Help me compile a book list please.

[MagicalWonderMutt]

Although I read a lot, I don't think I'm particularly well read. I used to read "better" books when I was younger but these days seem to have become a bit of a chick lit girl. I enjoy my lighter reads but would like to alternate them with something weightier. Suggestions please.

How about starting with The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes or Madam Bovary?

What books did you enjoy when you were younger?

Oh dear - my literary book list makes me a very old fashioned girl! I'm an Austen, Eyre and Trollope kind of girl. I really enjoy Kate Morton, Rachel Hore kind of books now. Favourites in the lat few years have included The Shipping News, The Time Traveller's Wife and The Other Side of the Bridge. Thanks for your suggestions - will check them out.

You must read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Lovely, easy to read but lots of depth and very moving. Was on the Man Booker long list but was too readable to be selected for the shortlist

You need something well-written but very readable and absorbing.

Try My dear I wanted to tell you, by Louisa Young (WW1 love story) or That Summer by Andrew Greig (Battle of Britain love story) OK, quite similar theme but both beautifully written.

I also like Sue Gee .. The Mysteries of Glass is very readable.

The Observations by Jane Harris is another excellent read with a quirky amusing narrator.

Anything by Rose Tremain, Elizabeth Jane Howard or Penelope Lively would be good. Well written but readable.

How about checking out Virago Modern Classics - lots of literary fiction with chicklit themes! Some of them even have chicklit author introductions

Molly Keane
Mary McCarthy's The Group
Elaine Dundy's The Dud Avocado
Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle
Stella Gibbons, Nightingale Wood (and not VMC, Cold Comfort Farm)
Barbara Pym
Winifred Holtby
Elizabeth Taylor
Antonia White, Frost in May

other authors

Helen Dummore
Alice Hoffman
Barbara Trapido
Jane Gardam

Have a look at White Tiger and Song for Achilles too.

My two recommendations would be
Vikram Seth - An Equal Music
The Map of Love - Ahdaf Soueif

Both brilliant books (not recent publications but still brilliant).

Jane Harris's new one,Gillespie and I,is a brilliant Gothic type chiller,full of twists,and a highly unreliable narrator! Also worth a try is Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch,shortlisted for last year's Booker,and to my mind much better than the Julian Barnes.

Having loved Wolf Hall and The Line of Beauty, my intention is to read my way slowly through as many Booker winners as I can. I've had The Siege of Krishnapur sitting on my shelf for aeons, have just finished it and was very impressed. Fancy joining me in reading some of the older winners?

Oh, love that someone has mentioned Sue Gee. I have loved everything of hers I've read.

How about Edith Wharton and Kate Chopin for some old style chick lit with an edge!