To be losing my love of reading?

[opheliacat]

Probably just me being a grumpy cow, but stay with me.

Downloadsd Friend Request by Laura Marshall on my Kindle. Stupid woman accepts friend request from dead person. Why? WHY would you do that? You would say something about sick bastards in the world and block, wouldn't you?

Jojo Moyes The One Plus One. Annoying bint goes to Scotland and comes back.

Sarah Rayner One Moment One Morning. Annoying twats on a train.

Are there any books without a fucking annoying main character?

enjoyed The Power by Naomi Alderman I also really enjoyed this!

Another vote for the Rivers of London series. Totally not my usual genre, (picked one up in desperation in a bookshop when I forgot my kindle and was getting on a long train).

I haven't been able to read chick lit for years as it was all just so bloody predictable. I'm now nearly moving away from crime novels for the same reason (I get through about 3 a week, so I'm reading a lot).

So I think it's about time I went back to the Classics. I've just finished a fabulous novelised biography of the Bronte sisters, so I think Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are due a re-read.

My reading taste has changed totally in the last 6 years, and I nearly fell out of reading until I figured it out. I just could not expend the same amount of brainpower on a book after DC2 arrrived...not enough brain power left! Then I discovered fantasy and I got my reading mojo back. My advice is to try something different.

I blame the Kindle and chick lit - I've bought SO many crap books of late, that I feel the same. Such tired boring predictable formulas and unlikeable characters. I almost wonder if it's too easy to get a book published these days........and I've learned to completely ignore Amazon reviews as they seem to come from the authors family given their glowing recommendations .

Recent page turners for me have been Eleanor Oliphant, You Don't Know Me, The Power, A month in the country, The Girls.

I love to loose myself in a fiction and I recently felt as you do now. I'm reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldonbooks at the moment, didn't think I would really like it but went on a recommendation from a friend, I cant get enough of it now and its definitely not your standard formulaic type book it so well written and is basically a love story.

Oh yes, Emma Kline's the Girls was good.

I've just read riend Request by Laura Marshall a well! I liked it. Good twist at the end. It wold have beena v short book if she had deleted the friend request!

I'm fed up with all the blurbs that say 'gripping psychological drama'. Yawn. Another??

I know what you mean, it's so rare I find a really good book now.

I did enjoy your Dave the Detective story though

I can't read books like that as I spot the ending a mile off.

Stop reading for a couple of weeks and immerse yourself in a Netflix series or something then go back to different genres. I sometimes read a classic or non fiction when I'm getting fed up with fiction.

Similar to The Handmaid's Tale but less high brow, I've only finished 'Gather the Daughters' (warning, some of the sexual practises while not explicit are quite hard going to read about)

I loved 'A man called Ove' too

Atwood probably not as highbrow as you think. The Heart Goes Last or Hagrid much more straight forward than others. I also love Dave Eggers, The Circle is great (though movie on netflix is shit) Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius also good.

I loved The Circle book too Stuff. The movie was dire though.

Don't knock Atwood - she's really readable! It sounds like you need to read something you can really get your teeth into.

Interesting thread.
I think the genre has gone downhill. I used to love Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain but as they have published more books the stories and characters have become weaker.
I think it is a product of their own success - they have bestselling authors and are therefore pushed by publishing companies in order to publish more books to rake in as much money as possible. They are probably under a lot of pressure and the writing becomes formulaic in the hope of repeating the success.
I am another voice saying try Margaret Attwood. Love her books.
I am reading mainly non-fiction at the moment. Real life stories are often way more incredible than a fiction writer can dream up.
I like a PP's idea of going to the library and choosing an author with surname from A-Z.
You could also visit a charity shop and pick up a few books cheaply.
What are you interested in generally? What other hobbies do you enjoy? Try to find some books related to that.
Or is there a country you love - google novels set in X country. I love a couple of countries and I have found some amazing books set there.

I used to love fantasy. Anne McCaffrey, Raymond English Feist being among my favourites. I have kind of grown out of them and now prefer crime. I like Anne Cleeve, and PJ Tracy at the moment. I can always happily re read Terry Pratchett.

My love of reading is confined to stuff like AIBU :)

I think I read Cat's Eye a few years ago. But for someone with an English degree I only really like shit. Apart from Wuthering Heights.

Friday but the weird BDSM bit? What was THAT about?

But for someone with an English degree I only really like shit.

What????

Er, what, what?

How can you have chosen to study English but only like shit and Wuthering Heights? Come on, you must have liked other authors or you would have never have chosen English, surely?

(And if you liked WH, why not try other Brontes)

You’re reading trashy books! I do sometimes - Friend Request was just daft, although I liked The One Plus One.
Read anything by Rose Tremain, Sarah Walters, Kazsio Ishuguro, Margaret Attwood (not hard to read, esp Cars Eye and Robber Bride), Stephen King. The Martian is good too, and The Marriage of Opposites.
Also try A Little Life, that will keep you busy, but persevere as it’s not easy to get in to.

Also you say you only really like shit, but you are also posting that you have lost your love of reading. Can you see the connection?

It was ages ago (that I read English, i mean.)

I need a resting point between shit and highbrow

Go back to some old favourites? I just finished re-reading the first Cormoran Strike novel and enjoyed it much more than I've enjoyed anything new I've picked up. I'm also listening to Sherlock Holmes at the moment while I'm driving and am loving that.

Oh, and avoid anything that people are raving over in the media. Anything too popular is usually crap.