I want a damn good book for autumn (please)

[travellinghopefully12]

Hello,

I want a damn good book to get really, really involved in. Something to carry round and keep me company for weeks on end.

Long Books I love are

The Cazalets
The Crimson Petal and The White
Middlesex
Brick Lane
Anna Karenina


Recently I've picked up a few things, but it's like I'm skimming the surface instead of getting properly into them. I have Villa America, which looks promising, but not long enough to be along term companion

[TheoriginalLEM]

oh yes Shantaram is wonderful. i felt bereft when i finished that.

also Jonathan strange.

marking my place.

[sarahsarah76]

the girl on the train

theyve made a film of it now but I LOVED IT

[Rozdeek]

Place marking :)

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Not read East of Eden in forever. Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie (non-fic) is worth a read too.

[Bolshybookworm]

So pleased to see other east of Eden fans! Steinbeck seems a bit forgotten about nowadays which is a pity as he's a really wonderful author. It's not long, but if you like interweaving stories then I also recommend the pastures of heaven.

[CoteDAzur]

I second the recommendations for Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet, both by David Mitchell.

Other books I think you will really enjoy, OP:

This Thing Of Darkness

The Goldfinch

The Luminaries

Would you be interested in non-fiction? Science-related or biographies, for example?

[Ohlalala]

I agree with East of Eden too! Wonderful read.

[Whatabloodyidiot1]

I've just finished the behemoth 4 book series by elena ferrante, absolutely amazing. Taken over my life for the last few months, would reccommend 100%, lila will stay with you always.

[Quickqu]

I second Shantaram, it's bloody amazing.

Recently read The Goldfinch - quite good but not a patch on A Secret History, IMO.

About to read The Magic Mountain after it being recommended to me. Not convinced it's gonna be my thing, but good to try sthg different!

[whattheseithakasmean]

I've just finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas author) and it is an astonishing, amazing & gripping read. Quite different to Cloud Atlas, it doesn't have a tricksy structure, it is more of a straightforward historical novel, but that doesn't really do justice to how it gets under your skin. It is set mainly in 18th century Japan and it just fascinating and moving.

[ImperialBlether]

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley is brilliant - she won the Pullitzer Prize for it.

[EmGee]

Bolshy was just coming on to recommend East of Eden! Bloody marvellous. I loved the Cazalet books too, OP, so I reckon you should read E of E if you haven't already. I can also recommend Adhaf Soueif's The Map of Love. I've read it twice and will definitely read it again at some point!

[tormentil]

Olivia Manning - The Balkan Trilogy

[iamEarthymama]

Although I can't believe that one book could last a whole season 😉😊 I am happy to suggest, for those who like fantasy, Sheri Tepper's novels.
Very different, thought provoking, I absolutely love Beauty.

Do trilogies/series count?
Treat yourself and get Robin Hobb's Fool's Assassin, enter a complex, fully realised world with characters that are so real and engaging that you will find yourself wondering how they are as you wait for the next book.

How about that marmite of a novel, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell?
I am listening to the Bone Clicks on Audible, and find it engrossing.

I second the suggestion of Manda Scott's Boudica trilogy. They have remained with me for a long time. I am due for a re-read soon.

Starhawk's Fifth Sacred Thing and City of Refuge address the challenges of present society and offer a vision of the dystopian future we could well face if we make the wrong choices now. Again, brilliant characters.

If I am off the mark, I do apologise and hope you find the perfect book.

I must say though that this thread has reminded me of my childhood; I was an avid reader in a home without many books. We had weekly visits from the Mobile Library to our village and I devoured the contents of the children's section. When I was allowed to move up to the adult books I have to admit that my criteria for choosing the week's selection was often the size of the book rather than its content, as I lived in dread of "Nothing To Read"!!!

[Bolshybookworm]

I also love the Cazalet series, OP, and love anything that follows a family dynasty. Have you read east of Eden by John Steinbeck? My all time favourite long book. Covers several generations of one family in such rich detail, I can read it again and again. One of the characters, who is basically a psychopath, has a room entirely furnished in grey as it is the only place she feels calm- I think of it whenever I see a trendy grey colour scheme

The book is nothing like the film, btw.

[Marmighty]

Not very long but if you like rose Tremain I enjoyed music and silence

[outputgap]

Anthony Trollope. Either the Barchester Chronicles or the Palliser series. They will last you years and they are fab.

[crapfatbanana]

Cheers eddie I like the sound of that.

[eddiemairswife]

I have just started Sweet Caress also by William Boyd. About the (fictional) life of a woman photographer born in 1908 and follows her life and work through most of the 20th century.So there's your next book crapfat.

[TitsTingle]

Do you like horror? If so what about The Stand or IT by Stephen King.

[crapfatbanana]

I'm really into Any Human Heart by William Boyd at the moment. I'm nearing the end and will be sad when it's over.

[tormentil]

Susan Howatch - Wheel of Fortune, Cashelmara, Penmarric

[eddiemairswife]

Any Human Heart by William Boyd.

[HapShawl]

The truth about the Harry quebert affair was bloody awful, don't encourage that author for god's sake

I have been recommended 1Q84 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Q84 and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it

[Kennington]

Don't read 'the girls' painful dreadful cliche