Moden classic recommendations

[JenniferAlisonPhilipaSue]

Please recommend me a modern classic to read on my holidays please.

I really loved Memoirs of a Geisha when that came out and haven't really found a book I liked as much.The Help was also good.

I prefer books that are set in the past and educate me on what life was like (like the ones above). but I did like (not love) Eleanor Oliphant though.

The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes might meet your brief.

I think Sorrow and Bliss will be a classic soon. I love it.

Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird? That's a total classic.

If you haven't already read it, I'd also recommend Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel which is excellent. It won the Booker and is about the life of Thomas Cromwell.

Where are you going on holiday? I love to read a book that's set in the place I'm going.

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Have you read Wild Swans by Jung Chang? It's a bit of a doorstep but once you start reading it you can't stop.

All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
Any Human Heart William Boyd
The Heart's Invisible Furies John Boyne
Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens

I've read to Kill a Mockingbird

I've seen the Wolf Hall series but didn't enjoy it (and I love that historical period)

For books that are set in the past I was also going to recommend the Cazalet Chronicles - very good observation of life at a certain level of society before and during WW2. I also really enjoyed The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Any human heart is excellent

I loved Kate Atkinson's Behind The Scenes At The Museum.

I loved Klara and the Sun, not sure if that counts for what you want but a very good read. Also The Paper Palace was very enjoyable.

I've seen the Wolf Hall series but didn't enjoy it (and I love that historical period)

I loved the books and the plays, couldn't stand the TV series. The books might still be worth a try, especially if you like the period generally.

My offerings:
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos (1920s New York, overlapping & interwining stories of different characters)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (early 1960s Belgian Congo from the perspective of the children of a misguided American missionary)

I've just started this and really enjoying it! Also loved Life After Life and A God in Ruins by the same author.

Also recommend The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, it had an Eleanor Oliphant feel for me, both have a kind of lost protagonist theme.

The signature of all things

the Goldfinch

HomeGoing by Yaa Gyasi

Have you read Ken Follett's books about the mediaeval period - pillars Of The Earth and World Without End (and there's another one I've not read yet that I can't remember the name of). I was put off for ages by the fact he's usually a fluff thriller writer but my Dad promised me I'd love them and he was right. Total doorstops of books, but passin a flash!

I second all of these....and loved Sorrow and Bliss too. Kate Atkinson's Life after Life was brilliant. Have you read The Secret History or the Goldfinch by Donna Tart?

Small Island by Andrea Levy is fabulous, very readable but also historically interesting. The theatre production is also fab and it's beginning to get taught in schools.

I have just finished My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and it's incredible. First in a quartet of novels that have been made into a highly regarded TV series as well.

Finally, I think I have to say Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which was the best novel I read last year by a long shot. Taught me all I know on the Biafran war and is also so tightly written. Really incredible.

Some great recommendations here. I second the Cazalette books. Also the Tidelands series by Phillipa Gregory.

Midnight's Children by Samantha Rushdie. It's an extraordinary book. I struggled to read it before last year, but had another go and in fact it has very short chapters and is quite episodic - try reading it a chapter at a time. it isn't exactly factual, it has lots of magical, mythical elements which I would normally hate, but I think he sees those elements as part of Indian culture and a way of expressing the impossible extremes of history in a less distressing way.

Wild Swans by Jung Chang isn't a novel but reads like one. It's a very personal view of Chinese history but nonetheless an eye-opening one. i was completely gripped by it.

JG Farrell - The Siege of Krishnapur, Troubles and the Singapore Grip all fantastic reads. He's not well-known but is a booker prize winner.
Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard is also excellent reading although harrowing at times (fictional but draws on JG Ballard's own experiences in WW2).
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

Oh and The Secret River by Kate Grenville. She's a wonderful writer.

I would second (to help you narrow down your choices!)

Small Island
Half of a Yellow Sun
Secret River

The last one has really stayed with me.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Toeles (or Rules of Civility by the same author)

Agree with Life Aftee Life by Kate Atkinson mentioned above.