I need GRIPPING page- turners...

[tethersend]

Am off work with a broken shoulder, in pain and so, so bored...

Please recommend me some absorbing books!

I love books about WW2, but am up for reading anything set at any time, ever.

Please help. I need books to blow me away and take my mind off things.

Socky, having read Gone Girl (which left me feeling robbed of the hours it took me to get through) and darkest corner (which held my interest but was a bit meh), I'm inclined to agree with you. I've started Apple Tree Yard and I'm not enjoying it so far, not really 'getting' the characters. Is it worth persevering with?

No. It's crap.

Sorry but I hated it soooo much and really resented the fact that I had wasted my time on it.

Have you read any Elizabeth Elgin? She writes fairly light weight fiction, often based during WW1 and WW2 - but her story-telling is good, and I have always found her characters interesting and appealing.

For a stand-alone title, you could try 'All The Sweet Promises' - about three women from very different backgrounds who end up as Wrens based at a submarine base in Scotland during WW2. Or if you want a series, start with 'I'll Bring You Buttercups', then 'Where Bluebells Chime', 'Windflower Wedding' and 'The Linden Walk'.

I am feeling like the OP now - I broke my foot on Tuesday afternoon and just grasping how much time I will have to read and faff about on the net!

I'm reading Dominion at the moment which is very good if not gripping. I've downloaded The Shining to reread and now picking up some suggestions here for more gripping books which will keep my attention.

I was so disappointed with AppleTree Yard. I thought the narrative was very amateurish and lacked "editing polish".

Sophie Hannah's books are always annoyingly unputdownable (too busy for unputdownable!). Imagine a cross between Robert Goddard at his best and a Mumsnetter. Read em and you'll see what I mean. Dialogue sometimes clunky but terrifically twisty turny plots make up for it.

WW1 not WW2 but I read 'My Dear, I wanted to Tell you' after reading a recommendation on MN and really enjoyed it here

Not WW2, but the historical novels I have found gripping are:

Michael Faber - The Crimson Petal and the White - about a prostitute in Victorian London
Philippa Gregory - The Other Boleyn Girl (don't watch the film -it's rubbish)
Kathryn Stockett - The Help

I also agree previous posts re. Gone with the Wind - it's huge but worth it (but you might want to read something else at the same time!). Not historic but also agree Before I Go to Sleep and We Need to Talk About Kevin. I also enjoyed Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

And I assume you've read the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas?

A depressing but page-turning book set in the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia is First they Killed my Father (the title is pretty descriptive!).

WW2 books which I have read and liked:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
Tanamera by Noel Barber
but none of them are really what I would call gripping/page turning, and they all focus on relationships rather than action.

Rather more 'must find out whats next' have been :

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
The Return by Victoria Hislop
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee

Of these, 'The Siege' affected me profoundly, leaving me with many poignant images and a great deal of things to think about!

here is a link to WW2 books on Good Reads - 480+ of them!

My most recent 'recommend to anyone who will listen' book is The Humans by Matt Haig. It is wonderful and funny and brilliant. Bit hard to describe but it's slightly Hitchhiker's Guide-ish. Everyone go and read it now.

I just read Letters from Skye - WW1 and 2 covered there. I loved it, read it in 2 days

I've just read Instructions for a heatwave which I really enjoyed.

As mentioned up thread - anything by Sophie Hannah, they are ridiculously gripping and intelligently done - my favourites were The Other Half Lives and Kind of Cruel but they're all good.

I would also second The Return of Captain John Emmett - well written and characterised and a good page turner too.

If you fancied something completely different - I've just finished reading The Universe Versus Alex Woods which I loved (if you like Kurt Vonnegut I'm sure you'll love it even though it's very different to his books...) it made me laugh out loud and cry, which is rare for me with a book.

Another awesome one I read recently is The Panopticon - The narrator Anais is an amazing voice - not a light read (set in a teenage care home) but really really good and very readable.

Is Matt Haig who did the one about a family dog? I always meant to read that.

I've started the time travel Connie Willis one, Blackout- it reads a bit like young adult fiction to me so far, but I'll give it a proper go.

The best book I've read recently is Daughter of smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I loved it and the second one (not WW2 though)

For WW2 I know it's classed as a teen book but have you read Michelle Magorian's goodnight mister Tom. It's brilliant, makes me cry every time I read it.

Apple Tree Yard starts as it means to go on, I think, so if you don't like it now you probably won't suddenly start liking it. If you want a plot summary, pm me. Or actually, I think you could just read the ending and skip most of the middle (flipping back if needed).

I think "must find out what's next" is a great description of a gripping book for me - not necessarily / usually a well written book, but a plot that keeps me involved.

11/22/63 by Stephen King definitely fits that definition of a page turner. It will never make great literature, but it was extremely enjoyable.

I have read Goodnight Mr Tom- I sob every time!

Strawberry - Daughter of Smoke and Bone is incredibly good. And the sequel! I can't wait or the third one. Have you read The End of Mr Y?

I'll third The Book Of Lost Things. Also, The Black Angel by the same author. It's a detective story for people who don't like detective stories. :)

For WW2, I would recommend The Book Thief (though I know lots hate it.)

Currently reading 1984 and I can't put it down.. Really has been getting my heart racing

The other typist is ace

How about the [[
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007M4FROQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1380264595&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY165
Last Telegram]]? It is set during the WWII and gives a beautiful insight to the parachute silk weaving industry.

The two books I have read most recently which I can honestly gripped me and I could not rest until I'd finished them were Room by Emma Donaghue, and The Dinner by Herman Koch. both were very pacey page turners for me.

I've always adored any Robert Harris books - brilliant page turners (Enigma, Fatherland etc) and there's a new one out!

Loved Universe vs Alex Wood and also my recommendation for a stunning read is The Road (Cormac MacCarthy). Bleak but unbelievably good.

And if you want two light recommendations how about Gerald Durrell's Rosy is my Relative and The Mouse That Roared (can't remember author). They always cheer me up...

Have you read Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom?

Also, The Meaning of Night and The Glass of Time, both by Michael Cox (am always recc'ing those on here) - not WW but gripping gothicky thrillers.

And IMO you can't go wrong with A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) for true, er, grip.