It's that time again - Remus needs recs

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I've just bought 'Golden Son' on KIndle, so that should keep me quiet for a little while, but I need other things too.

In an ideal world the thing you recommend will be -
Not obvious
Something long and wintry - either a doorstop or a series
Gripping and well written
Probably a bit old fashioned
Maybe with ghosts
Basically I want something to curl up with - am thinking something akin to His Dark Materials, or Wilkie Collins' 'Moonstone' or the Holmes stories. Otherwise I'll just have to re-read the Harry Potters, and I don't want to!

Going abit 'off piste' here but have you read Sacreed Games by Vikram Chandra?

www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Games-Vikram-Chandra-ebook-x/dp/B004REJPZ6/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446307000&sr=1-1&keywords=sacred+games

It's very long & enormously entertaining (& shocking in parts).

"Crime & Punishment crossed with The Godfather with some Sopranos inspired irony' is how one critic described it.

Sacred

I have such fat fingers!

Keep going with it Remus. It's like with a fussy eater, you need at least 7 tries until you can say you don't like it, so give it 7 chapters!

Have you looked at Dorothy Dunnett, or is historical fiction not your bag?

I did look at DD, but didn't fancy it. Am not great with female writers tbh, and it looked 'very female' if that makes sense?

I promise to try for 7 chapters...

The second Merrily one is better than the first I think. But it does help to read them in order.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is a fantastic read. Do you like dystopian / apocalyptic fiction? The Passage by Justin Croninabd its follow up The Twelve are great reads.

Read and really enjoyed, 'The Passage' and, 'The Twelve.'
Given up on Merrily in disgust at the moment - but I promise to try again later.

The City of Mirrors (third Cronin book) is due to be published in May 2016 so something to look forward to. Have you read Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Linqvist? Did you check out Patrick Rothfuss? Another one the does involve snow and might be up your street is The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. The First Law Books by Joe Abercrombie get great reviews - I have them on my to read pile. I recently got a gift of The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. It is one of a trilogy but i have not read it yet so cannot recommend but you could check it out.

I've just finished one of the Booker short list, "A Little Life" - long, gripping, very well written. It made me cry, several times, few books do that. I really enjoyed it.

Tried and didn't get on with the Witches one.

Liked, 'Let the Right One In' except for the silly ending. Hated his others though - read two, both terrible, and vowed not to read any more!

Will have a look at the others, thank you.

Just thought of another few. John Connolly's Charlie Parker books are good - - detective with a hint of the supernatural. I loved his The Book of Lost Things - it is targeted at a younger audience (teen +) but it if you liked Mrs Peregrine you might like this also. Last but not least - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Have you tried Elly Griffiths? Based in Norfolk, archaeology-detective based with a little Paganism. I have read the first three and like the concept of the ruggedness and isolation of the landscape which you might like.

Having tried some Merrily Watkins by Phil Rickman I realise I much prefer elly Griffiths as an author for her writing style and the landscape.

Long, complicated, but not GoT; have you ever encountered Dorothy Dunnett's two historical series? The Lymond stories are based in Scotland and follow a handful of characters across Europe in Tudor times; the Niccolo stories follow a Flemish apprentice around Europe's emerging banking/finance industry at about the same time or a little earlier. And do you read on Kindle? as otherwise I think these are OOP. They are big, dense and complicated; I loved them all as they were published (she died a few years ago) and have begun re-reading them. Just an idea!

Whoops, I didn't read the whole thread and so missed PP's DD recommendation. She's not very "female" IMO, but still.

I second the Robertson Davies books, I've just re-read the Salterton trilogy and the Cornish trilogy.

I've also just read Bitter Greens which I read voraciously and am now going back to Angela Carter...

For wintry, you can't beat The Box of Delights (I always read it christmas week) and I like The Dark is Rising for the wintriness as well.

Have you read Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer? It's a children's novel from the 1960s. I read it as a child, and remember it being a little like Tom's Midnight Garden - a bit spooky, some time travel, this time back to the time of WW1. Plan to read it with DS or DD soon.

ADORE 'Charlotte Sometimes' - one of my very favourite old friends and I re-read it at least every couple of years and often more. Ditto, 'Tom's Midnight Garden.'

Have read, 'Box of Delights' and 'The Dark is Rising.'

Didn't like, 'The Book of Lost Things' although in theory it should have been right up my street. Couldn't get on with, 'The Night Circus' and didn't finish it. Not tried his others - are they better?

I'm toiling through 'Merrily' still, but only because I like the character of Lol. The rest is doing very little for me, and I don't like Merrily or Jane much.

Remus - at the moment I'm reading and very much enjoying Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

No, no, no. Don't DO that to me, Cote! I can't read him. My whole body goes into a kind of paralysis when I think about him, so that I am too weak to even contemplate picking up the text.

Suit yourself but you don't know what you're missing

Merrily and Jane aren't particularly likeable at first, although they are growing on me.

I'm still not completely convinced about his writing of women or mother/daughter relationships, but book two was much better I thought, and book four is going very well for me.

Perhaps I'm going to find a pattern of the even numbered books being better than the odd numbers The exorcism side of things gets going in book two, and there seems to be a good bit of it in book four.

Someone mentioned Patrick Rothfuss. I've read the first two and they were okay, but there is no sign of book three being published yet. If I had realised I wouldn't have bothered with the first two until the final one was out.