Books that have stayed with you.

[FrostyChocolateMilkshake]

Currently reading a book called Unravelling Oliver and I already know it will stay with me; the writing is fantastic but the subject matter is surrounding domestic violence. A powerful read so far.

Another book was The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. Based on the murder of Sylvia Likens in the 1960s (don't Google if you are easily upset).

So AIBU to ask, what is a book that has stayed with you and why?

Any recommendations (I enjoy controversial books in particular) would be greatly appreciated too.

@littleloopylou

Also, I doubt anyone else here has read this, but bizarrely, The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike is one I still think about even though I'm pretty sure it's objectively not a great book.

I cannot believe you said that, never expected anyone else on here to have read it! I loved it, the mythological interjections to the main story is something he does well, in his YA fiction too.

The Cold One and The Listeners are also worth a read if you get the chance.

''All Quiet on the Western Front'' By Erich Remarque about the futility of War.

@Icenii

I've just started Tess! I don't know the story.

Of the D'Urbervilles..?

Loved that book...Did it for 'A' Level English. Dear Tess 💕

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. I won't forget that in a hurry.

@Luckyrabbitfoot

Lots that have been mentioned here.

To add though, one of my favourite books - The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle. Nobody I know has ever read it but it is incredible. I’m also shocked that a man could write a female character so well. It’s fantastic.

I’ve read it. I found it gruelling, but excellent. Roddy Doyle is a phenomenal writer. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is one of my favourites. I must love wistful, funny childhood memoirs too, as The Catcher in the Rye has always stayed with me. The Girls, Memoirs of a Geisha, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Midnight Library and Brideshead Revisited are a few that I still reflect on.

Since I Don't Have You - amazing book. The first book to make me cry. I was reading it in Starbucks in 2010 and someone on the next table asked if I was ok.

A mother finds out that her daughters school party has been involved in an accident on the way back from a school trip - she awaits anxiously with the other parents for news but it's her daughter who has died....I have two daughters now (haven't read it since having them actually) but it gives me a lump in my throat every time.

The Night Circus and The Starless Sea, both by Erin Morgenstern. They are both quite fanciful and incredibly imaginative, conjuring up whole separate worlds that are near but not entirely of our own. Great escapism, and beautiful prose.

The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer. It is a beautifully written, poignant story of two stonemasons at the time of the Black Death, who, in exchange for not dying immediately of the plague move forward in time ninety-nine years every day. The historical details are extremely accurate as the author is a historian.

The other book that I think will stay with me is the one I am reading at present, The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. It is the true story of the girls and young women who painted the luminous clock and watch dials in the USA a hundred years ago and their battles against big business when, after they were told radium was harmless, it affected their health. They suffered in unimaginable ways. A century on and their bones are still radioactive. Those poor, poor girls.

‘Just Mercy’ by Bryan Stevenson - an incredibly powerful book and film. Bryan S is a young lawyer who dedicated his life to defending those who were most desperate - the poor, wrongly condemned... He went on to help free Anthony Ray Hinton, the author of my next recommendation.

‘The Sun does Shine’ by Anthony Ray Hinton - this is a truly inspirational story of an innocent man who spent 29 years on death row and went on tell his journey and rise above the injustice served to him. Absolutely brilliant.

The Hearts Invisible Furies - John Boyne
A Fine Balance- Rohan Mistry

@Blondiney
Hahaha! We're getting the band back together!
"Vivacious young vixens"...
Ah, Jackie & Joan.

Rohinton Mistry!!

The lovely bones. Read it years ago and was shocked at how good it was. Always stuck in my mind.

Babysitter taken hostage by the children and tortured over a number of weeks. Finally killed tied up and tortured with red hot pokers shoved up her feet and in her belly.
Disgusting book 🙁

@Slub

Babysitter taken hostage by the children and tortured over a number of weeks. Finally killed tied up and tortured with red hot pokers shoved up her feet and in her belly. Disgusting book 🙁

Is this book called "Let's go play at the Adams'" or something similar? If so I started reading thing but it was too boring; however I probably gave up too soon!

@DwangelaForever

LOVED Unravelling Oliver! Liz Nugent is a great author!

It is brilliant so far. Written incredibly well.

Thanks so much for your replies everyone. Given me so many ideas on what to read!

One book that stayed with me, and will stay with me forever, is called The End Of Alice. I won't go into details here due to its content but it was written well, and very realistic. I wouldnt say I enjoyed it ("enjoyed" is not the right word to use for this book) but it was controversial without being unrealistic. Very unsettling novel indeed but fantastically written.

Hilary Mantel’s Eight Months on Ghazzah Street. The claustrophobia and desperation is hard to forget 15 years on. Took me a very long while to pick up another of her books.

To kill a mockingbird
Roots
We need to talk about Kevin
The Belljar

Following

I know this much is true, Wally lamb.
She’s come undone, Wally lamb
An equal music, Vikram Seth
The God of Small Things.
Dry White Season (an absolute must)

In contrast to some of the posters here, I thought A Little Life was quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. In my opinion it was essentially torture porn. The characters were unlikeable and unbelievable and the writing was awful. A Little Life is a book that stayed with me, but it stayed with me for all the wrong reasons.

@JoyIsCounterfeit

“ I noticed a few of the Worship wrapped as memoir anorexia books listed. Got to say, Marya Hornbacher's Wasted is a repugnant book, she postures as giving us a cautionary tale, but comes across as classic competitive eating disorder victim. It's sad.”

Haha! It was me that first mentioned her, and yeah probably fair to say it’s a weeny bit Marmite. Maybe it’s her complete refusal to help herself that makes it so fascinating for some of us?

A couple of books that have also stayed with me are The Book of Night Women (Marlon James) and A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel).

Both historical novels written about notable times that were really interesting to get a bit more education about.

The Marlon James one can be pretty hard going at times though. It’s set on a plantation in 18th century Jamaica.

Spoiler alert; it wasn’t great for the slaves.

Two that haven't been mentioned: My Sister the Serial Killer and Shirley Jackson The Haunting of Hill House.

MSTSK was nominated for the Booker and when I read it, I thought it was ok but didn't understand why it had been nominated. It was only afterwards, when I couldn't stop thinking about it, that I realised how good the characterisation was.

Haunting is a brilliant psychological examination of a very disturbed woman:

Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don't do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly.

From childhood Alice in Wonderland. I have a old, beautifully illustrated copy. The Far Away Tree. Swallows and Amazons.
Anne Frank. I went to the house in Amsterdam which definitely has a feeling about it in Anne’s room. Everyone stopped talking as the atmosphere overwhelmed you.

Sixth form Bury Me in My Boots. Great English teacher.
Same age but not on the list... The Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre, Catch 22

Later Cider with Rosie. Catcher in the Rye
Torey Hayden One Child, Ghost Child.

The Blackhouse Peter May