Recommend some really good books.

[TooYoungToKnowTooOldToCare]

An extended, health-related period of bedrest is looming.

Prior warning: I average 150 - 200 books a year some of them are audio books, even so that's thousands of books. If I reply saying thank you, I have read it' I'm not being ungrateful.

Life is too short pile:
I'm sorry, I don't like sci-fi or fantasy.

With all of the above in mind, please can you recommend your desert island books?

In particular I enjoy mystery/thriller/suspense. I like good family dramas, tear-jerkers, occasionally romances, I mean Marian Keyes, not the Mills and Boon type.
Additionally, I like T Jenkins Reid and other women's genre fiction, though I prefer that kind of fiction with some bite. Dawn O'Porter and Nicholas Nicholls (the One Day author) and similar.

Series, single books, any good ideas (and painkillers) appreciated.

The bible 🙏🏻

Nora Roberts/JD Robb (same author, JD Robb writes crime fiction set in 2060).

Elizabeth Elgin - I’ll Bring You Buttercups is the first of, I think, 5 books set over the two World Wars, based on the people of the Rowangarth estate.

Gil McNeil writes lovely books.

Trisha Ashley.

Jenny McColgan - especially the Little Beach Street Bakery series.

Patricia Scanlan.

I have enjoyed

Joio moyes. Me before you. ( part 1 of trilogy) a weepy
Elisabeth gifford. The lost lights of st kilda
Jessie Cave. Sunset. Another weepy!
Elizabeth Buchan. The museum of broken promises

I often see Amor Towels "A gentleman in Moscow" recommended on here, and it is fabulous, but also his other books, particularly Rules of Civility.

Hope you're feeling ok.

I second Amor towes A gentleman in Moscow.

I also second The Hundred Years trilogy by Jane Smiley. I listened to all 3 and they were wonderful.

Also if you want something poetic, gentle, very pastoral, Wendall Berry's That Distant Land is lovely - a collection of short stories about people living in the same rural place, loosely interconnected.

Elizabeth Strout is also fabulous

Who could I have forgotten this book when I posted previously. Such a fabulous book, truly one of my favourites.

If you want to be transported to foreign shores whilst you're stuck at home I can recommend the Montalbano books.

And if you're after some light reading, how about The Girl Who Killed the King of Sweden?

Jane Casey crime series, I enjoyed The Close (no. 10) on audio

Lisa Jewell - None of this true on audio is great

Damascus Station by David McCluskey - spy thriller

Have you ever read any Barbara Kingsolver? Prodigal Summer is an excellent place to start.

Ann Patchett. Everything I've read by her has been great, my favourite being Bel Canto

Johnathon Barnes. My fave was Arthur and George

Maggie O'Farrell. Hamnet is fairly devisive, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a result I've been reading some more of hers.

Sarah Waters is fab, enjoyed everything of hers. Ditto Curtis Sittingfeld.

Stuff I'm not sure you'll like, but have added it for variety... Emily St.John Mandell and David Mitchell

I hope you get through the bed rest. Painkiller wise, pink migraleive is just co codamol but with an anti sickness drug. There's something about it that really helps, if I get terrible pain, it can often make me feel sick. Not with pink migraleive l!

I'm currently reading the Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris and very much enjoying it.

Seishi yokomizo books are good reads - post war private detective.

My favourite book is It Happened in Boston? By Russell H Greenan

Hey @TooYoungToKnowTooOldToCare just wondering how you're getting on and what you've been reading.

Hello @AlwaysFreezing - me too!
I'm bed bound, recovering ok. Had a wound infection, that was nasty. Otherwise fine.
Still off my head on a selection of drugs that I would have paid good money for in my Uni days 

I've whizzed through all of the Jane Casey, Maeve Kerrigan series, ending with The Close. @Vargas, I loved them thank you.

@Peachyscream I've read and loved a few Frieda McFadden books in the past and enjoyed them. Others are on my tbr list.

@highlandcoo American Dirt is on my tbr, I've read a few of your list already - thank you  I read Fingersmith a million years ago, loved it!

@lillyfleur I read the bible as a child and still occasionally look for the verses that have crept into my mind during the day.

I'm really tired, I will write more later.
Thank you everyone.

We need to talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver.
Animal, Lisa Taddeo.
How to kill your family, Bella Mackie.

@Thebigblueballoon thank you, I'd guess that you and I have similar taste in books.
I read WNTTAKevin when it first came out, at the time I was underwhelmed. Not because it isn't a brilliant book, it is, no I guessed the twist within the first few chapters which took the edge off for me.
That said, it's a book I would recommend to anyone.

Animal and How To Kill Your Family are in my tbr virtual pile.

Currently, by necessity, I am listening to books that don't require too my brain power.
I'm back in hospital because my infection won't go so I can't think straight.

If anyone can recommend anything light, or if one any of the books on this thread are fairly light, please flag them up.
As an example, I zoomed through the whole Jane Casey/Maeve Kerrigan and loved them.
So light doesn't mean stupid, just not multi-layered works of the literary canon until I'm a bit better .

too much brain power
Perfect example, right there.

Something light (and cheerful) the Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. Number one is 44 Scotland Street, number two is Espresso Tales.

Hope you feel better soon OP.

The Housewarming by S E Lynes.

I was not expecting this to be as good as it was - great plot twists and I talked about it to loads of people after I had finished it.

I also really liked The Last One at The party and The Last Thing to Burn, that I read recently.

I'm so sorry that you gave an infection and are back in Hospital.

If I want something light I usually read an Alexander McCall Smith. The No1 Ladies Detective Agency might transport you to Botswana.

And there's always PG Wodehouse

Audiobooks-I loved The Dutch House (Tom Hanks reading it was fabulous) and also American Dirt and The Woman I Was Before.

Recent books I’ve loved - Summerwater by Sarah Moss, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell and Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson. I also enjoyed Demom Copperhead but it seems that this one is a bit marmite!

Hope you get better soon

M W Craven is a decent crime writer what series I've been enjoying this year.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, and her earlier book The Storied Life of AJ Firkey.

I also really enjoyed The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. Hope you feel better soon.

So Lucky & The Cows, Dawn Porter
The Push, Ashley Audrain
Trust Me, Lesley Pearse.

The books I’ve loved most so far this year have been -

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
My Fathers House - Joseph O Connor
The Mission House - Carys Davies
The Trees - Percival Everett
Lily - Rose Tremain

Wishing you happy reading & a speedy recovery.

Slow Horses - Mick Herron (spy thriller series - this is the first one)
Ben MacIntyre - non-fiction WW2 spy books
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - family saga (about 20 of them) which start in medieval England and continue through to 20th century

Best wishes for your recovery.

I have similar taste to you OP and have really enjoyed the series by JD Kirk. If you liked Maeve Kerrigan I think you'd like these.

I also like romance in the sense of liking Marian Keyes and so I would recommend Fiona Walker. I'm currently reading her most recent novel which is the last part of a trilogy. They are funny and light.

Also for light reading, have you read the Shopaholic series? Can't remember the author off the top of my head but she's written other funny books too - 'Can you keep a secret?' is one I can remember off the top of my head.

Hope you're swiftly on the mend

Oh you lovely people 
Thank you for your kind wishes and your brilliant book recs.

I'm afraid that I'm not getting better as quickly as I should be.
I'm normally fit, healthy, 40s.
I've been started on some different antibiotics today (that's a badly written sentence), they have made me sick, I hope they are working.

I'm not very good at being a patient.

My apologies that I am not name checking everyone, I'm really forgetful and can't concentrate.

Please know that I am reading all of your posts and I am grateful for all of them. Better than a bunch of grapes  I have listened to some of them already this past couple of weeks.

@borninthe80esss we have similar taste in books. In particular, I hoover up Dawn O'Porter's books.
@SoFuckingTired and you, I have similar taste to you too. Yes, I love Marian Keyes and that type of novel Sophie Kinsella I prefer her stand alone novels to the Shopaholic series.

Have you read Jonathan Harvey's books? Really good. The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker is a similar type of plot, really good.