If my ideal novel is...what shall I read this summer?

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Okay. Going on holiday for a week soon. I read VERY quickly and I am VERY fussy (and I have read lots and lots and lots already).

If my ideal novel would be Persuasion, mixed with The Stand, mixed with A Town Like Alice and with a soupcon of Lolita thrown in, what the heck will I enjoy next? Ideally it will be BIG. Non-fiction okay too, providing it is history-related and ideally a bit quirky.

Please help!

How about A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz? Aussie, long, involved enough to suck you in, but not so convoluted that it loses you.

My friend got hold of it somehow, I don't THINK it's top secret - will check with him though before I pass it on to anyone! It's significantly smaller than the Passage.

Have you read The Flame Alphabet? I've heard good things www.amazon.co.uk/The-Flame-Alphabet-Ben-Marcus/dp/1847086225/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=12C8M7URBOKPC&coliid=I2FOW1EUQD9C3H

The Faber Book of Reportage also v good for history fans.

Have you read World War Z? Absolutely fantastic, especially if you like end of the world stuff, such an impressive book.

Have you read Saramago's Blindness? I think it's amazing and refuse to see the film on the grounds that it would spoil the book utterly.

Memoirs of Hadrian by Margerite Yourcenar. The writing is utterly gorgeous, it slips down like honeyed cream.

I defy anyone not to love.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett .. I know I was banging on about it on the other thread but it is really worth reading

Bel Canto by the same author .. my favourite book last year

The Observations by Jane Harris if you like a quirky narrative voice

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry just because it is a great book

Dare I suggest The Hunger Games? (I read it before the hype and it is really gripping)

And YY to Black Swan Green. Hated Cloud Atlas, so was surprised about BSG.

Child 44. I keep crapping on about it, but it was a good mindbendy Russia-stalin-psychopathic killer book. Good deal of interesting history in it, you really got the feeling he knew the era. And, best of all, it's first in a trilogy.

And I'd forgotten about World War Z. I really want to read that so, thanks Harderto!

Remus - it's described as 'popular science' so I hope that means it is not too scientific, it sees to be a history of cancer and it's treatment from earliest times until present day. Looks very interesting. I'll let you know when I've finished it.

I don't remember anything too difficult in The Emperor of Maladies - I thought it was excellent and I'm very wary of reading books on the subject right now, but somehow I found the approach in this one was ok.

TouTou - I liked Child 44 for its social analysis & observations although the murder mystery premise was a bit far-fetched. What do you think about it's sequels? I read mixed reviews on Amazon.

I'll second Ann Patchett, though I haven't read her new one yet.

I loved Cloud Atlas, immediately made my mum and DH read it. They both really struggled through it.
I don't get it. You Cloud Atlas haters are just bizarre.

I didn't like, 'A Fine Balance' - lots of people on here love it, which is why I read it. I liked the characterisation but the unrelenting misery just got ridiculous. In fact, I've got a copy going spare if anybody wants it.

Don't fancy Ann Patchett.

I've read The Hunger Games. I liked the first (except for the last few pages), thought the second was rubbish, and thought the third was even worse. A shame, as they could have been really good.

Have picked Child 44 up at least four times and put it down again. Will probably be able to get that in the library today.

Will look out for World War Z. I do like end of the world stuff but only the well written ones; so much of it is just hackneyed and immature.

Thanks for all these and do keep them coming. I know I'm bloody awkward but this thread will almost certainly come up with one thing that I'll love!

Ooh I read, 'All Quiet On The Western Front' a few weeks ago. Fantastic. Can't believe I'd never got around to reading it before.

Remus, I challenge you to read Bel Canto and then come back and tell me you don't like Ann Patchett

CoteDAzur, the sequels to Child44 get progressively less good unfortunately

Have you read 2666 by Bolano? I cannot make my mind up about it, whether it really is all those superlatives or whether it is rambling and messy. The first book of the 5 is just what I wanted, though. (It's 5 in one volume.)

Agree with poster - the killer side of Child 44 can't bear too much scrutiny as it is far fetched, but I tried to put that one aside and just enjoyed the twisty turny history. Gutted that the sequels are not as good.

Remus - you sound like you read even more than me. I thought that wasn't possible!

The Shardrake series are excellent (CJ Sansom) for historical murder mysteryness. Avoid Winter in Madrid by that author though.

And one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've read recently, very light and readable but full of facts, was Home by Bill Bryson, where he looks through the history of each of the rooms of a house and how it's developed over time. The side effect is that you keep poking your partner and saying 'Wow, did you know that before 1923 there were no such things as blah dee blahs in the house'.
I wouldn't buy it, but it's great to get out of the library and I'm buying it for the parents and inlaws next Xmas as it's that kindof a book. (that doesn't sell it well, does it - but it's still good)

World War Z couldn't be less hackneyed and immature - it's a staggering achievement, if not a staggering read (it is really good though). He's literally created an entire world and imagined every part of what might happen if something like a zombie apocalypse did occur - from what Big Pharma would do, the response of the governments of different countries, the Army, right down to the level of the individual, and every chapter is brilliantly readable, most grippingly so. Considering what an enormous geek he is, this book should have been very boring, but I LOVED it.

Picked up and put down Child 44 again today. It was 99p in the charity shop but I read the first couple of pages and wasn't really drawn in by it. I managed to get Black Swan Green for 99p too so if I hate it, it won't matter!

Love Shardlake; really liked Winter In Madrid too.

Read Home - am a massive Bryson fan. That's not one of his best by any means but tis okay.

Couldn't see World war Z in the library - but I couldn't remember who it was by.

Will look up 2666.

Thanks again everybody.

Have you read Cold Moutain? I'm no fan of the film but the book is excellent.

I am currently re-discovering John Wyndam - The Chrysalids is an excellent book

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - if you haven't read yet don't read the reviews or find out what the story is about, just read the book, hang in there for the few first chapters. I ruled it out for its subject matter for years and in fact rarely have enjoyed a book so much.

The secret story
The little friend
Both by Donna Tartt, breathlessly well written, lucky you if you haven't read them.

Never heard of Cold Mountain - what's it like?

Have read everything of John W's.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fab popular science book, puts the humanity back into medical research.

World War Z also v good.

Cote - the second in Child44 trilogy, The Secret Speech was a bit of a disappointment, a bit incoherent - the author was obviously spilling over with ideas, but felt like the ideas for 3 books merged into one. The last one, Agent6 was much better (but middle section connected with Afghanistan was also a bit silly, felt a bit too shoehorned in to draw parallels to more recent events there).

Oh would also recommend the Night Watch quartet by Sergei Lukyanenko. Fantasy, but v clever with it.