Need unputdownable easy reads. Please recommend.

[DoggoDallow]

I'm dealing with tons of stress right now, finding it hard to concentrate and get into books. Please suggest me any books that will hook me from the start but are not too taxing to read.
I'm open to most genres except graphic novels and sci-fi.

Once Upon a River

The Cazalet Chronicles

Old Soul (Just out and very compelling but also scary and gruesome, but beautiful.)

Also Frances Hardinge’s novels. They are aimed at teenagers but I loved Gullstruck Island, couldn’t stop reading.

Anything by Louise Candlish. Also most things by Laura Lippman. Patricia Highsmith is always gripping.

One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall.

Jane Fallon's books are usually entertaining.

Circe, by Madeline Miller.

Following for others' suggestions!

Pompeii was brilliant, and I am definitely not a lover of historical novels.

I second Lianne Moriarty for some easy but interesting reading. Anthony Horrowitz is also perfect for an easy reading whodunnit - my favourites are the ‘Word is Murder’ series, but the Magpie Murders are good too. Lucy Foley is good for this too.

John Irving books are always an interesting story.

Mote recently I have enjoyed ‘Lessons in Chemistry’, and ‘What a Way to Go’, the latter being a fun dark comedy with Jilly Cooper notes!

The Harry Potter series. It's written for children, but I still can't them down every time I start reading them.

Ooh I forgot about her! Love her books.

Also Margaret Elphinstone. Her novels are wonderful.

The wolf den - elodie harper. Pompeiian prostitutes. But nowhere near as racy as it sounds! Easy, but keeps you reading.
Confessions of a 40something fuck up.
You are here- David Nicholls. Easy read. Short chapters.

I've read a fair few bollocks books lately, but they do tend to be the page turners, to be fair. I'm terrible at remembering names though.

Sunburn.

Unexpectedly a delight: Akin, Emma Donohoghe.

Oh you need ‘Before and After’ by Andrew Shanahan. There’s also a book 2!

if you want easy, entertaining and gripping, this is the one for you. It’s about a man living in a flat that he can’t leave due to being over 600 lbs and JUST as he’s being strapped into a special stretcher to lift him out the window via a forklift to take him to hospital to have his leg removed …..

I won’t tell you any more but just trust me. It’s a fun but moving read

Lindsey Kelk's I Heart series is good escapism (starts with 'I Heart New York').

Emma Kennedy's 'The tent, the bucket and me' is hilarious.

The Neighbour's Secret by Sharon Bolton. Loved it.

Clare Chambers is wonderful for being easy to read but not trashy. I think they’re fantastic reads.

I always chime in with the Cazalet Chronicles and The Tent, the Bucket and Me on these threads, so I'm glad someone else got in first. The list of Suspicious Things mentioned upthread is a more recent publication, and likewise a straightforward but absorbing read.

The oldies are still the best -

Agatha Christie
Georgette Heyer - some of hers are laugh out loud funny in places.

Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld. Set in the world of comedy writers on a late night American show. Nothing like real life! Nice and romantic.

Janice Hallett The Appeal, v much a page turner.

Bill Bryson - Notes from a Small Island, The Road to Little Dribbling, a Walk in the Woods, Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.

I'm just about to start Conclave. I bought it on Kindle ages ago and have been waiting for the right time to read it, which it now definitely is. More generally, Robert Harris is very good. I've listened to the first two of his Cicero trilogy on audiobook and I loved them.

I find Peter James' books very easy to read (short chapters) and engaging, especially the Roy Grace series. But I've recently read The House on Cold Hill and the sequel and was hooked even though ghost stories aren't usually my thing.

How about audiobooks? They’re a great way to get back into reading. Laying in a hot bath while Stephen Fry reads you P G Wodehouse or Sherlock Holmes is close to heaven.

A personal favourite is Michael Maloney reading Huxley’s Chrome Yellow and Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. He’s an even better reader than Fry.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I still read kids books. Simon Callow recorded Roald Dahl’s The Twits, and it’s wonderful. The Narnia books have also been recorded and are also wonderful.

One other recommendation is Brian Blessed reading his autobiography. I had to pull the car over because I was howling with laughter.

I love anything by Heidi Swain.

I tend to have more audiobooks than actual reading at the moment due to illness but I am loving Slow Horses series by Mick Heron. Amazing TV show and the books are great. Spy stuff but great characters and some laughs.

I love Agatha Christie. Good for unputdownablity.

I enjoyed the Jackman and Evans series by Joy Ellis. But grizzly but engaging. Not sure if I liked these more down to great narration though so suspect I may not have enjoyed so much as proper books.

Cara Hunter - the DI Adam Fawley series, so easy to read I read one in a day or two, it's like reading an episode of Line of Duty
Eye for an Eye - so readable
Last One at the Party - captivating and easy, read it in two days
Appletree yard - super easy read with a good twist

The latest Strike novel by Robert Galbraith (JKR). Kept me up all night for the last few nights. They’re all so gripping but this latest is unputdownable

The Appeal is really good but her others, particularly The Alperton Angels was the biggest pile of slurry to ever fall into my hands.

There should have been a prosecution against her and the publisher. 😃

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller was really enjoyable. I’m currently halfway through Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne and it’s really hooked me.

I have just read Careless People by Sarah Wynn Williams about her time at Facebook. It’s fantastic. She writes so well that the book is easy, funny, engaging. But there is real substance there too. I really recommend it.