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Original poster

Can you recommend an unputdownable book?

232 replies

Seemslikethat · 25/08/2024 19:47

As the title says really…

I enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction. Fiction - some books I’ve really enjoyed are…
Penance -Eliza Clark
All the broken pieces -John Boyne
The day Shelley Woodhouse woke up - Laura Pearson
Wrong Time Wrong Place - Gillian McAllister
Tell Me How This Ends - Jo Leevers
The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
The Satsuma Complex -Bob Mortimer
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Five People you meet in heaven - Mitch Albom
The Stand -Steven King
Catch 22 -Joseph Heller
The Time Traveller’s Wife

I've also read quite a lot by Michael Connelly, Harlen Coben, Joanna Cannon, Jodi Picoult, Lisa Jewell, Hazel Prior, Rachel Joyce, Mike Gayle, Fredrick Bachman and Matt Haig. I hated the Crawdads book and wasn’t keen on the Thursday Murder Club.

Non-fiction - I like people’s travel tales or when they do ‘challenges’ eg Tony Hawks Round Ireland with a Fridge or the George Mahood books. I also like insights into people’s work eg Adam Kay or other medical people or people who work in police / prisons / courts etc. I read a good one about someone who was a disaster victim identification specialist.

Looking forward to your recommendations!

OP posts:
Pocketfullofdogtreats · 28/08/2024 17:32

Lovelyview · 25/08/2024 20:04

Just finished Dissolution by C J Sansom and was reading until 1am to finish it. It was put-downable but still enjoyable at the beginning but pretty gripping for most of the story.

Have you read Restoration by Rose Tremaine? Similar to Dissolution but better, I think. The sequel to Restoration is really good too (Merivel). There are some very funny bits in Merivel but it depends on what you find funny, of course!.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 28/08/2024 15:20

@parrotonmyshoulder

That was me! You must recommend some more books (if that's ok) because I've read and loved all the ones you said. You should think about joining the 50 Booker thread, lots of like minded posters and recommendations

parrotonmyshoulder · 27/08/2024 22:30

Well this thread has been dangerous. I found four of the books recommended in the local oxfam book shop today and had to buy them. Started one and it has been, quite literally, unputdownable.
American Dirt - thank you for the suggestion!

deeahgwitch · 27/08/2024 18:23

PuppyMonkey · 27/08/2024 18:20

Currently reading The Bee Sting by Paul Murray and it’s pretty engrossing.

I read that also but preferred Paul Lynch's Prophet Song.

PuppyMonkey · 27/08/2024 18:20

Currently reading The Bee Sting by Paul Murray and it’s pretty engrossing.

metalmutha · 27/08/2024 18:11

Anything by Karin Slaughter.

HarpyBirthday · 27/08/2024 11:02

Recently read How to Kill your Family by Bella Mackie and it was definitely a page turner. If you like Gone Girl you would like this IMO.

Non fiction - Graham Coxon's memoir / autobiog is worth a read

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson- v funny

Mothership4two · 27/08/2024 00:32

Didn't "get" The Goldfinch either @Spidey66 neither did my book club but it often crops up on MN as a good read

Mothership4two · 27/08/2024 00:30

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Two are tomes but I couldn't put them down

Also:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (have just reread this)
The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Original poster
Seemslikethat · 26/08/2024 23:35

Those of you who recommended Strange Sally Diamond, I read it all today, so thank you!

OP posts:
Original poster
Seemslikethat · 26/08/2024 23:34

Ah, yes, I really enjoyed When the dust settles. I read it on holiday this year.

OP posts:
Original poster
Seemslikethat · 26/08/2024 23:32

DriveInSaturday · 25/08/2024 23:19

You enjoy books that give an insight into people's jobs and mention the law. You might have read these already, but they are all very readable.

No Comment - Jess McDonald, about being a fast track recruit in the Met Police.

Dr Amanda Brown is a compassionate woman who has written three books about being a prison doctor -The Prison Doctor, Women Inside and The Final Sentence.

Chris Atkins - A Bit of a Stretch, The Diaries of a Prisoner. He is a journalist and film maker who ended up in prison for fraud. He writes very well about how awful prisons are.

Edited

Thank you. I’ve already read the Chris Atkins one and I’ll take a look at the others.

OP posts:
mauvish · 26/08/2024 21:05

I forgot to add Gone Girl as another book I couldn't put down.

Of all Kate Atkinson's books, my fav is her first - Behind the scenes at the museum -- though I can't reread the chapter involving the WW2 dogfight, it made me cry too much.

AreYouShittingMe · 26/08/2024 08:33

Anything by Louse Beech- How to be Brave is my favourite. She also writes under Louse Swanson. End of Story blew me away, but it made me cry. Big, ugly cry.

Funderthighs · 26/08/2024 08:23

The Shadow of The Wind by Carlos Luiz Zafon was amazing. I couldn’t put it down.

legosnowqueen · 26/08/2024 08:11

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson.
The Siege by Helen Dunmore.

Spidey66 · 26/08/2024 01:55

IlovePond · 25/08/2024 21:07

A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini - imo it’s many times better than The Kite Runner.

I picked it up from a hotel bookshelf on holiday one night, started reading it whilst sitting on the end of the bed clutching my toothbrush and was still reading it, (and finishing it), at 5am the next morning. I cried pretty much all the way through and looked like death the next day!

Despite that, I highly recommend it!

Loved loved loved that book.

Absolutely detested The Goldfinch. I only read it because I was off sick for a few months post hysterectomy and was bored.

I found Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow a bit Meh, tbh.

Love Lisa Jewell, Dorothy Koomson and Marian Keyes.

Appalonia · 26/08/2024 00:44

Absolutely LOVED Circe!
Am currently enjoying The Turkish Detective series by Barbara Nadal ( and there's lots of them, love a good series )
Recently enjoyed Moths and the sequel, Toxxic, interesting dystopian fiction about a virus that only affects men...

HolidayHappy123 · 26/08/2024 00:31

If you like Kristin Hammer try The Women. I couldn’t put it down.

Costacoffeeplease · 26/08/2024 00:12

I also hated Tomorrow…..
Dnf Still Life

Tbh I can’t really think of any unputdownable books that I’ve read recently. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve read a lot of books in my almost 60 years or if there really is nothing new and everything seems to be a rehash of something else

I would recommend Jenny Eclair as a writer though

chattyness · 26/08/2024 00:01

Dead Lovely by Helen Fitzgerald
The Tent The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy - this was made into a short bbc tv series which was terrible, but the book is brilliant!e
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall

feellikeanalien · 25/08/2024 23:57

I've just finished Homecoming by Kate Morton which was very compelling. Kept me guessing to the end.

Also Us by David Nicholls and The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas.

wafflesmgee · 25/08/2024 23:52

My sister's keeper
although it is sad

IDontWantToWaitAnyMore · 25/08/2024 23:50

If you like Bill Bryson and Tony Hawks, you'll love McCarthy's Bar and The Road To McCarthy, by the late wonderful Pete McCarthy. David Niven's Bring On The Empty Horses and The Moon's A Balloon are both really good.

Fiction, anything written by John Boyne!
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff is such a good read. Songbirds by Christy Lefteri.

Rubyandscarlett · 25/08/2024 23:49

funniestpersonyouknow · 25/08/2024 20:54

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - loved it

Just finished this on a recommendation and l enjoyed it but didn't quite get the hype - it was good but not unputdownable