What's the last brilliant book you read?

[HoggleHoggle]

I'm very excited to be going to an actual bookshop on Sunday rather than buying online but I'm all out of inspiration! I read a lot and am running out of stuff I'm aware of.

Can anyone tell me the last book they read that they absolutely loved?

Mine was The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Picked up solely because it has an outrageously beautiful cover I'd never heard of it before but it was AMAZING. And the first of a five volume series so that's how I've been spending the last month of my life!

Am interested in novels mostly but also happy to hear about non-fiction. Thank you!

I adored The Goldfinch.

The last few books I have read and loved are I am Pilgrim and a book called The Humans by Matt Haig. Made me laugh and cry in equal measure.

I am currently reading "Dead Babies and Seaside Towns" by Alice Jolly. I started yesterday evening and I keep picking it up; had my up half the night too.

DO NOT read this book if you have ever had fertility problems or pregnancy loss.

Agree re Paying Guests, just brilliant. House of Hidden Mothers by Meera Syal,highly readable, great characterisation. Call the Midwife too.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
The latest Brookmyre is good

Lots of votes for The Paying Guests!

I went into my local Waterstones yesterday, not the best selection to choose from but picked up Spies and A Little Life so thanks v much for those recommendations.

I tried to find Mr Bridge (can't remember who recommended, sorry) but they didn't have that so will keep in mind for the next online order.

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. Read it a few months ago and although I've read other books since, I can't stop thinking about it. So thought provoking.

The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman. Emotional, moving, thought provoking. One of the best books I've read for ages. Also The Kind Worth Killing is a decent thriller.

Recently finished The first fifteen lives of Harry August and enjoyed it.

A man called Ove was funny, poignant and one of the few books in a long time I loved.

I'm glad it wasn't just me with 'My brilliant friend' Thought perhaps I was in wrong frame of mind (bit stressed and concentration not what it should be ). Not long back from Naples either...

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch, its about an adventure at sea but sad too as they get stranded and resort to cannibalism.
Before that was Room. I like Emma Donoghue (sp?) as every book is different.
I have the Goldfinch for about a year and still haven't got into it.

Oh and Wolf Hall etc was fascinating.
These are all a few years old though, I don't read as often as I should these days!

Will write down some of these recommendations.

Another vote for A Little Life. Brilliant but harrowing.

I didn't like Girl On The Train or My Brilliant Friend

I've just started The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng and am loving it. It was recommended to me by someone who is always spot on with good recommendations. It won the Man Booker prize in 2007 and has fabulous reviews on Amazon.

HoggleHoggle, it was me, or I since this is a literary thread. Read Mrs Bridge first. Mr can wait.

Another vote for a god in ruins (and place marking to check out some of these suggestions myself!)

I enjoyed The Invisible Library mentioned upthread.

Am currently reading Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookshop on my kindle, i don't think its a recent release but its very good. Interesting concept and easy to read.

Place marking for ideas. I've just started reading The Paying Guests.

Brilliant, thanks footle

The End of Your Life Bookclub - beautiful. And you'll want to read all the books mentioned in it!

The last truly brilliant book I've read is The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan.

I started re-reading it the minute I finished it. Incredibly well-written, harrowing, heartbreaking, and such a rich and layered structure and character study that will make you gasp at the end. A truly beautiful reflection on what makes us human in the midst of inconceivable brutality and loss. I sobbed on an airplane, next to a very bemused businessman.

Second all those who have quoted Kate Atkinson's, I didnt think it was possible to love a book more than I did Life after Life but A God in Ruins was just as amazing.

Hope you like it, Hoggle.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngosi Adiche. It really made me think about immigration, and reassess how I treat people working in menial jobs( not that I have ever been rude). A brilliant book.

I also loved A God in Ruins, Paying Guests and Bone Clocks. I also enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing, and another vote for Station 11, which is a really thought provoking dystopian novel,

Another vote for Our Endless Numbered Days - I finished it a week ago and am still thinking about it despite starting a new book.

Not the last , but I have never forgotten 'A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki , its brilliant ..

Am reading Disclaimer right now..

Hare w Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. Incredible.