I want to read something really intelligent and beautifully written

[SalveRibena]

I have been reading crap on my Kindle for too long and now want to go back to reading Proper Books. Past favourites include Atonement, Bring Up The Bodies, The Poisonwood Bible, The Sea and The Line of Beauty.

Any advice?

Memoirs of a geisha .
Jayne Eyre Charlotte Bronte .

The picture of dorian grey. Oscar wilde .

Another vote for "This Thing of Darkness"- an absolutely gripping and fascinating read about the relationship between Darwin and the amazing Captain Fitzroy during their voyage on the Beagle and beyond. Breathtaking.

If This Is a Man by Primo Levi.

And probably his Periodic Table, but I can't remember anything about it.

This Thing of Darkness and Dorian Grey both superb/

The Woman In White

Agree 100% with others suggesting anything by Margaret Atwood and Anne Tyler and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and Possession by A S Byatt.

Also cannot recommend enough Winter in Madrid by C S Sansome.

The last three books I've read have also been good:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Twins by Saskia Sarginson, and
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty.

You MUST read Perfume by Patrick Suskind. Beautifully written, evocative and thought provoking.

If This is a Man? Oh lord. It's beautiful and literally haunting. But once read you can never unread it. Not for the faint hearted OP.

In a similar vein and also with a similar theme I was going to recommend Austerlitz by WG Sebald. It's also about the effects of the Holocaust but with a little more distance. One of the most incredible books I've ever read.

Will second Any Human Heart and married my DH because of this book. Long story! and Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies.

How about Philip Roth? Not for everyone, but I've never been disappointed. American Pastoral is a good place to start.

I second everyone who's recommended the Persephone Books catalogue. A real treat.

I've just started A Tale For the Time being. One of this year's Booker nominees. So far so good.

Am I missing something re: Anne Tyler? I've read a couple of hers and engaged with the characters, then waited for the whole rest of the book for something to bloody happen!

I think maybe I'm just not as clever as I used to be

I didn't get Anne Tyler either. Or Marilynne Robinson. But then I got a lot out of A Thousand Splendid Suns so am clearly a huge idiot.

I don't know if you have to read this when young but I have never stopped loving Frost in May by Antonia White. That's the one I always go back to.

The end of the affair
Never let me go
Jane eyre
Tess of the d'urbevilles
1984
Lolita
The great gatsby
Black beauty
Notes on a scandal
The pursuit of love
Brideshead revisited

That's the top shelf of my bookcase

I think Anne Tyler only works if you like the kind of books when nothing much happens - that's her style. She's all about characterisation and exploring your emotions, but go elsewhere if you like a gripping plot.

I enjoyed Kite Runner but I haven't read 1000 Splendid Suns - interesting to see such mixed reviews on this thread!

Hmm, you're right about Anne Tyler, she's great on characters and writes both men and women very well. I've read a few if her books and been a bit 'meh' about them, but I think when she's good she's one of the best authors I've read. But I concede that she's not one for a galloping storyline.

Also have to vote for Any Human Heart by William Boyd, a wonderful book. Also, South Riding by Winifred Holtby. And anything by A M Homes.

re Anne Tyler - I recently reread 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' and I enjoyed it so much. I occasionally write an Amazon review and I've just dug out a paragraph that I wrote:

'The story itself is just about a family - the Tull family, from Pearl Tull as a young woman wondering if she will ever marry, to her marriage to Beck, the birth of three children, the disappearance of Beck and the children as they grow and build their own lives and families. It is a tale that is more full of heartache and misunderstandings than anything else, and, as we are all sons or daughters or brothers or sisters, there is something for us all to recognise in ourselves.'

But it's more than that - as a lifelong reader, I think that the new novels that are pushed as 'bestsellers' by publishers are unsatisfying pap that can be read in two or three days. At my usual reading pace, this novel took me a week. And I enjoyed every minute.

The new Donna Tartt called 'The Goldfinch' looks meaty.

Wally Lamb has a new book out called 'We Are Water' but I can also recommend 'She's Cone Undone' 'The Hour I First Believed' and 'I Know This Much Is True'.

Barbara Kingsolver's 'Prodigal Summer' and 'Flight Behaviour' are great as is 'Animal Vegetable Miracle' her account of her families year of Locavore eating and living.

Michael Lee West's 'Consuming Passions' and 'She Flew The Coop' here are brilliant modern Southern novels as is the wonderful Bailey White. I have read and re read her novel 'A Good Year For Plums' and her collections of short stories 'Sleeping At The Starlite Motel' and 'Mama Makes Up Her Mind'.

Karen Russells' Swamplandia is one of my all time favourite novels. set in Florida it is about a family of Florida 'Crackers' and has the most beautifully written magical realism. I also love Janice Owens, another Florida set author. Her 'American Ghosts' is just wonderful.

Loved this by Paul LaFarge and this about a Jewish family in the Deep South.

I can recommend Daniel Woodrell (Winters Bone) and Tim Gautreaux for great characters from Louisiana's Cajun community.

Kitty Aldridge's 'A Trick I Learned From Dead Men' is unusual, a small little novel in length only but big in its themes of death, undertaking and family loyalty.

Finally Hector Tobar's 'Barbarian Nurseries here about what happens when both Parents each think the other is looking after the kids in the middle of a family crisis. I like the LA/Mexican setting.

Yes to am homes. Particularly this book will save your life. And tc Boyle also great.

I like initialled authors, clearly. Also for nice homely but well written writing I'd recommend Penelope Lively. Moon Tiger won the booker and is a good place to start.

I love Penelope Lively. Moon Tiger is great; my favourite is The Photograph.

I've recently read two books by Tan Twan Eng - The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists. Enjoyed both, but the second is particularly beautifully written.
Other books that have stayed with me include Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, Music and Silence by Rose Tremain and The Famished Road by Ben Okri.

Just re-read this thread and I can't believe that no-one has mentioned Gabriel Garcia Marquez (forgive me if I missed it). Love In The Time of Cholera is a fantastic story and I also really enjoyed Chronicle of a Death Foretold. That reminds me, I must read more of his books.....

I second T C Boyle's 'Tortilla Curtain' and Tan Twan Eng's 'Garden Of Evening Mists'.

Laura Esqivel's 'Like Water For Chocolate' and Isabel Allende's 'Aphrodite' are two particular favourites of mine.

What a great thread.

I find Anne Tyler v boring. And I've tried to read 'Gilead' a couple of times and it did precisely nothing for me. The English Patient is another one - it's good writing but so, so dull that it ultimately feels pointless to me. And Ishiguro (sp?) is the same - especially the butler one - yawn. I clearly need excitement and plot; perhaps the odd zombie or robot or mass murder or two!

Aphrodite is excellent - Allende's non-fiction is superior to her fiction imho.

I love Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin novels though I know it's not everybody's taste. Beautifully written though.

I've returned to The Millstone by Margaret Drabble again and again since I first read it at around 18.

I also really enjoy RF Delderfield's historical sagas. The Horseman Riding By trilogy and the two Avenue books are my favourites.

I wouldn't call Garden Of Evening Mists "intelligent" although it was pretty good and atmospheric. It left me with the feeling that it wasn't really thought out very well.

I was especially about her living through the horror of progressive memory loss and at the same time being totally OK with throwing away the map to a nation's treasures - not only monetary wealth but also cultural. Why?

A friend met the author and asked him this question. He answered a vague "I wanted everyone to make their own minds about the issues in my book".