Help me find more books like these...

[mightymalties]

I've read (both historically and recently) some really great books and am on a mission to find more to add to my library reservations and TBR pile.

Some of my favourites have been:

Possession by A. S. Byatt
A Gentleman in Moscow
The Rules of Civility
Bel Canto
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Secret History
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
The Shadow of the Wind
Life After Life
The Housekeeper and the Professor

The genre isn't really relevant, it's more the feeling I have from the experience of reading them. The language; the sense of time and/or place. Books that you truly look forward to reading, don't want to put down, have the potential to make you cry and feel better for having read them once you've finished. Hopefully this list will give you a sense of what I mean?

I'm just about to embark on The Goldfinch and have This Thing of Darkness and State of Wonder on reserve, but I'll be needing to visit the bookshop or library again next weekend.

What other titles would you suggest I look for next?

I really enjoyed Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (sp?)
You might enjoy the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden

I'm just reading The Outcast by Sadie Jones. This was an impulse purchase on Kindle Daily Deals and it's not really the kind of book I'd usually choose but I'm enjoying it immensely. Very evocative of the 1950's.

A Suitable Boy
Lonesome Dove

For a book with a strong sense of place try The Spider Truces, forget the name of the author but I'm sure it's googleable. I actually booked a holiday in Kent after reading that book.

You might enjoy books by Fannie Flagg.

The shipping news
Miss smiles feeling for snow
The essex serpent
This thing of darkness

I forgot Carter Beats The Devil fantastic book. I am sure you will like it.

The poisonwood bible, the kitchen gods wife, one half of a yellow sun, the book thief, the girl with the pearl earring, labyrinth. I felt all of these were well written and really gave a great sense of place and time.

Wild Swans- non-fiction but epic
The English Patient
The children's book by AS Byatt

Remains of the Day
A Little Life

I was just about to say The Goldfinch but I’m glad you’ve found it - you’ll love it!

I second Lucked re: The Essex Serpent, that’s a great read. I’ve recently read Sarah Perry’s follow up, Melmoth, and it was fantastic, really strong sense of place (Prague) and very engaging emotionally.

I liked Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley too - very eerie, beautiful descriptions of landscape (Northern England).

Sense of time & place...
The Book Thief
Highest Tide (Jim Lynch)
Almost anything by John Steinbeck!

Barbara kingsolver is your woman! Prodigal summer is sublime.

I liked state of wonder, but nor as much as bel canto. I liked the magicians assistant too.

Any Sarah waters? And the oryx and crake trilogy, Atwood.

I recently enjoyed All the light we cannot see.

Thank you all so very much! I've made quite a few reservations from this, plus several others for my wish list

Southern - I adore Zafon, and own all of his books, though I had to shelve Labyrinth for a little while as I wasn't in the right frame of mind to properly enjoy it. I've read Katherine Arden's first two of the trilogy, and believe my children are treating me to the third as a Mother's Day gift this weekend (she's doing a book signing in my town - Yay!).

Which reminds me of Catherynne M. Valente who wrote the sublime Fairyland series, though I did particularly enjoy Deathless.

Miss smillas feeling for snow looks fascinating, Lucked, as does Carter Beats the Devil. I also enjoyed The Essex Serpent (bought on a whim as the cover was so beautiful).

I'd forgotten Hurley had published another book.I was lucky to read The Loney pre-publication, wonderfully eerie, particularly as I live close-ish to the region.

I forgot about ‘The Outcast’ @heatherblue. I absolutely loved it. It was turned into a two part drama a couple of years ago.

‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’
‘All the Light We Cannot See’
Justin Cronin’s ‘The Passage’ trilogy
Judith Kerr’s ‘Out of the Hitler Time’ trilogy
‘One Half of a Yellow Sun’
‘The Kite Runner’ & ‘A Thousand Splendid Sons’

I’ve never read anything by Kate Atkinson. My friend gave me half a dozen of her books when she moved abroad, but they’re still on the bookshelf, unread.

Lucked thank you so much for the Miss Smilla recommendation. I've just finished, it was absolutely wonderful! What a fantastic character she is

Some Other Rainbow springs to mind. Not a new book, but worth reading. True story.

Some Other Rainbow

I was going to suggest The Goldfinch, but you're already on to that.
How about:
The Book Thief
Our Endless Numbered Days
The Well

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

If you liked Life After Life, have you read its 'pair', A God in Ruins? And everything else by Kate Atkinson, she's amazing.

Hope it's okay to resurrect this thread rather than create a new one! I find it helpful to have all of these recommendations in one place

Other titles I've recently enjoyed are:

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio - mesmerising "academic noir" focusing on a group of Shakespeare students.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Lies of Locke Lamora
This Thing of Darkness is a masterpiece!
I also really enjoyed State of Wonder and Miss Smilla, and remembered how much I enjoy reading Strange and Norrell... again!

Currently reading The Bear and the Nightingale, which is lovely.

I've read most (though not all) of the titles you've suggested, and would very much appreciate more recommendations for when I venture out to the bookstore this weekend.