Page 2 | When you realise a good author has many other books you haven't read yet

Dustyblue · 2023-07-28T15:23:06+00:00

You know that amazing feeling when you read a great book, and you know there are 10+ other books by the same author? It's the best & it's happened to me twice recently. I love me some good chick lit. Think Marian Keyes, Catherine Alliott, Jane Green, Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Weiner, Emily Giffin, Penny Vincenzi, Jackie Collins etc. BUT I only just discovered Jane Fallon & Adele Parks. Bloody wonderful, both of them, and so many of! Yay! Has this happened to you? Any tips for me? Think I might have to try Jilly Cooper, but I'd want to start at the beginning.

Jigglypufff · 31/07/2023 07:58

Dustyblue · 31/07/2023 07:43

Thanks for that analysis! Actually now I think about it, some of CC was pretty dark. There was one deformed baby born at home scenario that sticks with me, urrgh. Will give Faro's Daughter a go, cheers 😀

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Faros daughter is one of my favourites! The two leads are great. I also like:
The Grand Sophy.
A convenient marriage.
False Colours
Unknown Ajax.

There are loads more. Georgette Heyer is one of my favourite authors.

JamieandRoybromance · 31/07/2023 08:56

The day we disappeared by Lucy Robinson and The man who didn't call by Rosie Walsh are two of my favourite ever chick lit books. Highly recommend xx

beguilingeyes · 31/07/2023 09:14

I like the early Jilly Cooper books with the girls names. Emily, Imogen etc. The later ones not so much.
JoJo Moyes
Maeve Binchy.

Alcemeg · 31/07/2023 12:30

Nuffaluff · 30/07/2023 18:03

@JaninaDuszejko
@Alcemeg
Oh yes, Beryl Bainbridge. Such an amazing writer. I’ve read about half too. Which ones have you read? I’ve done:
The Bottle Factory Outing
Every Man for Himself
Master Georgie
An Awfully Big Adventure
Winter Garden
They are all brilliant (apart from Winter Garden - I hated that).
I was blown away by Master Georgie and The Bottle Factory Outing.

Mum gave me A Quiet Life when I was a teenager. We both loved her humour, so off-beat and unique. I also love BB herself, what a character. And all her books are so different! What a skilled writer.

I'm grateful you reminded me of her because mum is now in her 90s, recently widowed, and I have been compiling books on a Kindle for her. I need to add some BB. And thank you to the other posters for the other suggestions on this thread. Another thumbs-up for Ann Tyler.

Original poster

Dustyblue · 01/08/2023 08:58

I had to check on Beryl Bainbridge- my library network only has "The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress", published 2011. Must be same author yes?

Brilliant find at an op-shop today. Remember Jacqueline Susann of "Valley of the Dolls"? She wrote a couple of other books before VOTD. I recommend "Once is Not Enough" for example. I found a copy of "Every Night, Josephine", rare as hen's teeth! Crusty old paperback but it made my week! 😃

OP posts:

Parsleymint · 02/08/2023 16:18

I like the same kind of books OP and I'd completely forgotten about Catherine Alliott, I used to read her donkeys years ago. Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell, Lianne Moriarty and Erica James. All written loads.

I started reading a book last night by an author who has written 100s. Two pages in I was thinking why have I never read her before? Agatha Christie!

Original poster

Dustyblue · 03/08/2023 11:41

@Parsleymint Far out, I've never read Agatha either! All these amazing authors we've missed thus far!

(adding to my op-shop list furiously)

OP posts:

Seeline · 03/08/2023 11:53

Freya North?

Fairylight102 · 03/08/2023 12:08

Emma Donogue - her books are on quite varied topics but often historical, and usually involve characters placed in an intense situation of some sort

beguilingeyes · 03/08/2023 12:30

I used to be really sniffy about Agatha Christie but I've just read Sparkling Cyanide and loved it. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

JaneyGee · 08/08/2023 17:54

I know what you mean. Unfortunately, the other books don't always live up to expectations. I loved Robert Graves' Goodbye to all That, for example, but didn't enjoy his historical fiction. And though I love George Orwell's non-fiction, especially Down and Out in Paris and London, I find some of his novels unreadable (especially The Clergyman's Daughter).

It happens a lot. I loved Virginia Woolf's Orlando, but struggled with The Waves. Love Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels, but can't get on with his earlier stuff, or the short stories. I also think Waugh's Brideshead Revisited is a bit overrated, yet Vile Bodies and the Sword of Honour trilogy are my favourite books of all time. Aldous Huxley is another example. I love Crome Yellow and Point Counter Point, but not Antic Hay.

JaninaDuszejko · 09/08/2023 05:18

I had to check on Beryl Bainbridge- my library network only has "The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress", published 2011. Must be same author yes?

Yes, that's her final unfinished novel about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Published after her death.

Original poster

Dustyblue · 09/08/2023 05:32

Ah, thanks for that, will keep an eye out for BB's earlier stuff.

I picked up 2 more Jane Fallon books today, naice!

I've raced through some of Adele Parks & I'm finding her a bit hiss & miss. Some of her books are a tad nasty and boring with it.

Another great author- Robyn Harding. Writes awesome domestic/family/thriller type books. I heartily recommend:

Her Pretty Face (teenage party goes wrong)
The Arrangement (young woman/sugar daddy scenario goes wrong)
The Swap (couples swap goes wrong)
The Perfect Family (everything goes wrong)

Ok she has a theme but they are gripping reads :)

OP posts:

Alcemeg · 09/08/2023 11:26

JaneyGee · 08/08/2023 17:54

I know what you mean. Unfortunately, the other books don't always live up to expectations. I loved Robert Graves' Goodbye to all That, for example, but didn't enjoy his historical fiction. And though I love George Orwell's non-fiction, especially Down and Out in Paris and London, I find some of his novels unreadable (especially The Clergyman's Daughter).

It happens a lot. I loved Virginia Woolf's Orlando, but struggled with The Waves. Love Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels, but can't get on with his earlier stuff, or the short stories. I also think Waugh's Brideshead Revisited is a bit overrated, yet Vile Bodies and the Sword of Honour trilogy are my favourite books of all time. Aldous Huxley is another example. I love Crome Yellow and Point Counter Point, but not Antic Hay.

This article gave me an interesting new perspective on George Orwell 😊
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/30/my-hunt-for-eileen-george-orwell-erased-wife-anna-funder

Looking for Eileen: how George Orwell wrote his wife out of his story

Anna Funder explains how the search for Eileen O’Shaughnessy, a compelling figure strangely absent from Orwell’s writing, illuminated her own life

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/30/my-hunt-for-eileen-george-orwell-erased-wife-anna-funder

Apple41 · 23/08/2023 14:00

Jojo Moyes
Lexie Elliott
Aisling series - Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen

Alcemeg · 24/08/2023 09:09

KathrynWheel · 30/07/2023 18:09

I love short stories. Found a book of short stories by Alice Monro. Short stories with incidents that seem quite insignificant but then turn out to be anything but. She has written many books which I've found on EBay and Amazon. I also borrow her audio books on Borrow Box App.

Thank you so much for this! I ordered it for mum's birthday and had a little read of her on Amazon. The "Look inside" feature on this book lets you read the whole short story "Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You" and it's so brilliant, I got utterly sucked in and it made me late for work 😁 What a writer!!!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Something-Ive-Been-Meaning-Tell-ebook/dp/B00M77YPRS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18PBIB3TVQUSW&keywords=alice+munro+something+i%27ve+been+meaning+to+tell+you&qid=1692864313&sprefix=alice+munro+something+i%27ve+been+meaning+to+tell+you%2Caps%2C346&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Something-Ive-Been-Meaning-Tell-ebook/dp/B00M77YPRS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18PBIB3TVQUSW&keywords=alice%20munro%20something%20i%27ve%20been%20meaning%20to%20tell%20you&qid=1692864313&sprefix=alice%20munro%20something%20i%27ve%20been%20meaning%20to%20tell%20you%2Caps%2C346&sr=8-1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-what-were-reading-4859442-when-you-realise-a-good-author-has-many-other-books-you-havent-read-yet

martha4clark · 26/08/2023 08:25

@Dustyblue I think you would enjoy Mhairi McFarlane. Her books are really enjoyable, funny, rom-coms. Have enjoyed all her books.

Jellifer · 26/08/2023 08:44

I got hooked on the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. Then discovered she’d written LOADS of other books, made me very happy!

UtterPiffle · 26/08/2023 18:27

I started reading Wilbur Smith as a teenager, my dad had loads of his. Also Dick King Smith, . My favourite book of all time is the time traveller’s wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I also really enjoyed me before you series by jojo Moyes. I like Anita Shreeve’s books too. Sebastian Faulks, John Grisham. Since I bought a kindle and then more recently a kobo, I don’t get as much pleasure out of reading books, you just can’t beat a real live book in your hand. Does anyone else find the same? I used to pay a fortune in library fines, taking 20 odd books on holiday in a big supermarket bag in the car, making my children sit with their feet resting on it, hence the move to a kindle …..but an e reader just isn’t the same!