Please recommend me a book. I have a criteria :)

[Greyworm]

Title says it all. I'd really appreciate any suggestions as I love reading but struggle to choose as I don't want to waste a read. I'd like to read a book over the next few weeks and I have been given a voucher for waterstones so I'm really excited.

I like books that have had the below features but not completely nessesary

• a focus on an individual /family that span over many years/decades
• a love interest which is very deep and complicated
• cultural - so I may learn about another culture/time in history
• I LOVE dystopia films and TV programmes but find some books are a it depressing as I want a sort of holdiay/light read. So I really enjoyed 1984 and a handmaid tale but don't fancy one of those.
• I love space films but not tried to read nay spacey books yet.

I like books where a story is told by many different characters too.

Books I have read again and again, so some old favourites:
Memoirs of a geisha
The horse whisperer
The thornbirds
Fear and loathing in Las vagas
I capture the castle
The rum diary (loved this)
I liked 'one day' but couldn't get into his other books.

I can't think of many more off the top of my head but I've always loved reading. I also read a story like biography of egon schiele which I really enjoyed too. So I'm pretty open. I love art and I have an interest in classics (Greek mythology) I don't fancy reading the odyssey again though.

I'll be really grateful if anyone has any suggestions :)

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann is fantastic -- it's the story of a wealthy family of Prussian merchants and their gradual decline over several generations across the 18th and 19th century. Still amazes me that he could write such an amazingly wise novel at the age of 25.

House of Spirits by Isabel Allende seems to fit your criteria.

I’d recommend Days without End by Sebastian Barry too.

I'm reading 'a suitable boy' and about 40 pages in. So far so good. :) I think I might print and laminate this thread for after!!! Thank you

The Masterpiece , Emile Zola

This is a great thread
I think I have similar taste to you @Greyworm and have just added to my TBR pile.

I second the recommendations of the Ken Follet Century trilogy (probably my favourites of last year) and The Heart's Invisible Furies (This year's favourite so far)
Sarum is one of my all time favourites

I have had A Suitable Boy on my Kindle for about 5 years and never got around to it.
I'm off for two weeks at the end of August so then might be the time!

Have just downloaded the Secret River

The Song of Achilles could be a contender if you like Greek mythology.

I’ve loved all the Shardlake books. They might fit the criteria of another time in history.

The 'outlander' series is good. A bit of Scottish history and a little time travel but mainly a life long love story.

'Clan of the cave bear' is another good series

The secret life of bees
The color purple

Trollop's (19C) novels meet your criteria. Barchester Towers made me laugh. (The chronicles of Barsetshire )

Mrs Gaskell 's novels are also very enjoyable 'Wives and Daughters' is wonderful.

The Secret River is well-written but thoroughly miserable and very dark in places. It has been a GCSE text for the past few years and I've taught it, but felt very uncomfortable in doing so.

Sorry, posted too soon.

There is a lot of very graphic violence, particularly against women and children, so please bear that in mind before starting.

I've just read Jamaica Inn and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane which were both recommended on this thread.

Really enjoyed them both - love this thread!

My suggestion is Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons ticks all your boxes.

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

The first book that came to mind when I read your description is "the traveller's wife"

If you want to try a bit scifi, you may enjoy Dune

Jalna series by Mazo de la Roche

I was also going to suggest 'Cloud Atlas', although I wouldn't call it a light holiday read exactly.
Kate Morton might be up your street - 'The House at Riverton' or 'The Forgotten Garden.'

If you enjoy Gone with the Wind, I have loved Rhett Butler's People a brilliant prequel and sequel by Donald McCaig

The Dune series by Frank Herbert meets your criteria and is sci-fi, very very good. For some lighter Sci fi, try Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

This recommendation is a little out of left field, but it's fits your criteria and if you want to give a space book a shot, then it might be the one to start with.

It's a series called the expanse (it is now a tv show, but the books are much much better). The first book is called Leviathan Wakes. The beginning just sets us up to create a crew of a ship, and that crew become a family. The book series spans decades. Each chapter is told from a different perspective. The first book is told by 2 characters, the following books are told by several characters. There is a romance which take a a build up and spans decades. It's theoretical, but it's a very interesting look at the cultures which could develop if we ever did spread out across the solar system and live in the belt and on mars.

The story in each book is of course, science fiction. It's about space travel and invading molecules, and a fight for survival. It's about exploration and all of that. But the character development is great; they aren't just used as plot devices and then thrown away. The characters are explored, the relationships complicated and built up, there is humour as well as serious moments. It's a great space opera, and a good one to start with.

Nothing new to add.

Wild Swans is an absolute masterpiece and super educational. Have re-read and re-read.

Cazalet Chronicles are some of the most munchable books ever written. You just go munch munch munch. Not hugely nutritious maybe, but super good to read.

The Forsythe Saga - John Galsworthy

My absolute favourite, I return to it often. In fact I'm reading it again now

Sunset Song - Lewis Grassic Gibbon is a close 2nd tho very Scottish

A Suitable Boy, marvellous book, have read several times and highly recommend.

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett might meet some of your criteria.

Only got to the end of page 3 of this thread so far and need to get a pen and paper to copy the suggestions - thanks OP!
I agree with the suggestion of The Poisonwood Bible - absolutely fascinating. Also Love in a Cold Climate - I borrowed it last week from the library, read it in one go and have just received my Amazon order of Nancy Mitford's complete works/The Mitfiord Family biography/her sibling's novel!
If it hasn't been mentioned yet I think Roots by Alex Haley fits most of your criteria.

Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections or Freedom. I have similar tastes to you OP, and devoured these.