Sophisticated but not pretentious reads

[TracyChapmanMemories]

Please help!

Due to having lots on, working, youngish kids, and generally a bit of a hectic life, I have become a captive of Mumsnet. In terms of reading, all I ever do is read MN threads and occasionally post (name changed).

I have no longer the attention span for reading books it seems but I used to be a very avid reader until I had kids 10 years ago. The more I mums net, the less I am able to focus on books movies etc. 😑

So, I would like to get back into reading, but the book needs to hit the spot otherwise I am bound to give up after a few pages, sadly.

I'll try any genre as long as either the language and the story is 'sophisticated' or it's quite fast paced and suspense without being dumb, or if it has some very current topics in it. So called chic lit isn't really for me but I don't think I can get through any classics either. I have enjoyed some non-fiction, which I sometimes thinks it's easier to dip in and out.

Long post, but please can you suggest books that might have a hope of being read by someone whose attention span has been shot to pieces, mostly due to a hectic lifestyle and the quick reward of reading stuff online.

Massive thanks in advance.

Have you read anything by Barbara Kingsolver? I have read and enjoyed a lot on your list and also love her books.

I like some of your list and my current authors are:

Ian mcewan - obsessed, they are short but brilliant
Kate Atkinson - longer but the writing is good
Lucretia grindle - set in Italy, thriller, very well written
Prince Harry

Have you read the red tent and gone with the wind. I know GWTW is problematic, but its also such a good story and easy to read.
I have the same issue as you with attention span with reading. Funny i was going to recommend you Murakami as i find his style of writing so meditative and relaxing.

Also try the Robert galbraith strike series, as my mum and cousin are obsessed.

Following this, but you could try some books which you have seen the film of to hold your attention until you get better at it?
Try The Beach, Alex Garland.
Or begin with short stories:
By Sarah Hall (all, but I like Sudden Traveller & Madame Zero)
By Lucy Wood - Diving Bells
By Wendy Erskine / Daisy Johnson
Short stories are often very well written too.

I would recommend Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. It's written in episodes that are like a short self contained story but there is an overarching story too. It's really good and the characters feel very real. It's also handy if you don't have a huge attention span.

My favourite book last year was To Paradise by Hanya Yanahigara - it’s in 3 parts all interlinked but totally different. It’s stayed with me ever since.

BK is a good shout —I’d either start with The Bean Trees and its sequel Pigs in Heaven, both thoughtful and likeable with very strong characterisation and settings. or Prodigal Summer, a bigger novel which manages to pull off the nigh impossible by having three separate narrators with slightly linked stories and make all three equally compelling. She also writes astonishingly well about the natural world.

It’s funny how differently different readers think of things — Jojo Moyes to me is the definition of unsophisticated.

I love Barbara Kingsolver and Prodigal Summer is one of my favourite novels ever. Her current one Demon Copperhead is a masterpiece IMO.

And Ann Patchett is wonderful too, particularly Bel Canto.

Both write very rich novels, immersive and propulsive, beautiful writing, but 'easy' to read in that they're not showing off by doing overtly clever things.

Crime & Punishment
Mans search for meaning

You have enjoyed books similar to those I like...
Joanne or Joanna Cannon books are is good, I enjoyed 'Three things about Elsie'
'The vanishing Half' by Brit Bennett
Also Claire Chambers, 'Small Pleasures' is a great read and I have just started 'In a Good Light'.

I know what you mean about wanting something that's not too heavy going, but the so called chick lit can be a bit predictable. The above have hit the spot for me.

I have similar taste to you (and everyone else here 😁) and I currently LOVE Ruth Ozeki. Her books are often about sad and difficult things but have a thread of hope and joy running through them (I think it's a Zen Buddhism thing but not in a preachy way).

Also recommend audiobooks as a way to get back into long form narrative. I listened to Milkman which I'm not sure I could have read in a printed book but loved as an audiobook. Also Circe by Madeleine Miller as a Pp recommended.

Johnathan Franzen; any of his novels are so easy to read, but wonderfully compelling and a lot to think about.

Well if you read and enjoyed Wolf Hall, what about Bring Up the Bodies (so, so good. Better than Wolf Hall) and The Mirror and the Light (haven't read it yet; it's sitting on my bookshelf and next on the list....)?

I like a lot of stuff on your list and so I will offer some books I have enjoyed recently:

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. (I think of this as a recent 'The Help' - ie a book club book that everybody loves regardless of the genre they usually enjoy).

Also Small Pleasures by Claire Chambers.

And slightly late to it, but am just finishing Anne Glenconner's Lady in Waiting which is a very easy read (with photos!) but just a bonkers and fascinating account of her aristocratic life and close friendship with the Royal Family. In the light of the Queen rip and Harry and actually after watching The Crown it is quite enlightening and entertaining. (Actually Anne Glenconner comes across as sophisticated but not pretentious so this might be the book for you!)

Rose Tremain would hit the spot. Music and Silence, Restoration, Merivel, Lily and The Road Home are all fantastic.

Joanne Harris is good. Chocolat and Gentlemen and Players particularly.

I like Tracey Chevalier, too. The Virgin Blue is a lovely book.

Ann Tyler and Elizabeth Strout of course. Literally anything by these, they’re wonderful writers.

I’d second A Gentleman in Moscow. It’s really well written and has nice short chapters, which I find really helpful when my attention is short.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Also love Rose Tremain and Kate Atkinson

Sarah Waters and Pat Barker both brilliant

I read a lot of novels based in Middle East/Central Asia. If you liked The Kite Runner you may enjoy these:

The Blood of Flowers - Anita Amirrezvan
Born Under A Million Shadows - Andrea Busfield
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana - Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
The Saffron Gate - Linda Holeman
Mornings in Jenin - Susan Abulhawa

Pat Barker and Maggie O’Farrell are truly wonderful writers.

For crime, Robert Galbraith and CJ Sansom are good, possibly Mick Herron (not sophisticated, but good story telling).

The Wolf Hall sequels are brilliant, although I had to read the last one slowly as I couldn’t face the inevitable.

A third vote for A Gentleman In Moscow. My all time favourite book

My ultimate favourite is Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson. It is a fantastic read.

Me too! I read it annually, it’s a delight.

Place-marking as I'm in the same situation as OP reading-wise.