Need ideas for what to read

[Lucyslateagain]

I haven't read a book for pleasure since I read the folk of the farway tree as a child ..I have absolutely no idea what I like ..
Sometimes on social media mini stories pop up ,like I was reading one about a nurse who got locked out by her dad and she slept in her car in the snow ,and one where the DH and mil were planning to take the pregnant mums baby talking in their language,not knowing she understood it ...but you never get the ending..
I guess it held my interest enough to read the page .
I have ADHD ,so i lose interest very quickly
Going on a long train journey,so it's good time to start a book ,and not buy the usual trashy magazines I get ..,..but don't really enjoy
So .,.if you are reading a book ,or have read a book that you absolutely loved ,can you recommend it and let me know a bit about it ,but no spoilers please

Lessons in Chemistry - quirky academic female gets pushed out of academia and ends up fronting a tv cooking show

Night Circus - about magic and love

The Candy House - interconnected people with modern observations

The best of us or sheer abandon - Penny Vincenzi
The persuit of happiness or The Job - Douglas Kennedy.
The no show - Beth O'Leary
Fear the Worst or anything by Linwood Barclay for a decent thriller.

Have you seen this? Might be some ideas.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5501551-what-are-you-currently-reading-how-do-you-feel-about-it-and-whats-next-on-the-list-part-2?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Eleanor Oliphant Is Absolutely Fine was quite immediately grabbing

I’d really recommend The Correspondent by Virginia Evans to get you back into reading - it’s written in the form of letters, so I think it’s great if you’re worried about your attention span.

I also found Yesteryear to be a real page turner.

Where the crawdads sing is another great book, descriptive but the plot also moves

Mad Mabel is another pacey book and very entertaining

Crawdads is great but a ridiculous suggestion for someone who hasn’t read a book in 20 plus years.

OP I think you need something really catchy and engaging rather than a literary great.

There’s some great Young Adult fiction out there - eg the Hunger Games, Maze Runner, that type of thing.

if you’re into thriller types - Dan Brown.

Frieda McFadden is very entertaining.

if you like horror, Stephen King has some brilliant short story collections (eg Four Past Midnight).

Agatha Christie books are brilliant too if that’s your thing.

Agree with @MeerkatEyes .
You need something short and snappy not a challenging tome.
It would help to narrow it down if you said whether you want humour, drama, scary, romantic, historical, crime?

I agree that you want a snappy, easy read to get you back into reading. I loved Yesteryear and thought The Correspondent was OK but I would say both are too "literary" for a first foray into reading if OP is worried about her attention span or losing interest.

I'd suggest something like Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris which is about a seemingly perfect married couple but what is actually going on behind the scenes. It does cover domestic abuse though so trigger warning for that.

Or Dead Mile by Jo Furniss which is about a police officer that gets stuck in standstill traffic on the motorway and then she suddenly notices that the driver of a nearby car is dead. It's a sort of locked room mystery but on the motorway.

@Lucyslateagain there are a few good suggestions on this thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/whatwerereading/4847135-please-help-me-find-a-book-to-fall-back-in-love-with-reading-on-my-holiday

I'd second the Night Circus, and a few other of the suggestions you've been given..I loved Where the Crawdads Sing (and don't think its a ridiculous suggestion at all).

My most recent read was 'The List of Suspicious Things' by Jennie Godfrey. It's set in 1970s Yorkshire during the time of the Yorkshire Ripper. A 12 year old girl starts to play detective and begins to notice the adults around her more closely, with unexpected consequences.

The List of Suspicious Things
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
The Strange Lives of Eleanor Teague

If you like podcasts, the Book Club, with Dominic Sandbrook and Tabby Syrath is great for discussing various well known books in a really interesting way. You could try a few episodes and see if any of the books they talk about sound like something you would want to read.

Have a look at the Quick Reads books. They are short and engaging and are specifically written for people who haven’t read a book in a long time.

One I read years ago is A Sea Change and it got me back into reading regularly. If you like it, there are a few novels in the Beach Hut series that you might like to read afterwards

Gosh The Night Circus is the only book I’ve not finished in years. I read 2/3 and just couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t think it would be good for someone who hasn’t read anything for years. Should be something relatively light I reckon. Maybe a YA book, there are lots out there that are very good. What about Gone by Michael Grant.

I'm currently reading Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. Not at all what I would usually read but it's very good and I can't put it down.

Il actually a little jealous. I loved that book and wish I could enjoy it for the first time again

It's so good isn't it! I've read Behind The Scenes at The Museum years and years ago but then for some reason never anything else Kate Atkinson has written. I found this one left behind on a train.

I've been thinking lately that I need a book of short stories too rather than a normal book. Will be investigating Justasongs link later, thank you.

This is one of my favourite books I’ve read it so many times! I love her books.

I kept looking to see if I had any replies and it kept saying none ..I'd not refreshed the page
Thanks for all the replies
I'm going to read them now xx

Definitely not horror,I get bad nightmares
I'm 53
I read books at school and university
But it was forced reading
TV shows I like EastEnders and call the midwife
I loved happy valley
I actually did GCSE English literature and English language and got good grades ,but again it was forced reading..I guess school killed my love of books , because I read a lot untill secondary school

I just had one more thought, OP - I recently read a GREAT book about a young woman with ADHD (before it was widely recognised) growing up in really tough circumstances in Scotland in the 1990s. It’s all written in her voice and so you really get inside how she thinks and feels. It’s called Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands.

Yes I like the sound of both those books thankyou ,I will look for second hand on Amazon xx

Wonderful..thankyou for the link to that thread

Oh yes ..that's perfect
I only got diagnosed in April this year ,and diagnosed autistic 3 years a go xx