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Original poster

If I tell you which books I've enjoyed recently, can you recommend some more to add to my amazon order, please?

32 replies

Olihan · 11/06/2010 23:22

Over the last couple of months I've read:

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets - Eva Rice
The Virgin Suicides - Geoffrey Eugenides
The Children's Book - AS Byatt
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
The Wilderness - Samantha Harvey
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer
Digging to America &
The Clock Winder - Anne Tyler
Resistance - Anita Shreve (have read almost all of hers though)
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortensen
American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
The White Queen - Philippa Gregory (read all of hers too)

Still to go are:

Love in a Cold Climate (Penguin Modern Classics) - Nancy Mitford
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel

I've also read but didn't really enjoy

A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif
Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway

So what do I order next?

OP posts:
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Original poster
Olihan · 13/06/2010 22:49

Ooh, thank you. Lots of great sounding books here. I've added them all to my basket, now I've got to decide which ones to order straight away and which ones to save for later!

And I totally agree re. the end of Her Fearful Symmetry. It completely ruined the whole book for me.

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Pluto · 13/06/2010 22:01

I always forget to mention my favourite easy reads on these threads - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Armistead Maupin Tales of the City series. I read them about 20 years ago when they were first published and they are still fantastic today.

janeite · 13/06/2010 21:52

Agree totally re: her Fearful Symmetry. It was preposterous at the end.

Pluto · 13/06/2010 21:51

I'm half way through The Glass Room. I started reading it a couple of months ago but it's resting for a bit. Since then I've read Her Fearful Symmetry, which was OK until the dire ending.

All of Ann Tyler is fantastic imo. Can I also suggest The Secret River. I loved The Little Stranger and the Millenium Trilogy. I love Carol Shields - Larry's Party is a good start.

janeite · 13/06/2010 21:41

The Historian is v good. I absolutely hated Fingersmith and thought The Memory Keeper's Daughter was utter, utter tosh, sorry.

Liz Jensen's Rapture is okay. Her Ninth Life Of Louis Drax and the one about time travel are even better.

Have you read The Handmaid's Tale or Oryx And Crake by M Atwood? The former is brilliant, the latter much less so imho.

Love In The Time Of Cholera?

Paula by Isabel Allende?

Brideshead Revisited?

Travellerintime · 13/06/2010 21:40

Olihan
Maybe you've already put in your order, but I've read (&enjoyed) quite a few of the ones in your read list.

Some other recent faves of mine are:
Jonathan Coe: The Rain before it falls
Joyce Carol Oates: We were the Mulvaneys
Anything by Alice Munro

I also loved the Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - not as chick-litty as her previous novels.

trumpton · 13/06/2010 21:35

I have just started and am loving the new Margaret Forster book . Isa and May . About Isamay's grandmothers relationship with her.

itsatiggerday · 12/06/2010 11:17

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. And I'm sure you've read it by Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is one of my all time favourites.

Original poster
Olihan · 12/06/2010 11:03

Ooh, yes have just found paperback Glass Room, thank you, that's another added to my basket.

trumpton, will look at Poisonwood Bible, it sounds familiar but I'm not sure if I've read it or just considered it a few times.

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trumpton · 12/06/2010 09:20

I think Barbara Kingsolver's ....The Poisonwood Bible... is fabulous and we seem to have similar tastes in fiction.

TheFoosa · 12/06/2010 09:11

The Glass Room is out in paperback now

I read it last year, it's very good

Original poster
Olihan · 12/06/2010 00:22

Sea Glass is Anita Shreve, one of her best ones imo.

I'm sure I read Mary Wesley as a teen, I'll see if the library van has some on it's next visit. It doesn't have much in the way of modern books but that sort of book probably fits its target audience a bit more .

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Original poster
Olihan · 12/06/2010 00:19

triplets, is The Memory Keepers Daughter the one about the doctor who sends away his newborn daughter because she has Down's but he tells his wife the baby died? If it is I've read it at some point.

Amazon keep recommending The Girl With.... but I've not been convinced enough yet. Will add it at that price though .

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rempy · 12/06/2010 00:11

Unless, Carol Shields. And Sea Glass, is that an Anita Shreve?

And don't dismiss them as too "light", Mary Wesley. A touch of I capture the Castle in the Camomile Lawn, and Harnessing Peacocks. Not fashionable, but very readable.

If you want some American short stories, there is a collection of Lorrie Moore that is very good.

wukter · 12/06/2010 00:08

No, I haven't even heard of the Glass House....

Original poster
Olihan · 12/06/2010 00:08

Absolute favourite is Wolf Hall, closely followed by I Capture the Castle. Both completely different but I couldn't put either of them down.

Usually I read for an hour when I go to bed but those 2 I was up til 2am on a couple of nights.

I LOVE reading though, I'd rather read than watch TV.

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triplets · 12/06/2010 00:04

I was very disappointed with The Little Stranger, it was my choice for our book club, didnt find it at all scary. Just read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, next b/club choice, thought it would not be my thing but couldnt put it down and can`t wait to read the other two.Also just read The Memory Keepers Daughter, brilliant, and We Are All Made Of Glue, very funny book. I order my books from Amazon, just got Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for £2.99 (new) and free p&p!

Original poster
Olihan · 12/06/2010 00:03

wukter, have you read Simon Mawers' The Glass House? I like the sound of it but it's still only in hardback and I'm not paying that kind of money unless it's FANTASTIC!

I'm guessing the Wolf hall sequel won't be around for a couple of years yet but I may just buy that in hardback when it is eventually published.

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Original poster
Olihan · 12/06/2010 00:03

wukter, have you read Simon Mawers' The Glass House? I like the sound of it but it's still only in hardback and I'm not paying that kind of money unless it's FANTASTIC!

I'm guessing the Wolf hall sequel won't be around for a couple of years yet but I may just buy that in hardback when it is eventually published.

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bosch · 12/06/2010 00:03

Read Wolf Hall last year (took ages but really enjoyed it). Also looking forward to sequel.

Second recommendation of The Secret Scriptures.

Have also just finished reading the little stranger by sarah walters. Real page turner, really enjoyed it and still wondering who teh little stranger was?!?! Am a real coward but didn't find it too creepy.

Just realised you've read a dozen books in 'a couple of months'. Respect. Which ONE did you enjoy the most?

wukter · 11/06/2010 23:57

Am looking forward to the sequel, Olihan. Yay!

Haven't read any Sarah Waters apart from Fingersmith. Totally overrated, I thought. Would you say the Historian is worth trying, Purpleturtle?

Original poster
Olihan · 11/06/2010 23:45

wukter, that's exactly how I did it. I found the he/he style so confusing to begin with, then suddenly I just knew and didn't want it to finish. She's writing a sequel to it apparently......

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Original poster
Olihan · 11/06/2010 23:42

ruckyrunt, I LOVED Wolf Hall. IIRC it did take a bit of getting into but was more than worth it when I did.

The Secret Scripture is in my Amazon basket now!

The Historian looks a bit scary , is it? I haven't read Sarah Waters' Little Stranger because it sounds creepy!

purpleturtle, I didn't finish Cellist either, Wolf Hall arrived and I discarded it . I've read Anne Tyler's A Patchwork Planet and the one with Elizabeth and the slightly mad family which the title escapes me atm. I do like her style, she's easy to read.

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wukter · 11/06/2010 23:34

It's probably a bit of both, Ruckyrunt. I found it difficult to get engaged with Wolf hall, (not happening when too tired) but once I did, I was in. That's every time I picked it up, not just to start. It's absorbing, and once you are in, you start knowing intuitively which he, is He.

wukter · 11/06/2010 23:30

I found Middlesex by Geoffrey Eugenides far supoerior to The Virgin Suicides, so maybe worth a try also for you?

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