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Original poster

Well written, with substance, unputdownable?

65 replies

FlyingForest · 12/06/2025 14:34

Hello
Just trying to get back into reading after many years away from it.
A friend recommended Verity by Colleen Hoover and whilst it was gripping it really lacked any substance and was not well written. It felt more like watching a tv shows for entertainment, which I don’t mind at all but I don’t something more from a book.
Am I asking too much or is there something you could recommend?

OP posts:
RedBeech · 18/06/2025 22:31

DwarfPalmetto · 17/06/2025 17:30

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

So glad you mentioned this one. I think it is brilliantly written. Not showy literary prose but so beautifully told.

CurtainBabe · 18/06/2025 22:14

I loved Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi. I didn't enjoy her other books but Americanah is one of my favourite books ever. I also thoroughly enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Funnily enough I like Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, I read it in 202 well before any activism related to that sort of thing and I found it sensitively written and touching. Can't recall ny others at the moment.

Philandbill · 18/06/2025 22:01

Station Eleven by Emily Mandel St John.
Could not put it down.

ungratefulcat · 18/06/2025 21:58

Oh ye, Taylor Jenkins Reid is a good suggestion

AlphabetBird · 18/06/2025 21:54

Your ask made me think immediately of John le Carré.

Just literary enough, compelling and incredible character.

Ive just done a reread of the Smiley books and absolutely loved it.

Otherwise, maybe some American literary fiction? John Irving maybe?

whynotmereally · 18/06/2025 21:54

I loved-
seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Nightingale Kristen Hannah
Weyward Emilia Hart

Also love Mark Edwards and Ruth Ware

whynotmereally · 18/06/2025 21:51

Baguettesandcheeseforever · 18/06/2025 08:13

I really didn’t love Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. It was okay but I thought it was predictable and the characters irritated me a little.

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I found it quite dull. Not fir me.

ungratefulcat · 18/06/2025 20:55

Please can I have the details of your book club too @osirista ?

ungratefulcat · 18/06/2025 20:53

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene (or pretty much any of his books!)

1984 George Orwell

JG Ballard - pretty much any of his books

perfume by Patrick Suskind

BunnyRuddington · 18/06/2025 20:49

Baguettesandcheeseforever · 18/06/2025 08:13

I really didn’t love Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. It was okay but I thought it was predictable and the characters irritated me a little.

Show quote history

I thought the same. For me it was quite a bit far from unputdownable.

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce is a good book if you’re trying to get back into reading.

The one book that I’ve read recently that does fall into the well written, unputdownable category is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber is also worth looking at.

osirista · 18/06/2025 18:44

ShackletonSailingSouth · 17/06/2025 14:58

@osiristacould you DM me details too please?

Done!

Baguettesandcheeseforever · 18/06/2025 08:13

Shortjeans · 17/06/2025 18:02

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. You will probably think you’re not interested in the subject matter (computer game design) but everyone I know who’s read it loved it.

The Heart’s invisible furies (and pretty much any John Boyne)

American Dirt

These would be my top 3 for getting back into reading.

I really didn’t love Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. It was okay but I thought it was predictable and the characters irritated me a little.

NegroniMacaroni · 17/06/2025 18:20

This may sound pretentious but - Crime And Punishment. Beautifully written, gripping, surprisingly accessible. I didn't want it to end.

Pompeii from Robert Harris is also great.

holjam · 17/06/2025 18:17

John Boyne has a series of novellas called the Elements series, 4 books in all and it’s absolutely brilliant. Actually, anything by John Boyne is just great.
All the colours of the dark by Chris Whitaker
Notes on an execution by Danya Kukafkya
The goldfinch by Donna Tartt

BlueEyedBogWitch · 17/06/2025 18:12

You could try going back in time a bit. The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff, and Excellent Women by Barbara Pym are beautifully written.

Donna Tartt is also a writer who can write page-turners with substance. I loved The Goldfinch.

Elizabeth Strout is a fabulous writer. Her Olive Kitteridge books in particular are wonderfully observed and wryly funny, as well as quite heartbreaking.

Shortjeans · 17/06/2025 18:02

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. You will probably think you’re not interested in the subject matter (computer game design) but everyone I know who’s read it loved it.

The Heart’s invisible furies (and pretty much any John Boyne)

American Dirt

These would be my top 3 for getting back into reading.

DwarfPalmetto · 17/06/2025 17:30

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

HippyKayYay · 17/06/2025 15:00

Demon Copperhead
Hammet
The Marriage Portrait

ShackletonSailingSouth · 17/06/2025 14:58

@osiristacould you DM me details too please?

HugHog · 17/06/2025 13:03

I've just finished The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's set in 16th century Italy and I found it really gripping but also beautifully written.

Onthewaytothemountains · 17/06/2025 12:45

Anything by Belinda Bauer or Suzie Steiner.
William Shaw books set in Dungeness.
Joanne Glen e.g. All Our Mothers.

Dappy777 · 16/06/2025 19:32

I have just discovered Iris Murdoch. She was a distinguished philosopher, and her books are full of substance, but she's also a great storyteller.

osirista · 16/06/2025 10:40

knackeredmumoftwo · 13/06/2025 04:20

Ooh can I please have info on the book group @osirista

Claire Keegan - is very good small things like these totally engaged me, I’ve also really enjoyed Kate Atkinson too, and the new Richard Osman book was very good and fun too

if you like slow horses then the original books are fab

Will DM you knackered mum!

Defiantly41 · 15/06/2025 23:47

The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy

HelpMebeok · 15/06/2025 22:16

have you read any John Boyne?

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