Recommendations to get me back into reading

[Snorkmaidensanklebracelet]

Common experience I think. I was an avid reader as a child, teenager, young adult.

Now in my mid 30s I never read! Years of studying and work and then having a child, I've just lost the interest (and attention span!)

But I remember so fondly the feeling of being utterly immersed in a story. I never feel like that anymore. Phone addiction doesn't help.

Can you recommend some books that would be good for someone like me who has mush for brains who has lost the spark for reading? I need something easy to get into but that's either completely gripping or enchanting. Remember getting lost in Harry Potter as a kid? That was nice...

If you like Harry Potter, why not try the detective novels JK also writes under Robert Galbraith? They are long but really great!

The Crow Road by Iain Banks, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt are my two favourites and very immersive.

The most immersive book I ever read was Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland, where I actually missed my bus stop by two stops because I was so engrossed.

Thanks for starting this thread @Snorkmaidensanklebracelet I could really do with getting back into reading.
I also miss that feeling of being lost in a book. I used to read for hours and have cornflakes for dinner because I was so into a book.

I’ve actually never listened to an audio book so in parallel might have to do that.

I haven’t read any Harry Potter, it really doesn’t appeal to me but I guess they have become such classics that I might have to read to DC in the future!

Have you read Stephen Fry’s autobiography? It’s really good. You mention Hitchhiker’s Guide, but have you read Douglas Adams other stuff?

If you like George Orwell’s essays, you will probably like Bertrand Russell. He has a very similar prose style - wonderfully clear and firm. He’s much wittier though. Try his popular works. He wrote a great self-help book on happiness, and loads of wonderful essays, on everything from the pleasures of idleness to what makes people boring. His autobiography is excellent as well.

My favourite autobiography is Robert Graves’ Goodbye to all That. And Claire Tomalin’s biographies of Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens are excellent.

There are some really good suggestions on here. I think I might try one of JK Rowling's other books too.

If I've ever had a spell when I want to get back into reading I usually try a book from the No1 Ladies Detective Agency but second the suggestions for Liane Moriarty, Agatha Christie etc.

I also love most of Veronica Henry's books. The Beach Hut series is a good read at this table or of year especially of the weather decides to warm up again.

Have a look at The Glass House by Eve Chase too, I found that one pretty immersive.

The most addictively immersive books I have read recently are the Chronicles of St Mary's, by Jodi Taylor, starting with Just One Damned Thing After Another. The premise is that a bunch of accident prone historians gain the ability to jump to different eras, to observe major historical events in contemporary time (don't call it time travel). And then things tend to go very wrong. Often laugh out loud funny, occasionally heartbreaking. And a fascinating exploration of a slightly alternate view of all sorts of major events.

I recommend the Michael Gayle books: All The Lonely People and Half A World Away in particular.

I mean I can think of many books but I found them great when getting back into regular reading.

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant is an immersive and memorable book too.

Books I’ve read in the last year that I really enjoyed (to the extent that I didn’t want to look at my phone/scroll social media the entire time I was reading) include:

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (autobiography)
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas
The People on Platform 5 by Claire Pooley
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Confessions of a forty something f##k up by Alexandra Potter is a great book that I found an enjoyable, easy read- and got me back into reading!

The Brentford Trilogy by Robert Rankin. You will LOVE it!

Ooh thank you @Arlanymor

and everyone else. I've got a list and I'm going to buy a few to start me off

They are hilarious and so overlooked… easy reading too, you don’t need to strap yourself into the nose bag if you know what I mean! Also they are older books, so might be free to read if your library has an association with an app?

Omg you’re the first person i’ve come across who has also read the Love Hypothesis other than me!

Anything by Sarah J Maas.

A Court of Thorns and Roses series known as ACOTAR is a great way to start then Throne of Glass series.

Strange Sally Diamond is really gripping from the first page, so I’d start with that one.

As someone who got back into lots of reading about 7 years ago (I now read about 100-200 books a year): the most crucial thing is breaking that social media/scrolling habit and creating a reading one instead. So I have an ereader app on my phone and when I feel the need to read something on my phone try to go to that instead of FB/mumsnet/the 'gram... (obviously failed today!!)

Don't be precious about what you're reading. It's OK if you're trying to get back into reading or having a slump to embrace those easy reads of childhood, if they still appeal.

It's worth trying audiobooks. You can get them via a couple of apps from local libraries. Again it can help build the habit.

Good luck and enjoy!

Over My Dead Body- Maz Evan’s. Very funny and clever.

i think anything by Sophie Kinsella is a great read- the books are light, funny and pull you in quickly. I do think that your first book needs to be a page turner that grabs you from the off. I’m speaking here as someone who also loved reading years ago, stopped reading g for years and recently got back into it.