Accessible literary fiction recommendations for broadening my reading beyond holiday reads

[SereneReader]

My parents never placed any value in reading. They never read anything apart from the paper. So, they never took me to the library, bought anything from the book sales etc.

Consequently, I came to reading for pleasure as an adult. Im also autistic so sometimes struggle with understanding infetence etc. Same with films if they are too complicated.

What books do you recommend that I should read that I will understand but are a bit more high brow than my usual reads?

I usually read Mills and Boons, Laurie Gilmore, Danielle Steele etc. Holiday reads really

I don't like thriller/murder

Any recommendations to widen my horizons please?

I think you would like Brideshead Revisited such a fantastic read and not complicated to follow or anything like that.

This is such a lovely thread. My never ending reading list has just gotten even longer 📚

Mention of the A level syllabus makes me remember Khaled Hosseini - go for A Thousand Splendid Suns. Weird combo of easy read page-turner / interesting / harrowing!

I'd also recommend Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's short stories - they are really amazingly written and immediate and readable. Then she also has some great novels.

Yes, I was thinking Jane Eyre too. If you like Mills and Boon, why not try some classic/high brow romantic fiction –

Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights
Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
Thomas Hardy Tess of the D'Urbevilles

Some other short classics, though less romantic

George Eliot Silas Marner
Virginia Woolf Mrs Dalloway
Oscar Wilde Dorian Gray

How about P G Wodehouse? His books are light and silly but beautifully written. In fact, critics so revere his style they've compared him to Shakespeare.

Bill Bryson is a great recommendation. Very intelligent, very interesting, and yet warm and accessible.

I'm also a big fan of Bertrand Russell. If you're interested in philosophy, try his popular stuff – warm, witty and wise. He also has a wonderful, crystal clear style. Try The Conquest of Happiness.

Throw yourself in OP. People like Dickens and Russell and Wilde weren't trying to intimidate their readers. They want to entertain you!

Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout

I've always loved Daphne du Maurier and every one of hers that my book group has read ( I think we've read 6) has gone down really well.

There's a good thread on short but not trashy reads, hang on...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5579130-unputdownable-short-ish-not-trashy-books

I loved The Calamity Club, the audible version was brilliant

Clare Chambers
Kate Atkinson
Lissa Evans
Tracey Chevalier
Clare Keegan
Barbara Kingsolver
Polly Clark
Abraham Verghese
Khaled Hosseini

Have a look at the Women’s Prize for Fiction backlists.

Barbara Pym. She was a modern Jane Austen.

I'm a big fan of Natalie Haynes' re-tellings of the Greek myths.

I enjoyed Animal Farm (George Orwell) and The Lord of the Flies (William Golding) when I did them at school.

I got into the WW1, enjoyed Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy (and some of her other hooks) and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes.