To ask you to help me fall in love with reading again?

[eisforemma]

When I was younger I used to loose myself in books. I'd be able to sit for hours and really enjoyed it. Since having my DD 8 years ago I've fallen out of the habit. However, I will come across a certain book once in a while and love it and manage to read it to the end.

Can I ask for some amazing book recommendations in the following kind of categories -

• sober books (pretty sure I've read them all)

• psychological thrillers - fiction

• disturbing/dark books (homelessness, prostitution, mental illness, abuse, murder etc) - fiction or non fiction

• books about nazi Germany but written from a person that experienced it perspective.

• books about addiction - fiction or non fiction.

Thank you.

Another vote for The Cut Out Girl.

The book thief

@eisforemma Nazi Germany first hand story - try the excellent People Like Us by Louise Fein (it’s called Daughter of the Reich in USA). About a teenage daughter of a high ranking nazi and her secret romance with a Jewish boy.

Also, have you ever read Fight Club? It’s fantastic. Very dark, pretty disturbing, better than the movie. And quite a short book too.

One of the best books I read recently was Body Language by A.K. Turner. It's about a woman who works in a mortuary who is convinced one of the people they have in (someone she knew) has been murdered.

Not your usual genre but Rachel's Holiday.
No addiction issues but i found the idea of an adult having to down tools go to rehab go back go back to the drawing board and start from scratch a bit different.

For crime books, i just could not put down belinda bauer. She is a good writer who writes crimes books.

If you like books on addiction/getting sober then maybe Nic Sheff? He wrote a book about addiction but what’s interesting is his father also wrote a book on dealing with addiction in the family - it’s one of the few instances where you can see a story told two ways.

Not sure if you have a kindle but once you start reading a certain type of book it suggests loads of similar ones.

OP I could have written this. I have The Testaments sitting here gathering dust, unread. I just waste to much time on my phone instead of reading an actual book. I think screen time (Twitter, mumsnet) has ruined my concentration for reading books and getting lost in a long story. I now get my kicks from AIBU.
I feel rubbish about it. I hate my phone addiction.

Although the 'getting lost in a book' thing also stopped since having DD so it could be that too.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry massively ticks your boxes, amazing novel (booker prize winner or nominee, can't remember which). It's thick but don't let it put you off despite trying to win your concentration back, it's a complete page turner, I was so gripped.
Love this thread, massively struck a chord with me as I grieve my previous ability to lose myself in a book. I think it's the constant threat of interruption I struggle with. I find it hard to sink into it when one corner of me is just waiting for someone to require my attention, and yes you can tell them to sod off but that's still breaking into your zone. I feel like it's need a locked vault to lose myself now. 😔

Ha! Case in point. Literally as I was writing that post someone came and wanted my attention and that's why surface focus is all I can do as flitting my attention from one thing to another is my main skill these days.

I loved American Dirt. I thought it was amazing and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

@flashbac

OP I could have written this. I have The Testaments sitting here gathering dust, unread. I just waste to much time on my phone instead of reading an actual book. I think screen time (Twitter, mumsnet) has ruined my concentration for reading books and getting lost in a long story. I now get my kicks from AIBU. I feel rubbish about it. I hate my phone addiction.

Same, I am totally addicted to my phone. It's so frustrating. I used to love books, I remember as a teenager, I'd been moved to America away from all my friends and the only enjoyment I got was reading books. My dad would take me to the library every Friday to pick books and I loved it, I would spend full weekends just in my room reading. I miss the feeling, the excitement when you find a really good one and the contentment. Hopefully we get it back at some point. It's so easy to get distracted though.

I have ordered American dirt and the past is myself and the road ahead omnibus. I will order others recommended if I get through these two in ten years time 🤣

I agree with the earlier suggestion re audio books. It's helped me get beck into books, I have my phone in a stand and it accompanies me while I cook, iron, tidy up etc.

The Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill might appeal to you.

I found them easy to read but they're not frothy, the themes are quite dark.

Watching with interest. Since DD I have to force myself to read when I used to do it for hours and hours and get engrossed.

I'm going to recommend The Tunnels by Greg Mitchell.

Not quite what you are looking for, but it's a truly captivating book. It is based on a true story of people trying to flee from East to West Germany.

These three thrillers I literally could not put down:
Three hours by rosamund Lupton
The push
Girl A
Can't remember authors of second two but very dark and gripping

@waternoice @hotmeatymilk I've actually read it. It's sensationalist and full of stereotypes. It is readable and gripping, I agree, but many people who have lived it find it exploitative and offensive and I think we have to listen to their views seriously. Not to mention the grossly inappropriate publicity for the book and the fact that authentic voices, telling real stories, are left overshadowed and ignored by the "in your face" publicity campaign for this book, not written by someone who has lived it or has any real cultural link. Oh, and the disingenuity of claiming that she has some sort of authority because her husband is an immigrant. He's Irish. Hardly the same.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Nicolas Stargardt offers a very different viewpoint on Nazi Germany. His parents are Jewish and he is a university history prof.
The "German War" is mainly from letters written within Germany, Ordinary families giving news and updates. That was a very disturbing book.
He also wrote a book using letters from children who were moved away from cities. I have not been brave enough to tackle that one.