To want to be able to actually read a book again - recommendations for a phone addict

[Noideawottodo]

I used to love reading and read a couple of books a week. Over the last couple of years I've slowly stopped - seems much easier to go on my phone and scroll mindlessly. I do listen to audio books - enjoyed American Dirt recently.

What books can you recommend to tear me away from my phone? I did an English Literature degree hundreds of years ago so still enjoy things that are well written, but it's got to be pacey, gripping and bonus points for a bit spooky.

Get a Kindle Paper White - has helped me break my phone addiction and I’ve read loads! Feels like ‘tech’ so made the transition less stark!

John Connolly- A Charlie Parker thriller. There really good.

I could have written your OP! I started this year by reading an amazing book called Digital Minimalism which really got me fired up about ditching the phone and reading more. I did brilliantly until lockdown hit and then slipped back into bad habits. But those three months of reds covering the joy of reading were fabulous!

Big Little Lies is a great easy read to get you back into reading (got be back reading a few years ago)

Where The Crawdads Sing is beautifully written and very emotional

I second The Testaments - I usually read non-fiction (or tbh scroll mindlessly through Mumsnet from exhaustion) but it is really well written and gripping. There are clever/chilling little details to notice as well as the main interwoven storylines. It does help to have read/watched The Handmaid's Tale to understand the setting but you can enjoy the book without.

My lovely wife and the family upstairs are brilliant page turners.

I second christodora - read it a couple of years ago and it was really engaging. Long enough to follow a cast of characters, but not bloated.

I have this issue with my phone too and the lockdown limbo has made it worse. My main issue is starting books and then leaving them.

Books I HAVE actually started, enjoyed and finished recently - Such a Fun Age, The Mars Room, Perfume... I find most things by Patricia Highsmith fall into this category too.

Educated by tara westover.-a memoir of a mormon childhood
.omg Fab !! Loved it
Eleanor oliphant
The tatooist of Auschwitz

I have been really hit and miss with reading this year. Books have either taken me weeks and weeks or I haven't been able to put them down.

In the latter category...
The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
The Storyteller - Jodi Piccoult
Utopia Avenue - David Mitchell but if you haven't read anything by him I would start with Ghostwritten or Cloud Atlas.

Middlesex? I remember that being wonderful.

Some Of My Best Reads This Year A Variety:

American Dirt
Lincoln In The Bardo
The Girl With All The Gifts
Just Kids
Little Fires Everywhere
Hillbilly Elegy
Daisy Jones and The Six
Rough Magic
All Quiet On The Western Front
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys

The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyle

Boyne not Boyle

Educated is fab. SArah Waters is totally great, as is Maggie O'Farrell, Sally Rooney, Amy Tan, Donna Tart, Kate Atkinson.

Good on audible - life after life, (total mammoth misery porn soap opera epic but very enjoyable)

Where the crawdads sing

The hearts invisible furies

Lianne Moriarty

Anything by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but especially “Half of a Yellow Sun”.

Also, when I’m on my phone too much, I put it on airplane mode in a drawer for a few hours and force myself to enjoy life a bit! (...she typed on her phone)

I downloaded A Little Life last night (thought I'd read it but got it confused with Life After Life). I've just read the first chapter and it's great! Thanks for that! I've also downloaded Melmoth. Putting phone in airplane mode is a very good idea, thank you.

@Destinysdaughter re The Testaments you say it was your book club book and "...... we all felt it was just Margaret Atwood cashing in on the recent success of The Handmaids Tale......"

Exactly what I thought too.
I was really disappointed.