I’m not enjoying the books I am reading

[AnnotherReader]

I am not enjoying the books I am reading at the moment. I have read 38 books so far this year and only 2 have been 5 stars and one of them was a reread.

I have been through all my favourite books and picked out common themes. Can you recommend me any books based on my likes/dislikes below. I have also listed some of my favourite books and how they fit with the list.

likes:
time period 1800-1939 (either written in this period or more recent books set in this period)
rural or wild setting
a book within a book or books to do with books/stories/reading
pirates/books set on ships
romance
adventure
magic
crime especially golden age
epistolary novels
the chosen one trope

don’t like:
thrillers
literary fiction
smut/ too much sex

favourite books:
Emma by Jane Austen (time period, romance, rural setting)
Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (time period, romance, rural setting in part)
A Month in the Country (time period, rural setting)
The Reader by Traci Chee (rural setting, book about a book, adventure, pirates/ships)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (book within a book, romance)
The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers (epistolary, crime, time period)
Dangerous Liasions (epistolary, romance)
The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb (ships, pirates, adventure, some romance)
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (time period, romance, rural setting)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (time period, magic)
Harry Potter (magic, the chosen one)
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton (rural setting, adventure) - I loved these books as a child and have never managed to find the equivalent adult adventure books

I have read all of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell and am currently working my way through the rest of Robin Hobbs Realm of the Elderlings books.

If you have read all this, thank you, as you can see from my favourite books they don’t have to include everything on my likes list but most have at least 2. Please give me some recommendations for other books I might like.

Birdcage Walk Helen Dunmore

Zen Cho - Sorceror to the Crown and the sequel, The True Queen. Regency era magic, first book has a strong analogue of Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair (and if you haven't read Vanity Fair that should be on your list too).

Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist series is Jane Austen with magic, though I haven't actually read them all, they aren't bad but didn't click for me.

Someone else has mentioned Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and I second that, and also the Patrick O'Brian books she riffed off of.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine - this is technically scifi but it's set almost all in one place in a very mannered, restrictive society that activated all my historical fiction receptors. I really loved this book so I'm recommending it anyway because we seem to like a lot of the same things.

The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker - magical characters, romance, turn of the century New York. Lovely sequel too.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker - magic, romance

Adventure/magic theme - I wonder if you'd like Guy Gavriel Kay's books? They tick a lot of your boxes but they're fantasy - what you might call historical fantasy rather than faeries/trolls/elves etc.

Someone else recommended Possession which is SUCH a good book, thoroughly agree. Also agree with Isabel Allende's stuff.

I also love the Dandy Gilver mystery/lady detective books (1910s/20s) - a bit of a wildcard given your criteria but so enjoyable and clever, and excellent period detail and atmosphere.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Cazalets by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Forsyte Saga

The End of Mr Why Scarlett Thomas

Love for Lydia H E Bates

Any Brandon Sanderson, though I started with the mistborn trilogy.

The watchmaker of filigree Street

The chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor

Wow I completely forgot to check back last night, I was too busy reading (Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby which I am enjoying) I was not expecting so many responses.
I have read quite a few of the books mentioned but there are still so many others that I have not so I will look into those.
The one that immediately stands out is Strange the Dreamer - I own that book so I will move it to the top of the tbr pile.
I will come back and respond to questions later when I have finished work, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the response at the moment 😀

You say you don’t like literary fiction, but lots of the books you listed as favourites are literary fiction…?

All of Elizabeth Bowen. Start with The Last September. Have you read Ivy Compton-Burnett, Rosamund Lehmann?

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes? You might like the rural and village setting and the supernatural. (Always nice to meet another JL Carr fan…)

William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault or Love and Summer?

Look at Persephone Books’ list of authors (late 19th and early 20thc women writers) for ideas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone_Books

Have you read all of Sayers? I love Gaudy Night.

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby is v good.

Pine by Francis Toon (wild rural setting)
Summerwater by Sarah Moss (wild rural setting) interlinked short stories.
Rook by Jane Rusbridge (wild rural setting)

The Taxidermists Daughter by Kate Mosse naff title but a good book - set in early 1900s, rural setting.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I LOVED that novel. Read it decades ago and got so involved in it.

I loved Possession too. The film adaptation was woeful. Didn't capture the book for me at all.

Also Anthony Horowitz Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are crime stories that are books within books

I was going to suggest these too...books within books with magic and 'chosen one' vibes... I love them!

No I haven't read any of her's although I did add The Franchise Affair to my wish list a few days ago after seeing it mentioned on here. Is this a good one to start with?

I loved Magpie Murders and enjoyed Six or Crows. I have the Magicians but I have not read it yet so I might try that one next.

I have read the Pursuit of Love but I was a bit disappointed by it.
It was years ago that I read it so I can't remember it clearly now but I think I just didn't connect with the main characters and so it didn't have the full emotional impact.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik - basically the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons.

Zen Cho has written two Regency-era fantasy books - Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s historical fantasy books would probably suit you - the Fionavar Tapestry is the only one with a ‘typical’ fantasy setting including elves, dwarves, etc.

The only one of these I haven't read is The Name of the Rose. I started it but abandoned it when I reached a 2 page long sentence that was describing a Church door in great detail.

The marriage portrait and hamnet both by Maggie O'Farrell might be up your street?

I enjoyed Julia Quinn books which are set in the regency period (including the Bridgerton series, but the books are far better than the TV series IMHO).

If you enjoyed Magpie Murders (and the sequel), Anthony Horowitz has done another series where he puts himself into the books as a character! ‘Hawthorne and Horowitz’ series, the first book is The Word is Murder.

I loved both of these!

Have a look at Eustace and Hilda by LP Hartley. It's a trilogy. It's long been on my shortlist of favourites, vying for first place with Jane Eyre :)

I read the first St Mary's book and thought it was terrible. Do they get better later on in the series?