Can anyone recommend books to help me to enjoy fiction again?

[MilkandCereal]

I posted this in Chat by accident earlier.

I mostly read non-fiction,but I'm hoping to try to get back into the habit of regularly reading novels.

I'd appreciate if anyone could recommend books with a good story,or interesting characters. I'm a fan of psychological thrillers,but open to any genre,so long as the story is good.

Something with a good 'human' story ideally. If that makes any sense. I tend to avoid books about conspiracies,government agencies,drug wars and that sort of thing. I'm more interested in the lives of individuals,even if they take place during a huge event like WW2 for example.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

TIA

www.goodreads.com/book/show/122.The_Power_of_One#other_reviews

For some reason your post made me think of this book.

I like the character descriptions in this authors books. :)

Have you read "Notes on a Scandal"? I found that a gripping read and I think it definitely ticks the "good story" and "interesting characters" boxes. Best to read without having seen the film I think. Saw the film after reading the book and didn't like the film.

I second Notes on a Scandal.

A Spot of Bother is also great and I've heard good things about The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry.

Fugitive pieces is a beautiful book - linked to to second world war but also partially based in Canada.

Gone Girl - I know it divides opinion, but I really enjoyed it, and I think it's just what you are looking for.

I'd recommend Her by Harriet Lane and her other novel Alys, Always. Enjoyed both.

You might also like J K Roqlings novels she wrote as Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm. Not yet read second one but looking forward to it.

S J Parris has written a series set in Elizabethan England about an Italian spy working for Walsingham. He gets drawn into murder investigations. Am on second one, Prophecy, and like it v. much.

Rowling, not Roqlings ....

If you are after something psychological but unusual then you must read The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. It is utterly brilliant

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - fantastic and so absorbing

Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks

Tortilla Curtain - TC Boyle

All wonderful!!

I enjoyed, 'The Gargoyle.' I always recommend This on threads such as this one.
Also, this is an amazing novel, set in WW1 from the German perspective - one of the best novels I've ever read.

The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer

One of the best books I've read in the past few years was The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (1915 - so available free from Project Gutenberg if you have an eReader). It's a kind of psychological thriller - I found it really gripping.

I've enjoyed most novels by Jonathan Franzen, particularly The Corrections and The Twenty-Seventh City but also Freedom.

james Meek's novels are great too - loved The People's Act of Love and We Are Now Beginning Our Descent.

The Light Between Oceans

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach. Read it last summer and it's stuck in my head ever since. I think it'd be ideal for you - believable (though not always likeable) characters and pretty dark and chilling. Totally recommend it.

Another recommendation - you might like Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler novels, starting with The Various Haunts of Men. Have read five of them so far and love them.

I also really enjoyed Kiss Me First. Very different but beautifully observed characters and possibly my favourite book of all time is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. It's definitely about people. The effect of one, little, seemingly trivial action has on a whole set of lives.

Sophie Hannah writes a good pacey psychological thriller- I recommend 'Little Face'.

And I second Donnie for T C Boyle's 'Tortlilla Curtain' a book I have re-read because its setting and descriptions of is mesmerising.

Miss Yes, Barbara Kingsolver is such a wonderful writer and creates characters with such heart. I loved the 'Bean Trees' followed by its sequel 'Pigs in Heaven'.

If you don't mind more American fiction then Louise Ehlrich is great as is Pat Conroy (The Great Santini / Prince of Tides)- all of these writers delve into the lives of their characters longitudinally as well as the present situation.

I don't read a lot of British fiction but enjoyed Tracey Chevalliers 'Strange Creatures' which is based upon the story of Mary Anning.

John Le Carre. Particularly the Karla series - 'Tinker, Tailor, Spy', 'The Honourable Schoolboy' and 'Smiley's People.

PD James

I wouldn't be much use on psychological thrillers (unless Patrick Ness's "A Monster Calls" counts) but if you don't mind something WW2 based, then I would advise Carmen Reid's "Cross My Heart". It is probably more of a YA book, but it is to do with the Belgian Resistance, which I found interesting.

Also, Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones" was good, if not slightly grim at certain points (although it had to be so as to make the book more realistic).