Can someone recommend me a really good book....

[GwarchodwrPlant]

Something I can get my teeth into. I miss that unable to put down feeling as I can't think of what I'd like to read next, only what I don't want to read!

I don't like:

Chick-lit
Crime/forensic/detective stuff
Horror
Overly-descriptive books with a lot of dates and places.
Characters with stupid unpronouncable names.

Please help me to find a good book, I don't mind fiction/non-fiction.

The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies

What is it about Humphrey? (I know i can Amazon it but I like to chat)

I've just read philippa Gregory's The boleyn inheritence. It was excellent. No dates honestly. the start of a chapter might give a date, but you don't have to memorise it.

Start with 'The other boleyn girl'. I am LOVING them.

All the characters are called Anne or Catherine or Jane or Henry, so nothign unpronounceable!

Sorry about that, I buggered off then.

It is a FABULOUS book about a group of canadian academics, the first in a trilogy. It is funny, wise and exciting. It is hard to describe it as I really believe there is no other author quite like him.

Go on, give it a go and report back.

Humphrey- canadian academics? I think I might give it a try.

maggievirgo- Is it a book about history?

The Secret History by Donna Tartt, brilliant!

The boy in the striped pyjamas. Beautiful, heartbreaking and also now a film. It's short though unfortunately. Difficult to explain without giving too much away but it's set during the 2nd world war.

Susan Howatch, the Starbridge series.

One Day - David Nicholls

Really easy, funny & entertaining read

Would those of you who have just given me a title be able to give me a little taster of the books you've suggested please? I need to know a little bit more about why you liked them, thankyou.

OP can you say some stuff you've read and enjoyed? Easier to give better recommendations then.

I've recently read ANGELS IN MY HAIR by LORNA BURNE

The YELENA ZALTANA series by MARIA SNYDER- POISON STUDY, FIRE STUDY, MAGIC STUDY

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, PETALS ON THE WIND, IF THERE BE THORNS by VIRGINIA ANDREWS

MARLEY AND ME by JOHN GROGAN

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN by LIONEL SHRIVER

EATING MYSELF by CANDIDA CREWE

MIDDLESEX by JEFFREY EUGENEDES

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by DODIE SMITH

I can't remember anymore! I've read tonnes though and the thing is the last 2 books that were recommended by the book club, i didn't enjoy one bit!

Yes, Robertson Davis, fabulous. I read them all ten years ago. Very good, so intelligent and quirky but so easy to read. You get sucked in to their World. There are several trilogies.

I hated the boy in striped pyjamas. So trite and predictable. Feel a bitch for saying that. Although in fairness it was a book written for young teenagers I think. So good to educate another generation about the holocaust, but I thnk an adult would find it a bit tortuous.

The Book Thief
The letters of the Mitford Sisters
The Murder Farm (I know it is crime but it is great)

A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes

Yes Maggie that is quite bitchy

we use the boy in the striped pjs at school to read with year 7. I think it is a good teaching tool for them but agree, it may not suit all adults (though i enjoyed it)

Just finished "Past Imperfect" by Julian Fellowes and loved it. It's about a man who is contacted by an old friend, with whom he fell out big style, who is dying, and knows that one of the girls he shagged in their youth had a child of whom he is the father. The first man has to try to find out who the child is, based on a list of 5 potentials, so the book goes back and forward in time, retelling the story of their youth and why they fell out in the first place. Written down like that, it does sound a bit crap, but it's not. I guess that's why I'm not a novelist. OH, and and I agree with Maggie about Boy in Striped Pyjamas - it was indeed written for children, and is very worthy, but as an adult, it's not much of a read.

giving my honest opinion on a book?

I didn't realise 'til after I'd read it that it was meant for adults. Taht explained a lot.

My Brilliant Career - by Miles Franklin
The Greengage Summer - by Rumer Godden

• both excellent and in the same spirit as I Capture the Castle Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - very entertaining and wittily clever.

John Irving's books are always quite gripping - my favourites are The World According to Garp and A Prayer For Owen Meany

I've recently got into Dervla Murphy's travel books, there are plenty of them and they are all really interesting, well written and witty. I think my fave so far is Eight Feet In The Andes about her intrepid trek through the Andes with her eight year old daughter and a mule.

The Secret River

Any Human Heart - William Boyd, hugely unputdownable.

What a huge reading list I have now!

Thankyou all for your recommendations- I won't complain about the lack of good books again now I have a huge list to work through!