I am desperate and need you all to help me please!

[ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie]

I have got one and a half history books left and then I am, once again, bookless. I have been to three different libraries in the last ten days and have failed to find even a single book that I fancied or hadn't read before.

I have some Nectar points to spend, so I could have a bit of an Amazon splurge - but what shall I get?

1. Favourite writers are Jane Austen and Stephen King
2. I like v well written fantasy (ie Tolkein) or v well written historical who-dunnit stuff (eg Doyle or Sansom) or quirky history books
3. I am a snob and get very twitchy about shoddy writing but can't stand overly self conscious crap (step forward Ian McEwan)
4. I am very, very fussy
5. I read very, very quickly so the bigger the book, the better

Please help!

Has anyone mentioned This thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson, fictionalised account of Darwin and Robert Fitzroy's voyages and more. I loved it.

Thanks to this thread I have just spent £25 on Kindle books........

yay a fellow prattchet admirer
terry brooks isnt to bad.
had a good giggle at angus thongs and full frontal snogging
also salmon fishing in the yemon
one i think was called greek god at the ladies club.
malorie blackmans noughts and crosses
the wee free men
the number one ladies detective agency

cant think of any more at the moment

Six Wives - David Starkey
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Jamaica Inn or My Cousin Rachel - Daphne Du Maurier
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkes
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
A Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn

I know a couple of others have already recommended the Henrietta Lacks book, but just wanted to say that it was much much better than I thought it would be when I read the description, and it has stayed with me. A truly astonishing story.

LOVE This Thing Of Darkness - one of my favourite books ever.
terry brooks - can't get on with him
had a good giggle at angus thongs and full frontal snogging - read them all :)
also salmon fishing in the yemon - bored me
one i think was called greek god at the ladies club - not heard of this but it sounds hideous and I would need to know more!
malorie blackmans noughts and crosses - read them all
the wee free men - read
the number one ladies detective agency - read them all
Six Wives - David Starkey - read
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot - will look into this
The Help - Kathryn Stockett - read
Jamaica Inn or My Cousin Rachel - Daphne Du Maurier - read nealry all of hers, I think - both of these, yes
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - not read this, thanks
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkes- couldn't get on with it
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky - read
A Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn - read

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :)

But thank you all!

Yemen not Yemon - Yeh MON is what Year 10 pupils who are trying to be hard say! :)

Might be a bit different from the genres you've suggested, but I loved The Last Life by Clare Messud. Great writing.

Oh yes, Les Miserables. Very Dickensian, (but French).

Who recommended Margerite Yourcenar - Memoirs of Hadrian? If it wasn't you, then you will definitely love it. (If it was you, thank you thank you thank you!).

It wasn't me! Looking it up now. If Les Mis is like Dickens, I will not read it!

Thanks Parietal too.

I don't go muhc for Dickens myself either actually! I think I meant that it does concentrate on the injustices brought on hte poorest and least powerful in society. It's very dark, which is how I see Dickens though I don't like his mawkishness. Hugo doesn't suffer from that.

Little Nell [boak]

Mawkish indeed - blurgh. And the more I read about the way he treated his wife, the more I dislike him. All these bloomin' long-winded stories for the family around the fireside - and his wife kicked out of the family home. Pah!

Okay - I may well try Les Mis then - I actually know nothing at all about it and have never seen it nor even a summary of it.

sorry - such a long thread i don't know if this has been suggested yet:

anthony trollope - all the barchester chronicles.

excellent reads, except maybe the last one.

hmm you may not like greek god at the ladies club.
its about a god called darius i think who turned into a statue and was broken. his soul leaves the statue until a female sculptor in modern day america is sculpting a statue from photos of a broken one archaeologists found, (being darius of course)
the statue is to be sold at the ladies club to make money for the orphanage the sculptor grew up in.
however as darius' soul enters the statue he becomes alive again and lots of fun ensues as an ancient greek god walking round in the modern day
its quite funny with a love story thats not soppy and some fighting action.
its a liiiiiitle like the new thor movie i suppose

Thank you Jasmine. I don't know what the Thor movie is but I'll have a google of the book, anyway.

Thanks too, Warthog. I've been meaning to try some AT for years and still haven't done it. Do they need to be read in a certain order?

I finished Lady Audley's Secret last night and enjoyed the story (although guessed all of the twists because they were so obvious) but my goodness, the author witters on a lot and gets in the way of her own characters - I just scanned those bits - eg: an entire page about how great women look in front of a teapot etc!

I have just reread Cold Comfort Farm for the first time since my teens and laughed out loud.

yes you do have to read them in the right order.

start off with the warden.

Thanks.

Have read Cold Comfort Farm.

Just got back from the library with:

Marcel Theroux - far North (just started this and really like the first few pages) here
Peter Carey - True History Of The Kelly Gang
Giles Milton - Paradise Lost here

It's really worth keeping this thread on, isn't it. So many suggestions. Birthday coming up. Book tokens in abundance (I hope).

Far North looks interesting too. And the Milton.

I need to go through and copy and paste everything I haven't read into a word document then take it to the library with me.

I spent ten minutes this morning looking for David Robertson in the library and then remembered when I got home that his name is Robertson Davis and is written on a piece of paper that is still on my flipping desk! Arghhhh.

I keep a small notebook in my handbag and when I read a review of a book I think I might enjoy I jot down title and author. I then have it handy when I am in the library though I usually have to go on-line to reserve books.

Colonel - please come back and share your thoughts on the Peter Carey book as it is on my list.

Hello Colonel, just dropping by to suggest The Sugar Barons by Matthew Parker. History straight no chaser. Recommended in the "i" today. I am going to request it at the library.

Ditto for Imogen Robertson Anatomy of Murder (recommendation source and library reserve!). This one is number two in a historical crime series. As it's only number two I am going to reserve the first and start from the beginning.

HTH. Great thread, have got loads of recommendations. Sounds like you have actually got your hands on some books now!

Colonel - Have you read Drood by Dan Simmons? If one of your favorite books is about Darwin and his best friend, you might like a book about Charles Dickens and his best friend Wilkie Collins. It is a painstakingly researched and masterfully crafted mystery based on the known facts of these men's lives.

Thank you Leo - they both sound interesting.

Excellent idea, gail - why didn't I think of that?!

Am v impressed by the Marcel Theroux so far - should finish it tonight and will then start the Carey.

www.amazon.co.uk/Nightfall-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0330320963/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1305576964&sr=8-8

This is a great book. Also if you like Stephen king have you tried Dean koontz?

Nightfall is a great story. One of the most original sci-fi premises ever.

I'd still recommend Dune before any other sci-fi book.