What should I read?

[ReallyFuckingBored]

Recommend me something, anything.

Really need to step away from my phone.

Fiction, non-fiction, history, politics, science, feminism, whatever, just anything that’s a great read.

Last thing I tried reading was about the suffragettes, but it was terribly dull. Last time I asked the Internet what I should read, the Internet suggested 50 Shades...

Give it a try OP, it's not a hard read at all. Highly recommend.

Amazing Grace by Kim Nash. A lovely book.

@PhyllisPearce Angie Marsons is a brilliant writer. Her Kim Stone books are so good. Read them all. You'll really enjoy them - but they can be a bit gruesome.

I enjoyed The Rumour, can't remember who it's by, and Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

I’ve recently really enjoyed The Woman in the Window.

Agree with the suggestion of Daphne du Maurier upthread - I have yet to read one of her books and not enjoy it.

And also Educated by Tara Westover which someone else mentioned. I started it thinking it was going to be really dry and dull but was hooked pretty quickly and found it compulsive reading.

I enjoyed The Power by Naomi Alderman. Very thought provoking.

The Chronicles of St Mary's and Invisible Library books are good if you fancy a series.

Katie Piper Beautiful and Beautiful Ever After
Dana Vulin worth fighting for (read this in under 24 hours)
Jordon bone the Beautiful struggle
Alexis Quinn unbroken (a book everyone sould read about ATU/Autism treatment. And read in under 24 hours)

The Power is also in The Stack of Unread.

I did, once upon a time, make it through one or two of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books.

Prisoners of Geography sounds interesting.

Thank you all, I appreciate it. I used to read a lot and since the advent of phones (and the arrival of children) I just don’t bother. And I want to.

cwg
The suffragettes book was Rise Up Women by Diane Atkinson. I can’t quite tell you what I didn’t like about it - it was like it couldn’t quite decide if it was trying to give me an overview or be a primer so I could pass an exam. So much detail in some of the sentences, I couldn’t recall the start by the time I got to the end.

The Essex serpent by Sarah Perry really surprised me by how gripping it was.

Always love Fatherland by Robert Harris- his first and best.

I love the Eddie Flynn books by Steve Cavanagh.

If you haven't read any of the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child you're missing out. Short chapters make them really easy to read, too!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was a recent bookclub read and was sooo good I passed it onto my very hard to please mother! I've just started A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams,something completely new to me. Couldn't you just close your eyes and pick something from your to be read pile to start with?

Thanks, Really. I hope your reading mojo soon returns - there's nothing like a good book.

I've had a good run on books this month (after reading some pretty underwhelming books last month) and would recommend:

Mudbound - Hillary Jordan
Educated - Tara Westover
I am, I am, I am - Maggie O'Farrell
Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi
The Sixteen Trees of the Somme - Lars Mytting

Just started My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier which is also good.

So my Amazon basket now contains:
Educated
I am I am I am (love Maggie O Farrell novels so...)
Prisoners of Geography
The Mother in law
Sixteen trees of the Somme
Gentleman in Moscow.

Loads more of them are in my basket but saved for later.

I am going to buy them, I am going on holiday next week, I am going to read them. I am not going to spend my days pressing the refresh button on Facebook or mumsnet.

Possibly. 😀

I’ve just read and then listened to The Five by Hallie Reubenhold. It is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.

It’s a social history of Jack the Ripper’s victims, not gory as it deliberately doesn’t touch upon what he did. It tells the untold stories of the women’s lives. It’s thought provoking, heartbreaking in parts, and totally absorbing.

I loved it!

Sounds great OP, but can I ask, why aren't you pulling books out the The Stack of Unread?

My Stack of Unread (do you know, BTW that there's a Japanese word for buying books and letting them pile up unread - Tsundoku) is just about 100% ebooks which is a good thing, because there's about 400 of the buggers, and that's in addition to another 3-400 in my ereaderiq watch list, which means that I'll buy them when they drop to 99p.

So obviously, I get overwhelmed with choosing a book to read, one technique I've used in the past is to have a quick look at the 'what we're reading' board on here and pick the first book title that I see mentioned that I know I've got, and read that.

So how about pulling the Crimson Petal, and anything else mentioned on this thread out of The Stack and taking those on holiday with you too? Or making a start now, while you're awaiting the arrival of your lovely new books?

Barbara, I don’t know why, I seem to have a Tsundoku problem.

A lot of it is because I choose in haste because there are kids hanging off me in the shop, some of it is because I get sucked in by marketing, some of it is because I buy for who I used to be rather than who I am now (ie someone with a long commute by train and alert brain vs someone with no commute and a phone addiction).

If I make it through these (any of them!) I’ll revisit The Stack, but I don’t want the stack and my feelings towards it to be my stumbling block IYSWIM.

Pleased you have Educated on the list. I have the same collecting books problem. Hope your reading mojo has returned.