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Original poster

Desperate for a good book! A well-written escapist read where I forget who and where I am.

66 replies

merrymelody · 19/05/2025 08:59

Please my fellow bookworms, suggest some titles that will whisk me away from reality. Nothing dystopian, no science fiction or fantasy. It has to be well written, that’s essential. I like historical fiction, contemporary fiction, thrillers, ghost stories, mysteries, comedy, romance, biographies, autobiographies, philosophy and art. I like stories about children, too.

OP posts:
BrightLemonSnail · 19/05/2025 14:10

Lady in Waiting, The Glass Castle, and Don't Sleep there are Snakes for Non Fiction

newrubylane · 19/05/2025 11:10

I've recently enjoyed Mere by Danielle Giles, The Players by Minette Walters, Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson and The Corset by Laura Purcell.

MagicalMystical · 19/05/2025 10:54

I’m just reading The Goblin Emperor which is nothing like my usual read (it’s for a book group) and after a bemused start I am finding it very good for escapism.

Tradersinsnow · 19/05/2025 10:32

SJ Parris's Giordano Bruno series.

Mick Herron's Slow Horses series.

HarrietBond · 19/05/2025 10:27

For biography I highly recommend Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser. It's ostensibly a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, but it weaves in a huge amount of social and political US history, tracing a line from the settlers era right through to Trump. Totally fascinating book.

Laska2Meryls · 19/05/2025 10:25

Highly recommend The Artist by Lucy Steeds ....1920s Provence it really made me want to go there ..

sparrowflewdown · 19/05/2025 10:17

Anything by Barbara Pym.

Dappy777 · 19/05/2025 10:14

Historical
Shardlake series
Robert Graves: I Claudius (and watch the TV series from the 1970s, it's a masterpiece)
Ghost stories
M R James (wonderful old world feel, and beautifully written)
Comedy
P G Wodehouse: Right Ho Jeeves (sublime prose poetry)
Eveyln Waugh: The Sword of Honor
Biography
Claire Tomalin's biographies of Thomas Hardy and Dickens are superb
My favourite biography is Thomas Wright's book on Oscar Wilde
Autobiography
Robert Graves: Goodbye to all That (wonderful, wonderful book)
Brian Blessed's autobiography had me howling with laughter (listen to him reading it on audio)
Philosophy
Bertrand Russell: History of Western Philosophy (crystal clear prose and surprisingly funny in places – you don't have to read it from cover to cover, just pick out the chapters that interest you, like the chapters on Stoicism or Epicurus)
Bertrand Russell: The Problems of Philosophy (very short and sets out the core problems or debates that philosophers agonize over)
Bryan Magee: Confessions of a Philosopher (also, watch Magee's TV series on youtube, where he chats to leading philosophers).

KurtansCurtain · 19/05/2025 09:48

One of my favourites is Just One Damn Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. Gentle British humour and it’s about time travelling historians so something a bit different.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 19/05/2025 09:44

I read children’s books from my childhood to escape reality. There’s a nice thread on books that nobody else remembers which gives some lovely ideas.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 19/05/2025 09:43

Susan Howatch, Starbridge novels. The history of the Church of England through the twentieth century. Sounds dull, but really isn’t.

HarrietBond · 19/05/2025 09:40

Kate Atkinson? If you haven't already read her (non Jackson Brodie) books, they'd be perfect for you. Start with Behind the Scenes at the Museum or Life After Life.

Jackson Brodie is also good by the way - but some people have only come across those and don't realise all the other books exist!

endofthelinefinally · 19/05/2025 09:39

One of my favourite books is Pillars of the Earth and the rest of the series. Ken Follett

Cuppachuchu · 19/05/2025 09:23

I'm currently reading All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, It's a definite page turner, and the writing style is clever, imo.

okydokethen · 19/05/2025 09:14

Issac and the Egg - cleverly written book about grief

A Terrible Kindness - beautiful book about Aberfan mining disaster

10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world - great book, great author written from the perspective of a murdered sex worker as her dying mind stops working.

MoistVonL · 19/05/2025 09:03

The Shardlake series are good for that - historical and crime.