Find me a new book to love

[LadyPeterWimsey]

I am desperate, desperate I tell you, for new books. I have spent the weekend trying to find things I might fancy and I have lots of samples on my Kindle and nothing I feel like continuing to read.

A few years ago, a lovely MNetter introduced me to two writers she thought I might like - Dorothy Dunnett and Lois McMaster Bujold - and I loved and adored them, especially Bujold. But now I need another hit of new fiction, and the problem is that I am quite fussy, if my weekend of reading downloaded samples is anything to go by. There are lots of books I enjoyed - for example, the last couple I read were Case Histories and Station 11 and they were great - but I want something I love so much I have to read it again as soon as I have finished it and then bore my family endlessly with how wonderful it is.

So if I write down the authors that I read and read again, would anyone be kind enough to cast their eye down the list and recommend me something new? I'm looking for humour, intelligence, excellent writing and a happy ending. (I do not like sad endings.) I love crime, don't really read chick lit unless it is very, very funny, and have a penchant for historical fiction. I'm willing to branch out in terms of genre, but don't do horror. As you can tell from the list below, I love a romantic plot line but don't really like romance novels as such (Heyer excepted).

Here goes:

Dorothy L Sayers (of course) - crime, humour, romance and intelligence. Gaudy Night is probably my Desert Island book choice
Jane Austen - but no Brontes because I don't really enjoy Victorian literature
Georgette Heyer
John Le Carré - earlier books are much better than his later ones
Nancy Mitford
Josephine Tey - very fond of Golden Era detective fiction
John Wyndham - closest I get to science fiction, apart from Bujold, who is absolutely wonderful
Dorothy Dunnett
Douglas Adams
Lee Child -

Books I loved as a child and still re-read when I need consoling:

Emily of New Moon, and Anne of Green Gables
Ballet Shoes, and all the other Streatfeilds
The Sue Barton series
My Family and Other Animals
The Swish of the Curtain
My Darling Villain (I do like other Lynne Reid Banks but this one is my favourite)
I Capture the Castle
Daddy Long Legs
What Katy Did Next
All the Little House on the Prairie books
Eagle of the Ninth and other Sutcliffs

I’ve almost finished ‘The heart’s invisible furies’ after seeing it recommended on mn- can’t say I’m overwhelmed with it and don’t quite understand the adulation

Same goes for the St Mary’s chronicles - that gets recommended so often on here but, just meh

I loved the first of the St Mary's Chronicles, but apparently not enough to read the next ones. One day.

It has been years since I read The Blue Castle. I'd love to reread it, so thanks for the reminder, babybythesea!

The Hate U Give. Inbcredibly powerful book.

SE Lynes' The Proposal. A gripping psychologal thriller that actually is.

My reading history is very similar to yours.
Have you tried the Flashman series? Historically quite accurate, very funny, and a series, so if you like it there's lots more!
The other books which stand out for me are Possession by AS Hyatt, and Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller. And just in case you've never read them, Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and Frenchmans Creek by Daphne duMaurier. Oh, and Cold Comfort Farm.

LadyPeter - I agree with what AdaColeman says about Saplings, so maybe not great if you can't take sad books. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day on the other hand, is definitely not sad - funny and uplifting.

My suggestions are both by French authors, but that is coincidence!

Historical saga, Zoe Oldenburg 'The World is not Enough'

Crime Fred Vargas. She has two series, although sometimes they overlap, the Inspector Adamsberg series (first on The Man in the Blue Circle) and the Three Evangelists (can't remember which is the first). Clever and funny.

TonTonMacoute The World is Not Enough is brilliant

The opening scenes with the wedding have never left me.

I've just finished a new book LadyPeter which you'll enjoy - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Golden Age meets Groundhog Day meets bloody weird.

Oh, it's so nice to find someone else who's read it, Lambbone! I've read it several times ( in fact my copy fell to pieces) and never been disappointed. I've just discovered that there's a sequel too, so another reread may be in order soon

Some of your favourite authors are also some of mine (Dorothy L Sayers, Josephine Tey, Jane Austen, nearly all the children’s ones) so have you tried Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies Detective Series, Jan Karon’s Mitford series, or anything by Margery Allingham? I recently read the Cazalets series and really enjoyed it although didn’t love it; the 5th book is disappointing but I think EJH was about 90 when she wrote it, to be fair.
I also stumbled on A Song For Summer by Eva Ibbotson in a charity shop and adored it. Made me want to read more of her YA romances, but A Song for Summer is still the best imo.
And another children’s book: I discovered an ancient hardback in my bookcase called The Lark on The Wing - I have no idea where it came from! such a mystery!! - and I loved it. Part of a three or four part series by Elfrida Vipont about a Quaker family, main character is a girl called Kit Haverard who wants to train as a singer. Fairly offputting title but very enjoyable to read
I hope you find something!

'The Captain's Wife' by Eiluned Lewis. This Amazon summary is pretty accurate. www.amazon.co.uk/Captains-Honnos-Welsh-Womens-Classics/dp/1870206983/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+captains+wife&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1548522173&sr=8-1

Oh yes and another vote for Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

AdaColeman I read the first of his Cicero trilogy but was strangely unmoved - odd since on paper they are my thing. DH really enjoys them, so I might give them another go. Sample of the first Marcus Corvinus downloaded.

I'm afraid I tried the St Mary's mysteries but didn't really get on with them.

GrouchyKiwi I've just read the sample of Uprooted, and enjoyed it enough to order from the library - thank you.

DelphiniumBlue I loved Possession, enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm, and had forgotten that I meant to read Song of Achilles. I'll look at Flashman too. I have only ever read Rebecca but on paper du Maurier should be a good fit.

Lambbone sample downloaded

ChristmasCalamity I did enjoy No 1 Ladies and a few of the sequels. I keep trying to get into his Edinburgh novels but can't quite do it. Will look at your other recommendations. I liked the bit of The Morning Gift that concretesieve recommended so Ibbotson is now on the list.

mynameiscalypso I've just ordered Slow Horses from the library on the strength of the sample - thanks

LadyPW "Pompeii" is very different in style and in characters from the Cicero books, with far less political content, and much more action. I think you would enjoy it.

Will do, Ada

I finished the most recent Robert Galbraith this week, so haven't had too much time for other things, apart from the Mary Stewart. Feeling guilty for previously being so sniffy about JK Rowling's writing, given that I gulped the 600 pages down in a day...

LadyPeterWimsey I like a lot of the authors you mentioned. Have you read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles? It's a really lovely read, I couldn't recommend it enough.

Op - glad to hear that you are a librare user.

Have you read Lucinda Riley seven sisters series?
I read in my second language (translation) so I can't really judge how well they are written but have enjoyed them all. They aren't heavy but took longer to read than the 5 minutes Eleanor Oliphant took. A bit of culture, history, geography and mystery.

Changers series (young adult literature) by Cooper and somebody left me with a lot to think about.

Eva Ibbotson. Victoria Clayton, Eva Rice

Have you read any Lucinda Riley? Chick lit and historical, I particularly like the seven sisters series.

Haven't read it for years but have you ever tried Tolstoy?
I wouldnt quite classify lucinda Riley as Chick lit - i don't think it's challenging to read but has more to it than chick lit.

Sharon Penman: The Welsh Princes trilogy and her Queen's Man series. I read the former in my teens and the stories have stayed with me.

I loved Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs: it's fun, moving and unusual in a good way. Another book that took my breath away is Everything Is Illuminated, by Jonathan Saffran Foer - but it's very, very different to anything else and definitively a Marmite book. I adored it and could not believe the author was a mere boy in his early 20s!

There are some great recommendations here!

I'd like to second The Cazelet Chronicles. I've re-read them a few times over the years and the characters are so vivid.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - can be quite dark but - without giving the plot away - it's full of redemption and 2nd chances.

The Night Circus is absolutely magical - literally. Original, haunting, romantic

When God Was a Rabbit is another one I still think about years after reading. Great characters and lovely blend of quirk, humour, pathos, romance

If you liked Rebecca (I love it) then the follow up Rebecca's Tale (not by du Maurier) was one (there have been a few) that I though was so true to the original characters as well as being a great read in its own right

One of my all time favourite books is Gone With The Wind. You can't get more memorable characters than these!

I want to read these all again now !

One of my all time favourite books is 'The Eyre Affair' by Jasper Fforde, I know you said no Bronte but despite the title the style of book is pretty much the complete opposite... more like a Douglas Adams in how incredibly bonkers it is.