Please recommend a gripping, unputdownable book to get me back into reading!

[TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth]

I used to be a voracious reader; for my whole life until bout 4/5 years ago when my concentration and ability to focus seem to have gone AWOL -probably as a menopause thing - and I've not read a book for an embarassingly long time.

Please recommend books that you couldn't tear yourself away from! I'm hoping that some gripping books will keep me hooked and re-establish my reading habit.

TIA.

I hate The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas so much and didn't realise there was a sequel. It sounds like it might be slightly better!

Lots to investigate. I'll be checking every suggestion out, thank you all so much.
I have got "Pillars of the Earth" somewhere, got it at the chazzer for 50p but it's a bit daunting as it's about 6 inches thick!
Got some P.G. Wodehouse somewhere - good call.

There are quite a few more on here that I particularly fancy, especially those with multiple recommendations. Some books in here I've already tried an not got into

The audiobook idea is a good one. I do listen to podcasts and dramas, and some classic short stories on BBC Sounds when I'm dog walking, so I could listen then.

I've also got that one too somewhere! I'll see if I can find it.
I did read the "Hundred Year Old Man" book by the same author a while ago. It was good fun.

I second this - and some of the recommended books here are really great as audio books
Daisy Jones and the Six for example being great.
I've just finished Pride and Prejudice on audio and it was like a great big hug.
If you got a library card you most likely will have access to at least ebook/ audiobook app.

KL Slater, brilliant writer, not high brow, just good storytelling

Following for some inspiration!

@Dacadactyl I used to love what I jokingly called "big, fat books" of 800 plus pages. Better still if they were part of a trilogy, or even something like a ten book family or historical saga. I can remember coming home from the library, tenderly touching the book in excitement when I would stop at traffic lights. Nowadays, I seem to have lost interest in them, even authors I absolutely loved, like James A Michener. If a book doesn't grab me by page 40, that's it - off the kindle it goes. I hadn't put it down to menopause, but that might have contributed.

Sad.

@Dacadactyl After that maudlin rambling, I didn't add the thank you that initially meant to write.
Thank you!

I've just finished D.A. Nelson's Envy. Not read for ages but took it on holiday and enjoyed it. Had enjoyed her previous 2 books Dusting Down Alcudia and The Jacobite's Share which prompted me to find and buy this one.

I second Janice Hallett's 'The Appeal' - I actually strained my eyes reading this in one sitting! It's addictive because the story is told through emails and texts and I kept thinking, I'll read one more 'bit' and I will have a break, before not doing so.

Also agree 'The Scapegoat' by Daphne du Maurier, one of her twisting brilliant plots, proper pageturner.

Pillars of the Earth was the book that got me reading again. After my son died my concentration was shot to pieces for about a year. Then a friend gave me a copy and I couldn't put it down.

I am reading Demon Copperhead at the moment and I think it’s really beautifully written. It reminds me of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (which I also loved). Both books have inspired my love of reading for reading’s sake, it is not so much about the stories being gripping or exciting, they’re just written in a way that sparks joy with every page (although neither are cheerful all the way through!).

Yes When crawdads sing is brilliant book. Sent it to my sister and SIL as presents

The Dry by Jane Harper is guaranteed to have you gripped! A good, old fashioned, well written thriller.

I know another John Boyne to recommend is The Hearts Invisible Furies. @BlueFairyBugsBooks it's quite different from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, set in Ireland and about family dynamics and being gay in the 20th Century. Beautifully written yet also funny. Not as emotionally wrenching as A Little Life but cut from the same cloth.

My wishlist is getting pretty long 😁

I loved Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson. It’s set in London in the 1920s and it’s about a shady nightclub owner called Nellie Coker and her family. It’s based on a real family. I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it.

My favourite book is Atonement by Ian McEwan. It’s just an amazing book. I adore it! The film was just as good.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

The absolutely incredible story of the life of a woman in Afghanistan.

It's concerning how many people have lost the drive to read in recent years. Me too.

The book that really got my perimenopausal brain back into reading was the Lost man by Jane harper. Its set in the Australian outback and its very evocative of the place.

Also. Three hours by rosamund lupton..its not too big and I could not put it down! Its just brilliant a true page turner.

Yep, this all the way.

Watching because I also want to get properly lost in a book again. Not sure if it is the menopause of phone addiction that has wrecked my concentration.

I didn't get on with the Robert Galbraith book Cuckoo's Calling. Much as I admire JK Rowling I find her writing dull.

I do like detective books and prefer them to be UK based rather than in the USA. I enjoyed a couple of books set in the Peak District a few years ago but for the life of me I can't remember either the author nor the detective's name.

This is also a brilliant book, as is The Kite Runner by the same author

Anything by Cara Hunter

Loved this. So atmospheric.

Barbara Abel, Mothers' Instinct, if you like slow-burn thrillers