Ok so I am on a plane for 27 hours - what shall I read?

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I need a few really unputdownable/page turning books that easy to read (no Kafka please) but not crap fiction either. Last time I did a huge flight I read Angela's Ashes and before that Twilight! Any suggestions as I spent ages in Waterstones yesterday and didn't buy a thing.

Have you read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver? It's a great book - and nice and thick! The one I'm keeping for my next long journey is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

The Passage I really enjoyed this recently, after a rec on here.

CJ Sansom - Winter In Madrid or Dissolution (which is the first of a series).

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

I may be being silly here but have you read Harry Potter?

If like most of the country you have, then I like any by David Baldacci, they are like John Grisham type books, I cant put them down and they are usually pretty lengthy.

What about The Book Thief by Markus Zusak or The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger?

Colonel - Winter in Madrid is wonderful!

Beloved by Toni Morrison or either Alias Grace or Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood, all books I couldn't put down :)

Yes, Time Travellers Wife was good too (much better than the film!!)

Yes to 'The Book Thief' and yes to 'Alias Grace' (if you can forgive the silly ending).

I'd go with the Colonel and just buy CJ Sansom's whole Shardlake series (IIRC, Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, and Heartstone)

Will keep you going there and back, and they're fabulous books.

I flew to Aus last year and it was so exhausting I couldn't concentrate on reading so watched TV instead. DH put lots of episodes of 24 on the laptop for when we were bored of online entertainment. Obviously take a few books but you might find you don't read them at all! Have you got a kindle or ipad?

Inflight entertainment I mean!

Following on from the vampire theme - Sookie Stackhouse. The book people were doing the first 9 (plus a short story compilation) for £10. Def not heavy reading but quite entertaining.

Fine balance - Rohinton Mistry

Thanks for the suggestions - please keep them coming

Stieg Larsson's Millennium Triology!

Tell us which ones you like the sound of so far then, so we're not shooting in the dark. :)

Well I have to google the lot of them as many I had never heard of but I will get The Time Travellers Wife and the Book Thief.

I have read the Millenium Trilogy (and I have to be honest got bored half way through number 2 and limped through it and last one). Sorry sarsa but I hated Alias Grace and only read first 100 pages. And Harry Potter has just never appealed (am I being shortsighted?)

I need to be gripped early or I can't be bothered with books. Winter in Madrid sounds interesting but I know nothing about CJ Sansom.

Recently read Water for Elephants and Book Seller of Kabul and loved them. Does that help?

TTW and Millenium trilogy are really marmite books - I really hated both

I really enjoy the Sansom series

That helps, yes! Have you read The Kite Runner? It's probably not long enough though.

Oooh yes, The Kite Runner. And also A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Have read The Kite Runner but not A Thousand Splendid Suns.

the leaflet in the packet of sleeping pills before you fall deeply asleep!

I didn't like 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' tbh. I thought it was overly cartoonish in its depiction of the 'villain' husband. Sensation without style.

Ok so I went out this morning and bought A Thousand Splendid Suns, Winters Bone, The Passage and Fine Balance. My hand luggage is going to weight a ton.

I really liked American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, and also The Book Thief but be warned, that made be ball my eyes out so might depend if you're okay crying on the plane!

I really enjoyed The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and Under the Dome by Stephen King too

Do you like non-fiction? I love Everest/climbing books, Climb by Anatoli Boukreev is really good and so is Touching The Void

Yes love non fiction ruthie. Have read Touching the Void - it was very good.