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Original poster

Can someone recommend a really good book for my holiday?

109 replies

Anothernamechangeplease · 05/08/2022 11:57

I need something to read on my holiday - preferably on my kindle, but doesn't have to be. Ideally I'm looking for a novel, but I would definitely consider non-fiction if anyone has any really good suggestions.

If it's a novel, I want something that I can really get into. Not interested in anything too trashy - I want something that is genuinely well written and that has some actual depth to it, characters that I can get invested in. Ideally something that makes me think while also evoking an emotional response. Nothing too hard to read though (ie no James Joyce style text to wade through...I have adhd and can struggle to maintain attention in the early stages of a book until I'm hooked, and then I can't put it down.) Happy for it to be a classic or something more modern.

A random selection of books I have previously enjoyed (in no particular and definitely not an exhaustive list):

All Jane Austen (especially P&P, Persuasion)
Lots of Dickens (especially Bleak House)
Some George Eliot (especially Middlemarch)
Turgenev - Fathers and Sons
The Book Thief
Half of a Yellow Sun
Purple Hibiscus
The Kite Runner
A thousand splendid suns
Elizabeth is missing
Captain Correlli's Mandolin
Northern Lights trilogy

What books have you really enjoyed, and what would you particularly recommend?

TIA!

OP posts:
Frenchfancy · 08/08/2022 20:58

Where the crawdads sing
Four Winds
Giver of Stars
Malibu Rising (this one surprised me, I was expecting light fluff but it's actually very good)
Reminders of him.
The funny thing about Norman Foreman

If you haven't read it yet then The Thursday Murder club is brilliant.

HumourReplacementTherapy · 08/08/2022 22:38

I also read Lessons in Chemistry on my holiday this year. Really enjoyable read,,characters stay with you.

LiveintheNow · 08/08/2022 23:24

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

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Books
cantley · 08/08/2022 23:53

Currently reading To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara . I can't stop reading - amazing book. Impossible to categorise.

Babyccino11 · 09/08/2022 00:03

American Dirt, brilliant, fits the description you’re after. Probably my joint favourite all time book with A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Also, And The Mountains Echoed

NeedToLeaveNow · 09/08/2022 00:13

Sweet Magnolias By Sherryl Woods
There are 10 books in the series
Very good!

Caminante · 09/08/2022 00:13

Notthecarwashagain · 05/08/2022 12:27

I recently read Small Pleasures, by Clare Chambers, and absolutely loved it.
Definitely ticks the ‘characters to get invested in’ box

Yes this was really good!

Anything by her is usually good.

Minesababycham · 09/08/2022 00:42

Just finished Songbirds by Christy Lefteri which was very good (same author as beekeeper of Aleppo - which I’d also recommend).

other endorsements for the Thursday murder club, crawdads and lessons in chemistry - plus I love a man called Ove!

Minesababycham · 09/08/2022 00:43

Oh and still life - loved the characters in that!

also loved the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold fry!

crumpet · 09/08/2022 03:28

Miss Smilla’s feeling for snow

Also the Mapp and Lucia series

Ndd135632 · 09/08/2022 04:31

Shuggie Bain

simply excellent

NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy · 09/08/2022 05:58

The Whalebone Theatre - Joanna Quinn

Just brilliant

Notateacheranymore · 09/08/2022 06:01

QueenOfWeeds · 05/08/2022 12:04

Ooh yes @HandbagsnGladrags - I wanted to read it before the film came out, so blitzed that this holiday. I also really enjoyed the film, despite the terrible reviews I had read.

I loved the film far more than I expected.

verytired42 · 09/08/2022 06:08

my brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante (book one of the Neopolitan quartet) - and then the rest of the quartet if you like it.

Notateacheranymore · 09/08/2022 06:19

iknowimcoming · 08/08/2022 11:02

And the mountains echoed (same author as kite runner and thousand splendid suns)

Completely adored all 3 of Hosseini’s novels.

FoggySpecs · 09/08/2022 07:35

So many good recommendations. I recently read Crow Lake by Canadian author Mary Lawson. I really rated her and asked my Canadian friend who is a man and he too loves her books

MalloryMae · 09/08/2022 07:47

The book thief! what a book 🥺

Due to your interest of Khalid Hosseini - try - 'and the mountains echoed' I'm a few chapters in and it's so far so good!

Otherwise 'I Am Pilgrim' by Terry Hayes was one of the best books I've ever read. Took a little while to get into it but trust me - hold out! It's amazing.

MalloryMae · 09/08/2022 07:51

redbigbananafeet · 08/08/2022 20:03

The Island g.co/kgs/aaG3B5

I read every night. I read this 12 years ago and I still think about it often and have reread a good few times. I love all her books but this one in particular.

Loved this book! So much to the point I went on a day trip to the actual Island after which was incredible

cameocat · 09/08/2022 08:01

The girl with the louding voice

SunflowerGardens · 09/08/2022 08:47

I loved The Familiars by Stacey Hall.

Blueuggboots · 09/08/2022 09:38

The 10,000 doors of January by Alix E Harrow
The starless sea by Erin morgenstern

54isanopendoor · 09/08/2022 09:41

placemarking for recommendations too

cantley · 09/08/2022 11:04

@TheMoth
Have you read the other David Mitchell books that he wrote before Utopia Avenue? There's a Mitchellverse connecting many of his books ( The Bone Clocks, Cloud Atlas, Slade house , The thousand Autumn of Jacob de Zoet) with recurring De Zoets and other links.Amazing.

PeskyRooks · 09/08/2022 11:13

@Blueuggboots have you read The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow? I thought it was brilliant!

TheMoth · 09/08/2022 11:32

cantley · 09/08/2022 11:04

@TheMoth
Have you read the other David Mitchell books that he wrote before Utopia Avenue? There's a Mitchellverse connecting many of his books ( The Bone Clocks, Cloud Atlas, Slade house , The thousand Autumn of Jacob de Zoet) with recurring De Zoets and other links.Amazing.

Yes! All of them. Loved how Utopia Avenue brought in the de zoet stuff!

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