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?

Agree with PP if you're remotely into fantasy Brandon Sanderson is a great bet, and very prolific. Mistborn is great, and "Mistborn 2.0" Wax and Wayne books are really really fun.

When I felt like I didn't love reading any more it was Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere that gave me a much needed kick up the arse

I'm not really into fantasy at all. The Hobbit is as close as I've got.

I've just fininshed The Light Between Oceans, I had tears pouring down my face at the end, loved it!

I'd recommend any Khaled Housseni book too. My favourite is A Thousand Splendid Suns

How about C J Sansom? There is a whole series of Tudor mysteries that I love - real page turners, but not highbrow or rubbish!

I thought Purge by Sofi Oksanen was really good. Also The Girl With All the Gifts by Mike Carey (didn't realise it's been made into a film until I googled just now to check the author name). Lionel Shriver is an author I always look foward to reading.

My current good-without-being-painful favourites are Douglas Coupland (also funny and the older ones are now retro!), Elizabeth Strout, and Joseph O'Connor. They all write about flawed characters and the endings may not be fairytale, but they all allow the possibility of redemption.

Or Bleak House or a Tale of Two Cities, can't go wrong with those.

Or go retro with your chick lit, have you read Miss Buncle's Book?

Try Justin Cronin's The Passage or M R Cary's The Girl with all the gifts. Both excellent books

alltouchedout, he's written a prequel, The boy who crossed the bridge. It's a bit slower but I recommend it.

Stop reading shit 'chick lit' then. Even the genre is cringy

Ah now. We all like to relax with nice worthless book now and then.

@TheWitchwithNoName has he? Thank you! Will track that down right now :)

(You may be my book twin, I also loved The Passage)

The BBC adaptions were lousy, but I like the Cormoran Strike novels by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling). Not formulaic at all.

You are right though, the romance genre is stale right now.

Ah now. We all like to relax with nice worthless book now and then.

We really don't. I'll read quite a lot of genres, but I wouldn't touch chick lit with a barge pole. I in no way look down on people who find it relaxing to read that kind of book, but it certainly isn't a universal pleasure.

Georgette Heyer will provide all the satisfaction of modern chicklit without the tedious cliches (not that she doesn't have cliches of her own but they are less grating). I would also recommend Marian Keyes but I'm sure you've read them.

On the Kindle today you can buy Our Endless Numbered Days for £1.99. It's good (literary fiction/psychological) and I think you'll like it.

I bought A Gentleman in Moscow last week on a daily deal and really enjoying it.

But I agree, it's hard to sift the shite on the kindle interface sometimes

There are huge variations within the chick lit genre though. I'd eat coal rather than read another Jill Mansell or Sophie Kinsella, but Jennifer Weiner and Marian Keyes are always worth a go.

I feel just the same! Downloaded Friend Request on holiday and it was dire - derivative, mindless and utterly irritating. Found myself scanning the pages, hurrying to get back to Daphne du Maurier, and Jilly Cooper.

You could try Alice Hoffman. The Story Sisters is excellent.

Jon McGregor is also very good.

I get just what you mean about wanting something in between chick lit and high brow. I recently loved The Secret History by Donna Tart, and am enjoying A Little Life (after a recommendation on here). Life is too short for shit or overly complicated books!

Would you be opposed to science fiction? I’ve recently got into James S. A. Corey’s Expanse series after getting hooked on the TV series. Interesting and likable characters (not always the same ones), good stories and not too science-y. Really enjoying them.

How about John Irving? Or Wally Lamb? She's Come Undone is fabulous.

I almost wonder if it's too easy to get a book published these days

You can self publish on Kindle for free.

Try "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik. It's marvellous.

Found a good one on Kindle recently. Might have been free, can't remember. It's "All The Little Children" by Jo Furniss. A very gripping read. I thought the main character was very real.

I like easy reads and crime and went through a phase of books where children went missing.

I don't read anything highbrow because it's not what I want from a book. I like easy reading!

I do spend ridiculous amounts of money on books and spend far too much time organising them.

Meant to say: I lost my love of reading for a year or so after completing my degree in English Lit. Studying 40+ books in my final year was so full on that I didn't want to read for ages. I think it was Jasper Fforde's "The Eyre Affair" that got me interested again.