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

Oh yes, I forgot Gillespie and I, that's a brilliant read.

Think you might enjoy Manda Scott's 'Into the Fire' - both thriller and historical fiction - a gripping read. At 576 pages maybe not long enough for what you are looking for. If you like historical fiction, her 'Rome' and 'Boudica' series are very much longer.

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair is fabulous...and long

Someone mentioned A Suitabke boy by Vikram Seth, which was going to be my recommendation. But also An Equal Music by him which I loved.
And The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif which was a beautiful book.

Tim winton Cloud Street

The Chronicles of St Mary's books are an interesting and involving read. They are not very long but there's lots of them.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl - fantastic suspenseful plot (literary book...not airport/holiday fare)

The Company - Robert Littell - CIA thriller. Long and simply superb

And how about Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell? that should last you a while....

Shantaram is my all time favourite. I almost wish I hadn't read it as nothing seems to be as good for me

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned The Goldfinch. I've fond memories of curling up with it the autumn before last. It's my favourite novel.

The goldfinch. Also a suitable boy. Both long satisfying reads to immerse yourself in.

Don't read 'the girls' painful dreadful cliche

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

Any Human Heart by William Boyd.

Susan Howatch - Wheel of Fortune, Cashelmara, Penmarric

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.

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

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.

Cheers eddie I like the sound of that.

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

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

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.

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"!!!

Olivia Manning - The Balkan Trilogy

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!