Please post your must reads; old, new, anything goes!

[PenguinTime]

I’m leaving my job this Friday and have been gifted £60 worth of vouchers for Waterstones.
I’ve been meaning to carve out more time for myself to read in the evenings, so would love some recommendations.

I like things with a bit of substance, not really a fan of romance, have read most of the classics, and don’t mind a bit of grit or difficult themes. Extra points if they’re available in paperback!

The Stand - Stephen King.

Where the crawdads sign
Sorrow and bliss

*sing

The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins). My all time favourite.

Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson- sweet and funny.

Day of the Chrysalids John Wyndham. - I was obsessed with this book.

Just finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I read a lot and chuck 90% I'd I'm not grabbed by the first chapter.

This is one of the best I've read in a long time. Loosely based on David Copperfield, but set in the Appalachian mountains, with a background theme of the opioid crisis/poverty BUT it isn't depressing, it's funny, tender and uplifting.

I always recommend Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: a very moving story about the last woman condemned to death in Iceland. I recently read The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson, which was great, about a large group of Icelanders who were kidnapped and sold into slavery in North Africa in the 17th century. The story mainly focusses on Asta, a pastor's wife. Both novels are based on true events and are about so much more than the basic plot. It's a coincidence that they are both set or partially set on Iceland!

What a lovely gift! My all time favourite is The Secret History, especially at this time of year.

Absolutely loved Burial Rites. Such a compelling book.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
What You Did by Clare McGowan
Verity by Colleen Hoover

A man called Ove, my favourite ever.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
The Goldfinch by Donna Tart

Here Be Dragons or The Sunne In Splendour by Sharon Penman.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart

Anything by Sigrid Nunez. She is amazing. But if you have to choose among her books, I’d recommend The Last of Her Kind or What Are You Going Through.

Brother I’m Dying by Edwige Danticat

The Echo Maker, Orfeo, and The Overstory by Richard Powers. Anything else by him is worth looking at. He's got a recent one out called Bewilderment but I haven't read it. I think he's a genius, and I actually mean that.
The Human Stain by Philip Roth.
The Reader by Bernard Schlink.
History/travel/2oth century politics, background to the Balkans: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. People are reading this collectively on Twitter at the mo as part of New York Review of Books Women 2024 #NYRBWomen24. I was reading it anyway, but now I'm discussing it there. It's completely awesome and 1150 pages long so only if you really want to.
I could easily go on because I am a big book addict, but off the top of my head right now these are the books you might never have read that are really going to wow your brain. 😂😎

Anything by Kazuo Ishiguro (particularly The Remains of the Day) or Jon McGregor (If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things or Lean, Fall, Stand)

Three Hours - Rosemary Lupton
Hostage - Clare Macintosh

Singled Out which is about the circa 2m women whose lives were completely changed by the First World War as so many men of their generation were killed. I re-read it every few years and always come away with a sense of incredulity at how difficult it must have been to live in a time of such grief whilst also appreciating my good fortune in being born in an era where, despite all of the problems that there continue to be around equality, women can be independent and choose how to live their lives

Gone To Soldiers - Marge Pierce. It's a WW2 epic and is fantastic. All of her stuff is good
The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler

Anything by Sarah Waters, Anne Tyler or Anne Patchett. I've just discovered Lisa Newell, who writes good thrillers. Early Margaret Attwood. Anything by Helen Dunne who sadly died recently.

I came to recommend Marge Piercy as well!

Her books here

The first one of hers I ever read was Braided Lives, and I thought it was fantastic.

I think virginqueen meant Lisa Jewell and Helen Dunmore in her recommendations - both cracking writers!!

Sarah Waters, Amy Tan, Maggie O'Farrell, Louise O'Neill.

I'd agree with the hearts invisible furies, or the power of one. Also loved Demon Cooperhead. Other recent enjoyments have been all my mothers and sorry & bliss

If women rose rooted has really spoken to my heart recently & just bought Belonging by Toko-pa Turner which I'm pretty sure will be another timely read

My last few:
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin. Engaging enough, won't read it again. Feels to me like the author, who was the characters' age when it was set, has written with millennial sensitivities and knowledge in mind.
Possession - AS Byatt. A reasonably standard (when) will they type love story at the heart of it, but multi layered with a story in the story.
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro. An AI/android story, but with an exploration of how childhood friendships change as we grow into teenagers, and how parents face I'll ess in their child.