Can you reccomend a good read please?

[Disenchanted3]

I was looking for some books at the carboot today but they all have soppy titles and pictures of handbags in the front

I hate those 'katie was a receptionist looking for Mr Right' books but genuinly don't know what I do like

I've just read 'a brief history of the dead' and enjoyed that.

I just don't know what I'm looking for

By the way the last time I read a book everyone was raving about was The Davinci Code, so I may have missed out on some very good books!

I have just read another Patrick Gale and really enjoyed it, and his Notes on an Exbition I have passed on via one of the Mumsnet book swap things I thought that was fab !

I've just read "This Perfect World" by Suzanne Bugler, and really enjoyed it.

I've not read a brief history of the dead, what other books have you liked?

tuesdays with morrie

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is v good. She also has a new one out in paperback but I've not read that yet.

The Help is on the bestseller lists at the mo and is a decent, lightish read but quite intelligent too.

Liz Jensen books are quite good, especially The Ninth Life Of Louis Drax. Her most recent one is The Rapture, which is okay but with a stupid ending.

I've just read David Mitchell's 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' and thoroughly enjoyed that so would definitely recommend

You could always try some classics - Austen, Dickens, Wilkie Collins etc

or if you're after something more contemporary, why not look up the Booker or Orange prize shortlists for the last few years - that will give you loads of options to work your way through

I have just finished The Help and it was so good, first book in ages I couldn't put down and it's only about three quid in Smiths.

Oh I enjoyed White Tiger a lot recently too. And the book that became Slumdog Millionnaire - can't remember the title though, sorry.

And yes to Jane Austen!

Another vote here for The Help! Fab Fab Fab!!

Read all 450-odd pages in three days straight on holiday - could not put it down and got it stuck in my dreams!

Something might happen by Julie Myerson.

It's about how a community deal with a murder. Brilliantly written and I can't put it down. Think it's been about for quite a while - and this is the second time I've read it.

I'm glad others liked The Help I started it last weekend and by Tuesday morning I was sat on my bed crying as I finished it.

I love Dorothy L Sayers - would recommend starting with 'Murder Must Advertise' - funny, clever & an interesting window on the advertising world in the 1920's.

Does it have to be fiction? If not, then I always go back to 'Slightly Out of Focus' by Robert Capa - he was the only photographer on the beach at D-Day and as well as being brave, he's also very funny. I recommended this book to a friend's book group - there was much whinging about reading a WW2 book but by the end they were all in love with him

i love sophie kinsella!!!!

I would recommend anything by Laurie Graham. I am just re-reading "The Future Homemakers of America" but I also really enjoyed "Mr Starlight" and one of her more recent ones "Life according to Lubkja" (may have spelt that wrong)

Gypsy Boy an autobiographical by Mikey Walsh & A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Have just started The Help.

There's also a site called something like "what should I read next" which works a bit like Amazon recommendations I think

The man in the Picture: a Ghost Story by Susan Hill is a good quick read.
I read a lot, and enjoy all sorts of books, it really does depend on what type of books you like but some authors i've enjoyed are Katie Fforde, Zoe sharp, Janet Evanovich, Charlaine Harris, Robin Hobb, Jane Austen, Diana Gabaldon, J K Rowling.. well i could probably go on forever. Visit your local library, most staff are wonderfully helpful.

Yes that Susan Hill one is okay, unless you have read a lot of ghost stories before - in which case it seems v derivative.

However, it is also entirely possible that I read it before, then forgot about it and then thought I'd 'heard it all before' iyswim! I did this with Attonement - hated it both times and was v annoyed when I realised how much time I'd wasted reading it the 2nd time before remembering it!

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is amazing

as is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I'm staring at my favourite books shelf, here's a few, though I have to admit that none are very recent:

Tim Winton - Dirt Music
Somerset Maugham - the Razor's Edge
Annie Proulx - The Shipping News
Iain Banks - The Crow Road
Robert Harris - Fatherland
Donna Tartt - The Secret History
JM Coetzee - Disgrace

I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, and Lindsey Davis's Falco books, though haven't read one for a while. And a second vote for Dorothy L Sayers, she's a wonderful writer with a great turn of phrase.

Hope you find something you enjoy!

I have just finished 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan which I didn't think I'd like but the ending was unexpected and I enjoyed it.