Recommend me a summer read

[HermioneWeasley]

I don’t normally have the time or concentration for fiction, but I should have the opportunity this summer to read a couple of books.

Crime ok if not too gory. Don’t like horror or sci fi.

Last fiction book I loved was The Goldfinch. Also love Barbara Kingsolver.

Want a gripping story but nothing too harrowing (Birds with Wings still haunts me).

Any recommendations?

Thanks

Our book group are just about to read Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, looks interesting! Last one we read was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

Room by Emma Donoghue! Incredible read, couldn't put it down!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, good complex family story. Likewise 'My name is Lucy Barton' by Elizabeth Strout for similar exploration of family dynamics.

I love anything by Margaret Atwood that isn't the Handmaid's Tale (which I've not yet read...) She is a master of character development.

I also loved the goldfinch so I hope these recommendations are helpful

Thanks v much, those sound good

Also a big fan of Atwood.

If you like Kingsolver have you read The Lacuna? I loved it.

Kate Atkinson -- any really but the Jackson Brodie series are crime.

The keeper of lost things by Ruth hogan was lovely

The end of men by Christina Sweenwy-Baird - spookily written about a virus just before covid hit but affects only men 😱

I second little fires everywhere.

Also Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid both absolutely sucked me in.

For a thriller, I just really enjoyed Picture Perfect by Elizabeth Little. And if you haven’t read it, I loved the Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Thanks everyone!

The last days of Rabbit Hayes.. it's not my typical genre but it really touched me and had stayed with me.
Also, the silent patient. Just... threw me. I didn't see it coming

Have you read Secret History if you liked the Goldfinch?

I'm reading Small Pleasures at the moment. It's ok, but nothing like Donna Tartt's level. Likewise Thursday Murder Club, a bit fluffy.

I recently read American Dirt. A total page turner, my friend read it in one day on holiday.

Kate Atkinson Life After Life.

William Boyd, particularly Any Human Heart.

Yes @EmmaStone have read the secret history many years ago.

Really enjoyed Thursday Murder Club

Thanks for all your recommendations, I’m off for a browse

Little Fires Everywhere, already mentioned here, is great. Also enjoyed Ask Again, Yes (forgotten the author) and The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo for page-turning family type stories.
For non gory crime I love Jane Harper's books, set in Australia - first one is The Dry.