Sarah Waters

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Loads of people on here seem to rate her highly.

I've read 'Fingersmith' and hated it and 'The Little Stranger' and was completely underwhelmed by it. But since I keep hearing how great she is, I thought I'd give her another try. I'm about 100 pages into 'Nightwatch' and am sooooooooooooooo bored by it.

Should I stop?

sorry - Austens

Pip - they sound absolutely up my street. Thank you.

Don't persist with Nightwatch: it's very gloomy!
Fingersmith was her best, imo.

Life's too short to spend it reading books you don't enjoy. I love Sarah Waters but if you don't, go and find something else! I used to be fanatical about finishing books, even if they were awful, but then I realised that noone was going to tell me off if I put them down in favour or something that I actually wanted to read.

TBH, if you hated her other books and aren't enjoying Night Watch, you're not going to suddenly start loving it half way through. Who do you like reading? Maybe we can give you some different recommendations?

I would stop. I liked Fingersmith, thought Affinity was her best but didn't like Nightwatch at all, I only persisted because it was a reading group read. I was very disappointed with 'the Little Stranger' which failed to live up to any of the hype.

I love Sarah Waters. Affinity is my favourite, though I like all the others, with maybe a bit less love for The Little Stranger. But if you've read 2 of hers you didn't like, and aren't really enjoying the 3rd, then I'd say give her up as she's clearly not your thing. It's OK for us all to like different stuff but I think 3 goes is enough, andf it's not your fault, but neither it is Sarah Waters's fault.

You are all right and EightiesChick you are v much the voice of wisdom! I'll give up.

Gah - what can I read now though? I hate having nothing to read.

What have you enjoyed in the past? Perhaps we can make some suggestions...

I am v fussy (as you may have noticed).

My favourites are Jane Austen and Stephen King but I also like:

• history books especially ones about quirky things like the history of madhouses, or gaols or surgery etc / books about Scott of the Antarctic and historical exploration etc- CJ Sansom - I yearn for really good historical detective stuff but so much of it is horribly badly written so might as well re-read Doyle instead
• vaguely edgy modern stuff like Douglas Coupland and I had a bit of a thing for the guy who wrote Fight Club for a while but then he got too weird for me!
• dystopian and post-apocalyptic stuff but only if it's well-written because a lot of it is just pants
• really good fantasy like The Lord Of The Rings and King's Dark Tower (but most modern fantasy is a triumph of silly names over style and irritates me)

Sorry - don't know if that helps at all!

You could try Aristocrats (Stella Tillyard) - biography of the 4 Lennox sisters, based on their letters to each other.

I loved Claire Tomalin's biography of Pepys which has already been mentioned.

You might also try some of Liza Picard's books, especially Restoration London - very atmospheric.

I also have a very soft spot for the Lindsey Davis' Falco books - very well-written and funny Roman detective stories.

Thank you.

Have read and enjoyed several of Liza Picard's including the Restoration London one.

Didn't get on with Lindsay Davis.

Aristocrats sounds perfect.

Sounds like you're one step ahead of me .

How about the EarthSea chronicles? I missed them as a child and have only just discovered them - must admit most of it would probably have gone straight over my head as a child.

How do you like Angela Carter? Nights at the Circus, perhaps.

I've also just begun reading Dorothy L Sayers' Wimsey books - very of their period if you are interested in 1920/30s England.

Have you read anything by Robin Hobb?
She writes great fantasy books with lots of gripping, original content.

I think many fantasy novels are unimaginative, badly written, Tolkien rip-offs. But Robin Hobb writes very well IMO.

Start with the Assassin trilogy and avoid the Soldier Son books (her weakest by far).

Thanks both. Not read any Robin Hobb so will give her a go. I just read 'Game Of Thrones' by George Martin but wasn't terribly excited by it.

Have read a lot of Angela Carter, although she does get a bit too 'on her own high horse' for me at times, in the way that Margaret Atwood at her worst does.

Haven't read any Sayers or the EarthSea Chronicles, so will look into both of those.

Thank you. :)

Ooh I love Sayers, and the Earthsea books. I agree that a lot of fantasy novels are awful - I'll have to give Robin Hobb a try though, have never read anything of hers.

I love a good dystopian novel - have you read Margaret Atwood's stuff? Specifically Oryx & Crake and The Time of the Flood? It doesn't sound like you're that keen on her; I'm not a massive fan of Atwood's and some of her books I really hate but I did quite enjoy those two, as well as the Handmaid's Tale.

Other dystopian books I've read and liked are Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; The Giver by Lois Lowry (a children's book really but very good); Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy; Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro; and Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (partly set in the past, part in the future).

Next on the list (it's a very long list!) for me are Stephen King's The Stand, Children of Man by PD James, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Thanks for the nice long list.

Oryx & Crake and The Time of the Flood - read these, really liked the second one although was less fond of O&C.
Handmaid's Tale - read it, loved it.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - read it, liked it;
The Giver by Lois Lowry - don't know this one so will look out for it;
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy - read and liked;
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - read and hated;
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell - couldn't get on with this
Stephen King's The Stand - one of my favourite books ever;
Children of Man by PD James - not read any of hers;
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - read it but didn't like it much because it wasn't as good as The Stand!

Thank you again.

I've been meaning to start The Stand for ages - will move it to the top of my list! I liked The Time of the Flood much better than O&C, too.

Oh Treacle, you MUST read it. ..but don't blame me if it makes you cry. :)

I'll read it next! I'm currently in the middle of the first Hunger Games book which I'm really enjoying - have you read those?

I agree with Eighties Chick - love Sarah Waters myself but if you've read 2 of her books and a substantial chunk of a 3rd and not enjoyed it, probably best to read something else.

You seem to like dystopian stuff by women writers - haven't yet read it but Jane Rogers has a new book in that vein out - has been longlisted for Booker and is a reasonably priced paperback - The *** of Jessie Lamb.

Sara Wheeler is a recent travel writer who has written books about the Arctic and Antarctic - the Arctic one, The Magnetic North, also has a lot of history and analysis about Arctic travel. She's also written bios of a couple of polar explorers.

I fell a bit meh about Sarah Waters too. I admire her prose style but I just don't care about the people.

Try Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing. Doesn't go on and on and on as some of her novels do. Great dystopian book.

Frocks, great love story and good prose - Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey.

If you like historical stuff The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is brilliant, as long as you have the stomach for very gruesome true crime.

Have you read Arthur and George by Julian Barnes?

and Mary DOria RUssell's The SParrow

Loved Arthur And George and liked Oscar And Lucinda. Was a bit disappointed by The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher but generally like that sort of thing.

CaptainNancy - you've told me to read 'The Sparrow' before - must add it to my list.

Never heard of Jane Rogers but that sounds promising - will google that and the others. Thanks all.