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Original poster

inspire me, I Desperately need good book to read., no horror, something fairly recent.....................

149 replies

katierocket · 11/07/2005 22:10

Really want a good read but need inspiring. Hate horror, don't want anything really intellectual. here are some of my favourite books in no particular order to give idea of what I like.

Secret History
Wild Swans
Memoirs of a Geisha
Anything by Donna Leon
Pursuit of Happiness
Perfume
Wuthering Heights
Driving over lemons
Crow Road
The Beach
I don't know how she does it
anything by Marian Keyes

help please, otherwise I will be forced to try and finish sh*te cecelia ahern book 'where rainbows end' which is making me want to bite someone.

OP posts:
clareren · 12/07/2005 09:00

I have just finished 'Sophie's Bakery for the Broken Hearted' by Lolly Winston - please don't be put off by the title - I have to say it is the best book I have read in ages! It is about a woman who loses her husband to cancer, and how she deals with her grief- it is actually quite funny and amazingly well written- when she has to put on a form who the authorities should contact in case of emergency, she puts George Clooney!

It is so so much better than that Cecelia Ahearn attempt which I gave away after reading two chapters!

Also, agree Marian Keyes very good, so is Jane Green - Babyville especially, Adele Parks books are easy to whizz through, and so are Wendy Holden's! Must admit to also being a Jilly Cooper fan and can't wait for her next book!

I am trying to get as much reading in as poss before birth of ds2, so threads like these are a godsend!

cardy · 12/07/2005 09:25

Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Copeland
My Sister Keeper - Jodi Picoult
Star of the Sea - Joseph O'Connor

spub · 12/07/2005 12:14

Agree that the Janet Evanovich "Stephanie Plum" books are entertaining though am getting a bit bored now with the same old stuff (but this is now book 11!)
Can I strongly recommend 2 very funny and light(but not insipid and intelligence insulting) novels that are perfect for holidays?
"No Wonder I take a Drink" and "Nobody Loves a Ginger Baby" by Laura Marney. Of these, the second is the best though both are good.

Original poster
katierocket · 12/07/2005 12:46

thanks all. am busily going through the suggestions that I haven't read and ordering on Amazon

OP posts:
janeite · 12/07/2005 17:31

I second cardy but would extend it to say anything by Douglas Coupland - whislt he has not yet, in my opinion, written the absolutely exquisite book which I think is inside him somewhere, they are very very good. I especially like "Life After God". Also - have you read "The Time Traveller's Wife" or "The 9th Life Of Louie drax" - don't remember who they are by (2 different authors) but they are both superb.

spacedonkey · 12/07/2005 18:28

recent recommended reads:

The Master by Colm Toibin

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (although it verges on horror in places - but I couldn't put it down)

Bel Canto by Anne Patchett

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Have you read Villette by charlotte bronte? Fab book

ks · 12/07/2005 19:01

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fishfinger · 12/07/2005 19:02

I find " Heat magazine" has the right level of erudition for me

littlerach · 12/07/2005 19:02

Amy Tan's books are excellnet, would really recommend them.

Also Margaret Forster's are good.

You mentioned Wild Swans, how about her new one, about Mao, although it looks a little heavy going.

A Town Like Alice?
Anna Karenina?
Passage To india?

If you like a light read, Peter Kerr's books are good, all about moving to Mallorca.

Ya Ya Sisterhood series?

Janet Evanovich?

Litle house on the Prairie? Don't laugh, I have just re read the entire series, so lovely to read.

ks · 12/07/2005 19:03

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fishfinger · 12/07/2005 19:03

who is a ponce?
I like lisa
but she is very chi chi isnt she
I love maggie forster - my fave gal

ks · 12/07/2005 19:05

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ks · 12/07/2005 19:08

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tamum · 12/07/2005 19:08

My ex-boss's husband left her for Lisa

I love Margaret Forster too, the Diary of an Ordinary Woman was really involving. Just about to read The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates, so a bit early to recommend it, but I read We Were The Mulvaneys last summer and it was v. good and absorbing, though sad. Very memorable, which is saying something for me.

fishfinger · 12/07/2005 19:08

twalking if made uo buiogs
did oyu read private eye this week?
hilaripous bit about mcartneys wife ( the legless one)

ks · 12/07/2005 19:09

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tamum · 12/07/2005 19:09

No, what did it say? (allegedly)

ks · 12/07/2005 19:10

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tamum · 12/07/2005 19:10

Yes, really He's quite famous himself, though not with us any more. I feel bad about naming him, which is ridiculous....

fishfinger · 12/07/2005 19:11

well it summarised wherether or not she was at live aid - and told a charactersitc long tale about ehr being kidnapped by pirates adn havning her head buitten off by a shark but she sewed it on herself

she is a total fantasist isnt she?

tamum · 12/07/2005 19:11

No, I meant coddy and the "legless one" as she so charmingly put it when I said "what did it say". Boy, this is confusing.

tamum · 12/07/2005 19:11

lol at the shark- yes, completely, I think.

spacedonkey · 12/07/2005 19:11

i love private eye, i am going to buy a copy forthwith

ks · 12/07/2005 19:11

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fishfinger · 12/07/2005 19:12

llikw htis too