact.

OP posts:
Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 17:50

Marsyas · 31/07/2023 21:03

Well I was going to say the Liveship Traders until I saw you had mentioned them as a favourite!

Magpie Murders - crime, book within a book
The Magicians - magic, about books
Six of Crows - adventure, magic

I loved Magpie Murders and enjoyed Six or Crows. I have the Magicians but I have not read it yet so I might try that one next.

OP posts:
Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 17:45

RitzyMcFitzy · 31/07/2023 20:46

Have you read Josephine Tey's books?

No I haven't read any of her's although I did add The Franchise Affair to my wish list a few days ago after seeing it mentioned on here. Is this a good one to start with?

OP posts:
SanFranBear · 01/08/2023 14:52

ThursdayLastWeek · 31/07/2023 21:19

Cliche answer considering my user name but Jasper Fforde?

I was going to suggest these too...books within books with magic and 'chosen one' vibes... I love them!

Boodahh · 01/08/2023 14:48

Also Anthony Horowitz Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are crime stories that are books within books

RitzyMcFitzy · 01/08/2023 14:12

I loved Possession too. The film adaptation was woeful. Didn't capture the book for me at all.

DaisyThistle · 01/08/2023 14:08

SoundTheSirens · 31/07/2023 22:35

Have you read Possession by AS Byatt, OP? It hits the book-within-a-book brief, is partly epistolary in structure and one strand of the story is set in the Victorian era.

I LOVED that novel. Read it decades ago and got so involved in it.

Boodahh · 01/08/2023 10:42

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby is v good.

Pine by Francis Toon (wild rural setting)
Summerwater by Sarah Moss (wild rural setting) interlinked short stories.
Rook by Jane Rusbridge (wild rural setting)

The Taxidermists Daughter by Kate Mosse naff title but a good book - set in early 1900s, rural setting.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Glockamorra · 01/08/2023 10:32

You say you don’t like literary fiction, but lots of the books you listed as favourites are literary fiction…?

All of Elizabeth Bowen. Start with The Last September. Have you read Ivy Compton-Burnett, Rosamund Lehmann?

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes? You might like the rural and village setting and the supernatural. (Always nice to meet another JL Carr fan…)

William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault or Love and Summer?

Look at Persephone Books’ list of authors (late 19th and early 20thc women writers) for ideas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone_Books

Have you read all of Sayers? I love Gaudy Night.

Persephone Books - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone_Books

Original poster
AnnotherReader · 01/08/2023 09:45

Wow I completely forgot to check back last night, I was too busy reading (Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby which I am enjoying) I was not expecting so many responses.
I have read quite a few of the books mentioned but there are still so many others that I have not so I will look into those.
The one that immediately stands out is Strange the Dreamer - I own that book so I will move it to the top of the tbr pile.
I will come back and respond to questions later when I have finished work, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the response at the moment 😀

OP posts:
Hiyapeeps · 31/07/2023 23:37

The chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor

Hiyapeeps · 31/07/2023 23:35

Any Brandon Sanderson, though I started with the mistborn trilogy.

The watchmaker of filigree Street