Please help me find a book to fall back in love with reading (on my holiday)

[Mallowmarshmallow]

I've fallen out of love with reading, everything is a slog and piles of books lay around me only just started, unfinished and unloved.

I think a combination of perimeno, excessive phone use and not setting aside time to read has meant my attention span to really sink into a book and give it my all is limited.

I used to love lots of books, but mostly those where I've loved the characters. Now, in real life I've become a really grumpy 40 year old who likes very few people and this has been replicated by an inability to love book characters too.

In the past, some of my favourite books have been A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Island, A Little Life, most of Marian Keyes stuff, Memoirs of a Geisha....more recently i liked (but didn't love) American Dirt, Pachhinko, The Flat Share.

I went through a phase of liking psychological thrillers thrown into the mix too.

If anyone is able to recommend something I'd really love with characters I really like and want to read about, I would be hugely grateful.

I loved rosamunde pilchers The Shell seekers. Anything by jojo moyes. Anything by Diane Chamberlain. The house at Riverton by Kate Morton. Anything by Marian keyes especially bookends.

My favourite books are ‘children of the dust’ and the ‘flowers in the attic’ series. They have me hooked everytime and are relatively short so not much chance of being half read and forgotten about.

Any human heart - William Boyd

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers and anything else by her,

I read All The Light We Cannot See in three days. Perfect for reading on holiday. And the movie is coming to Netflix in November.

The Richard Osman books are decent cosy murder holiday reads

Colleen Hoover it ends with us
Jill Mansell
Jenny Colgan - mure island series

Another vote for crawdads and Evelyn Hugo

I would highly recommend The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. Couldn’t put the book down. I have heard great things about her other book Hamnet so I’ll be packing that for my holiday.

The books I have enjoyed most in the past year - Slow Horses series, Mick Herron.

I'm in the same situation Op. I'm currently reading Sorrow & Bliss but im really struggling with it....

Just finished Love Marriage by Monica Ali on holiday. Great characters and very enjoyable read.

The Lucinda Riley sisters series is brilliant. I loved that

Also the island of missing trees

Second
Seven husbands of Evelyn
Eleanor elephant (this was unexpectedly amazing) as was where the crawdads sing

I tried twice with this book but just couldn't get into it for some reason. Maybe I should try it again

No, please don't force yourself on my account! If you can't get into a book don't pressure yourself with trying again because other people liked it. We don't all have the same taste in books and that's fine - great actually because it means more books for everyone.

I

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, absolutely gorgeous. Already read it twice within a few months and will probably read it again soon.

MumToThree I like your choices too - thank you for reminding me about Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence. I'd forgotten her name, and I always confuse her with Lois Duncan and Lois Lowry, all of which I like.

And Flowers in the Attic I have read so many times! Have you read "My Sweet Audrina"?

Others have posted but Demon Copperhead is brilliant.

I second Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

Yellowface is great fun.

Others from the Women's Prize Longlist:
The Bandit Queens
Trespasses

An older one but the writing is really clever and is essentially intertwined short stories: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Another vote for Lisa Jewell Family Upstairs/Family Remains.

I was you.
Only read on holiday despite technically loving reading.
Another fan of Lessons in Chemistry - last summer holiday.

I've recently started leaving my phone in the living room at night, and got back in to reading a bit each night. Needs to be light reading though.
The Me before You series is easy reading.
The Break was good (once my brain fog brain got used to who was who).
The Help
Lion - awesome true story
Normal People (previous summer)

The seven sisters series?

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop (I see that you mentioned The Island).
I picked it up in one of those hotel libraries when I was on holiday in Crete in May. It was the perfect holiday read! And you will really care about the characters.

I loved ' The Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery
'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and the Lessons in Chemistry and the Eleanor Oliphant book.

I completely get you though OP. I used to be a voracious reader, and very rarely failed to complete a book. Now I struggle if I'm not entranced by the first few pages!

I really enjoyed The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, which was recommended on a thread a while ago. And then read her novel Circe, also good.
I do enjoy Greek Myths and have just started the Percy Jackson series - kids’ books but they’ve kept me reading and not as distracted by my phone (although I read them on a library app, so am technically still on my phone 😂)

Excellent read. Along with Tipping The Velvet