Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Please recommend me the most gripping and absorbing book that you can

115 replies

FoxChops · 18/05/2025 19:47

I’ve lost my reading mojo. I need something easy to get into, absorbing and maybe thriller -ish but I’m open to genre on the whole.

Thanks!

OP posts:
WitheringHighs · 18/05/2025 21:08

Agree with pp re American Dirt and Great Circle. Also loved Where the Crawdad Sings.

Amor Towles is also wonderful - a Gentleman in Moscow is the best-known but all three books that I know of are brilliant. And easy!

Also, for a different genre, the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron are just GREAT.

WitheringHighs · 18/05/2025 21:10

MoltenLasagne · 18/05/2025 20:57

Anything by Khaled Hosseini is utterly gripping in my opinion, both for his writing style and the subject matter.

For a more "airport read" I loved Shantaram but it wouldn't be called literary.

When I went through a similar slump I started limiting my reading choices to books under 300 pages for a bit. I think I'd read too many really long series of 700 pages for 5+ books, so I started getting book fatigue. Deliberately choosing short books for a while broke that feeling and might help get your reading mojo back too.

Ah! I loved Shantaram. What a story!!

CandyCane457 · 18/05/2025 21:10

WinterFrogs · 18/05/2025 20:19

I find anything by MJ Arlidge very gripping. Eeny Meeny is the first in the DI Helen Grace series and even the reluctant (adult) readers in my family couldn't put it down.
Highly recommend.

I can also vouch for this, love this series!!!

I also love anything by Sophie Hannah or Lisa Jewell, if you like thrillers.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is fab, it didn’t sound from the blurb like something I’d usually go for but read it in a book club a few years ago and was hooked.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Books
NoNotTodayThanks · 18/05/2025 21:10

Ask for Andrea by Noelle Ihli or That's not my name by Megan Lally. I found them both hard to put down!

gettingolderbutcooler · 18/05/2025 21:11

American Dirt- unforgettable

Echobelly · 18/05/2025 21:12

'Arcadia' by Iain Pears, it's sort of a fantasy/sci fi book but not like any other, and I don't think one has to be a genre reader to enjoy it, it's very compelling.

Here4thechocs · 18/05/2025 21:13

shellyleppard · 18/05/2025 20:06

All the light we cannot see.... really gripping story line. Stephen booth has written a really good series of detective stories, set in the peak District. Enjoy! 😍

Seconded

DancingHippos · 18/05/2025 21:18

A Thousand Splendid Suns may well be beautifully written but be warned, it is utterly harrowing. That feeling stayed with me for a long time. Would rather I hadn't read it - so much pain in it.

I loved Where the crawdads sing by Delia Owens - excellent read.

Ilovemyshed · 18/05/2025 21:23

A Town Like Alice or Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute

The Avenue Goes to War, Delderfield

The Wire in the Blood books by Val McDermid

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Travelling Cat Chronicles

StupidBoy · 18/05/2025 21:25

FoxChops · 18/05/2025 20:10

Thanks! I’ve downloaded some of these samples

I’ve always wanted to read all the light we cannot see and a thousand splendid suns but I’m daunted! Dunno why

I've not read that but I have read the Kite Runner by the same author. That is asbolutely gripping. Not daunting at all in terms of being easy to get into and get through, but it is very emotionally hard hitting. Not an easy read in that sense.

I liked ATLWCS but I wouldn't call it gripping really.

iseethembloom · 18/05/2025 21:31

I heartily recommend A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

it has nothing to do with Ukrainian tractors and it’s extremely readable without being rubbishy nonsense. It’s a perfect re-entry to reading if you’ve not been doing much for a while.

iseethembloom · 18/05/2025 21:33

Anything by Graeme Burnet Macrae - especially ‘Case Study’

iseethembloom · 18/05/2025 21:33

My Name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout.

iseethembloom · 18/05/2025 21:35

Any of the Sally Rooney books.

RampantIvy · 18/05/2025 21:35

Tutorpuzzle · 18/05/2025 20:13

’Gentleman and Players’ by Joanne Harris is a brilliant thriller..in fact, it’s time I gave it a re-read!

Also set in a school (of a sort), I’ve just read ‘Amber Fury’ by Natalie Haynes. It has the feel of a Greek tragedy (unsurprisingly, given the author) and is quite gripping.

It took me until the end of the book to appreciate it fully.

dontcomeatme · 18/05/2025 21:36

Behind her eyes. They made it a TV show but I never watched that, the book was amazing. I never knew what the F was going on! Couldn't put it down.

3smallpups · 18/05/2025 21:37

Another vote for last one at the party
gripping
I bought a copy for my daughter as I enjoyed it so
much and she binged it in a day .

Hercisback1 · 18/05/2025 21:37

AnneKipankitoo · 18/05/2025 20:22

Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. 95% brilliant and the last 5% ruins it.

Ann Cleeves is good for easy reading detective.

The Women by Kristen Hanna.

LethargeMarg · 18/05/2025 21:41

RebeccaDecember · 18/05/2025 20:09

The Push by Ashley Audrain. It’s dark, but I was completely gripped

this was brilliant. The definition of unputdownable I read it in one go.

other books I couldn’t put down:
Three hours - another thriller
Elinor oliphant is completely fine
normal people
a little life - but this is horrendously bleak and a bit of a slow start but I was gripped (I would recommend regular breaks and it made it easier to know the end for me so I was emotionally prepared)
I don’t know how she does it (loved this when I read it years ago and one I passed around to all my friends)
life after life by Kate Atkinson is my favourite book of all time

Sugargliderwombat · 18/05/2025 21:42

The book thief

Spacehop · 18/05/2025 21:45

Another one for American Dirt. Also The Elegance of the Hedgehog v different style but equally gripping.

Edoublems · 18/05/2025 21:46

Just finished American Dirt - it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read, couldn’t put it down

RampantIvy · 18/05/2025 21:57

The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell
The Running Grave - Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

Tortielady · 18/05/2025 22:06

Anything by Graham Greene. Brighton Rock is a thriller with angsty overtones and suspense wound as tight as a violin string. A Gun For Sale is a straightforward thriller. Both are hard to put down.

Daphne du Maurier, especially Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, but her short stories are worth sitting down with too. Her collection The Doll: Short Stories is a good one to start with, especially the title story. I had to read it a couple of times to get my head round it and even then, I couldn't imagine where du Maurier got an idea like that, at that time. Shockingly brilliant.

MsRosewater · 18/05/2025 22:07

Amor Towes the lincoln highway was amazing,
Also Skppy Dies
And Tom Lake

And everything Donna Tart writes….