Well written, with substance, unputdownable?

[FlyingForest]

Hello
Just trying to get back into reading after many years away from it.
A friend recommended Verity by Colleen Hoover and whilst it was gripping it really lacked any substance and was not well written. It felt more like watching a tv shows for entertainment, which I don’t mind at all but I don’t something more from a book.
Am I asking too much or is there something you could recommend?

You could try going back in time a bit. The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff, and Excellent Women by Barbara Pym are beautifully written.

Donna Tartt is also a writer who can write page-turners with substance. I loved The Goldfinch.

Elizabeth Strout is a fabulous writer. Her Olive Kitteridge books in particular are wonderfully observed and wryly funny, as well as quite heartbreaking.

John Boyne has a series of novellas called the Elements series, 4 books in all and it’s absolutely brilliant. Actually, anything by John Boyne is just great.
All the colours of the dark by Chris Whitaker
Notes on an execution by Danya Kukafkya
The goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This may sound pretentious but - Crime And Punishment. Beautifully written, gripping, surprisingly accessible. I didn't want it to end.

Pompeii from Robert Harris is also great.

I really didn’t love Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. It was okay but I thought it was predictable and the characters irritated me a little.

Done!

I thought the same. For me it was quite a bit far from unputdownable.

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce is a good book if you’re trying to get back into reading.

The one book that I’ve read recently that does fall into the well written, unputdownable category is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber is also worth looking at.

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene (or pretty much any of his books!)

1984 George Orwell

JG Ballard - pretty much any of his books

perfume by Patrick Suskind

Please can I have the details of your book club too @osirista ?

I found it quite dull. Not fir me.

I loved-
seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Nightingale Kristen Hannah
Weyward Emilia Hart

Also love Mark Edwards and Ruth Ware

Your ask made me think immediately of John le Carré.

Just literary enough, compelling and incredible character.

Ive just done a reread of the Smiley books and absolutely loved it.

Otherwise, maybe some American literary fiction? John Irving maybe?

Oh ye, Taylor Jenkins Reid is a good suggestion

Station Eleven by Emily Mandel St John.
Could not put it down.

I loved Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi. I didn't enjoy her other books but Americanah is one of my favourite books ever. I also thoroughly enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Funnily enough I like Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, I read it in 202 well before any activism related to that sort of thing and I found it sensitively written and touching. Can't recall ny others at the moment.

So glad you mentioned this one. I think it is brilliantly written. Not showy literary prose but so beautifully told.

Has Ruth Ware improved? I read a couple of her early books but nothing since. They were unputdownable but I didn't think they were well written or had any substance - they were really two-dimensional thrillers. I love a good crime novel but I found hers too basic. I prefer Belinda Bauer or Tana French - all the mystery but with really good prose and characterisation too.

Susan Hill - the beacon
Kazu Ishiguro - never let me go

both fabulous

just starting demon copperhead now!

I’m glad it wasn’t just me. Nothing happens.

I'm unable to directly message re the book club but I'd love to join!!

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson is amazing too! Small town family drama with a dark secret - my favorite things!

Have you read the death of Mrs westerway? I thought it was excellent.

also agree re little fires everywhere

I love Claire Keegan's writing style too - very efficient and evocative.

American Dirt's another good recommendation. I was hooked from the opening scene.

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I Let You Go by Charlotte Levin
If I can't Have You by Charlotte Levin
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Offing by Benjamin Myers
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The Women by Kristin Hannah
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers
Pillars of the earth (Kingsbridge chronicles ) trilogy by Ken Follet
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Poldark series (there's 12 books in total) by Winston Graham

I've been enjoying re-reading the books by Mary Stewart, that i enjoyed as a teenager. Just finished Nine Coaches Waiting, and read Madam Will You Talk a few months ago.