Wolf Hall? I need a long, involving, but not too heavy book

[Takver]

Going on a very long train journey at Easter (2 days!) and need a long and good book - suggestions welcome. It has to not be too heavy (to carry, rather than read IYSWIM). Mostly I read non-fiction so any suggestions for that also welcome, history/politics/economics my particular thing but open to ideas . . .

ps, don't suggest a kindle, I don't travel often & don't want another bit of electronic 'stuff'

Glare away Nom - I'm hiding behind Moln now!

I really didn't think much of 'The Little Stranger' either.

Ooh how about the biography of Philip Larkin by Andrew Motion (iirc)? That's a fantastic (and v long) read.

And 'A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius' - gosh I love that book and it is seriously poncey but v v funny and clever too.

i thought the little stranger was kind of meh.

I also love Wolf Hall...far more so than A Place of Greater Safety.

Have you read Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake? Its v. excellent.

Realises that Wolf Hall is annoyingly written in present tense throughout and that 'He' is over-used to the extent that one often can't actually tell who 'He' is at all and cares less anyway. Fails to find fine sentence but remembers that Cromwell is rather sexily portrayed and thus the only redeeming feature of painfully over-written prose. Goes off to read, 'Dora Damage' which is rather amusingly sexy historical fun instead.

For non-fiction, maybe a bit off-track, but have you read McMafia by Misha Glenny? From a few years ago, but a fascinating look at the globalisation of organised crime. Great stories. Global Outlaws by Carolyn Nordstrom is good too.

I've just started A Perfect Heresy, about the Cathars. Very good so far.

Les Miserables?

I adore A Place of Greater Safety. One of my favourite books of all time. But I could not get into Wolf Hall at all!

I enjoyed Wolf Hall, but found it a leeetle bit disappointing after A Place of Greater Safety

I don't know where OP's gone, but I've got another couple on my Amazon list, thanks to this thread

i recall really liking the movement of the point of view, and thought the present tense made a nice facsimile of consciousness

Ha!! Stare away!!

It was boring. What do you say to that? B.O.R.I.N.G.

I'd have like to have enjoyed it - I'm love that time in history, felt very disappointed that I didn't like it.

Another suggestion would be The Flower Boy by Karen Roberts. Not sure why that has come to mind, read it years and years ago but it's stayed in my mind. Possibly not long enough but you could always read two books!!

The Crimson Petal and the White!

My favourite book, very long, gripping, and you'll be sucked in on the first page!

Children's book by AS Byatt is long but interesting, at least I finished it (but not Wolf Hall!)

Darling's book very easy to read if you want economics

war and peace??? jesus

for a long book try Riders, or my best time ever, LACE

Just realised this thread is a week old, but for next time you're looking on Abebooks - on the non-fiction side, you might enjoy The Parting of Ways: A Personal Account of the Thirties, by Shiela [sic] Grant Duff - the 25-year-old Prague correspondent of the Observer in 1938, trying to get the British establishment to realise that letting Hitler have the Sudetenland would be a very bad idea. She also went to Spain at one point, and worked for Nehru. She and her friends (who included Isaiah Berlin and Adam von Trott) would travel third-class across Europe on the train at the drop of a hat. It's a fascinating book about a 25-year-old's drive to understand everything and to do what she could (with the aid of Churchill) to avert the war.

Wolf Hall is very good, but hard work, imho.

I'd second some of the choices above for a good, involving train read: Small Island, The Lacuna, The Stranger's Child (indeed anything by Sarah Waters).

But this is too late - train journey has probably already been and gone. Hope you found something you liked, OP:-)

LOVED Wolf Hall. I read it on holiday and thought it was perfect for hanging out in for hours at a time.

Would now be a good time for one of the Classics?

vesela, you're right, I'd already gone on holidays. But, your book suggestion sounds fantastic, I will definitely get hold of a copy ready for my next long train journey.

(BTW I ended up taking The Magna Carta Manifesto which a friend lent me just before I left with a rave review . . . not sure I share their enthusiasm but it was certainly dense enough that I only read half of it in the fortnight )

**

sorry

just to say to the peeps who recommended This Thing Of Darkness- thank you

it is truly fantastic

Iain Pears - An Instance of the Fingerpost. If anyone likes historical fiction / history.