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I have some amazon vouchers - what 5 books shall I buy?

24 replies

Raggydoll · 21/10/2008 21:06

I'd like a bit of variety. The last 5 books I read and enjoyed were:

  1. The Book Thief
  2. The Handmaids Tale
  3. The Shadow of the Wind
  4. The Bell Jar
  5. On Chesil Beach
OP posts:
LOOBYLOU2 · 21/10/2008 21:10

if you liked The Shadow of the Wind try Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom
I can recommend his Shardlake books too

Raggydoll · 21/10/2008 21:18

What are the shardlake books about loobylou2?

OP posts:
empressorchid · 21/10/2008 21:35

Oh yes, I loved Shadow of the Wind and then read Winter in Madrid. It's very good. I was going to suggest Book Thief but see you've read it!! Fottprints in the Sand is a good chick read if you like love/adventure stuff with a bit of mystery thrown in. Randon Acts of Heroic Love? I enjoyed that too.

MadBadandWieldingAnAxe · 21/10/2008 21:46

How about

Cat's Eye
Madame Bovary
Cloud Atlas
The Grapes of Wrath
Unless

PsychoAxeMurdererMum · 21/10/2008 21:49

the twilight set (ooh, edward cullen........my soul belongs to him!)

you need these books!

PsychoAxeMurdererMum · 21/10/2008 21:49

bugger......try again

forkhandles · 21/10/2008 21:52

I second Randon Acts of Heroic Love
The Outcast is great too

compo · 21/10/2008 21:53
  1. Lovely Bones
  2. Before I forget - Melissa Hill
  3. Lady Oracle - Margaret Atwood
  4. The curious incident of a dog at the night time - Mark Haddon
  5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter -
Kim Edwards
rachels103 · 21/10/2008 21:56

I second 'Lovely Bones' but big thumbs down for 'Random Acts of Heroic Love'- my book club unanimously loathed it.

MadBadandWieldingAnAxe · 21/10/2008 21:59

Oooh. Lovely Bones is on my book group's list of forthcoming attractions. Mark Lawson, though, made a disparaging remark about it tonight on Front Row. Is it good?

ScottishMummy · 21/10/2008 22:06

lovely bones is turgid gloopy read badly written and sorry hated memory keepers daughter

what about
1984 white teeth rebecca grapes of wrath grass is singing

oh whatever you chose,what a fortunate position to be in

empressorchid · 21/10/2008 22:08

Second Lovely Bones and The Curious Incident. After looking through my bookcase here are a couple more:

The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (if you like something a bit unusual)
The WElsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies
The Island - Victoria Hislop
The Savage Garden - Mark Mills (if you like easy read murder mysteries)
The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld (if you like harder to read murder mysteries)

Flibbertyjibbet · 21/10/2008 22:13

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time is wonderful.
Lovely Bones I thought was crap.
Memory Keepers Daughter was double crap.
I like a good biography, what about a biog of Evita Peron, Jackie Kennedy, Quentin Crisp were all ones I thoroughly enjoyed.

I am just re-reading East of Eden by Steinbeck and its FAB.

ScottishMummy · 21/10/2008 22:14

curious incident was VG easy read

ilovemydog · 21/10/2008 22:20

Time Traveller's Wife, Kite Runner, Love in the Time of Cholera, anything by Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Sarah Paretsky.

But I love crime fiction....

Absolutely hated - The Alchemist.

Raggydoll · 23/10/2008 21:25

Thanks everyone - sorry for not coming back sooner... I am now on amazon and adding items to wish list for further consideration.

From your recommendations I have already read...
Curious Incident
Madam Bovary
Rebecca

Added to wish list for further consideration-

A town called alice
Grapes of wrath
The memory keepers daughter - i like the sound of the title - does the book live up to it?
love in the timeof cholera

I've read some great books this yearand its going to be hard not to be disapointed I think.

OP posts:
slayerette · 23/10/2008 21:34

Not Lovely Bones! Hated it! Not fond of The Memory Keeper's Daughter either...

How about:

Resistance - Owen Sheers (set in Welsh valley in alternative past where Germany had succeeded in invading during WWII)
Regeneration - Pat Barker (Owen and Sassoon's time at Craiglockhart being treated for shell-shock.) Fantastic novel.
Brave New World - dystopian satire
Atonement - MNetters divided on this one
The Outcast - Sadie Jones (I think)

janeite · 23/10/2008 21:43

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is dreadful; sorry! I also hated "Random Acts Of Heroic Love".

Please try "Winter In Madrid" or the Matthew Shardlake books, which are brilliant - really well researched and gripping.

How about "Oryx And Crake" if you liked "The Handmaid's Tale" - it's another Atwood dystopia-type novel; even weirder than The HM's Tale though.

I've just read and enjoyed "Pillars Of The Earth" by Ken Follet and "King Solomon's Mines" - I clearly have eclectic tastes!

Raggydoll · 23/10/2008 21:56

okay in my basket i have...

regeneration
resistance
birdsong - sebastian faulkes

thats alot of war related novels

also

love in the time of cholera
the grapes of wrath
a town called alice
brave new world?

Do i need something a bit lighter to balance it out?

OP posts:
snice · 23/10/2008 22:00

notes from an exhibition - patrick gale
the secret river- kate grenville
small island- andrea levy
fingersmith-sarah waters

Raggydoll · 23/10/2008 22:02

i just checked out the sypnosis of winter in madrid. I've added to basket. I do like a book with a historical/war interest.

OP posts:
Raggydoll · 23/10/2008 22:03

I've read fingersmith - very good and not depressing at all.

OP posts:
Raggydoll · 23/10/2008 23:09

final purchases were:

Birdsong
Winter in Madrid
Resistance
The Outcast
Cider House Rules

Many Thanks everyone

OP posts:
Aefangedkiss · 23/10/2008 23:14

I was just about to post that I have just finished reading The Cloud Atlas, it is fab, I really enjoyed it, could hardly put it down... Of your choices, I have read Birdsong, I like Faulks too.

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