I have run out of books - suggest some?

[CherryChoc]

I always used to be reading, but I slowed down a lot since college and then I went off fiction about a year or 2 ago and have been reading nothing but parenting books since. However I recently read Two Caravans and enjoyed it, and have discovered I have a bit of time in the evenings to read while putting DS to bed, so I am looking for more books. Can anybody suggest anything?

It's probably easier to list what I don't like:
Depressing fashionable child abuse novels
Chick lit and/or anything utterly predictable
Fantasy
Horror/Thrillers etc
Crime
Romance (unless not utterly predictable and/or boring.)

I like things which are in the realms of believeable - ie set in the real world. Don't mind happy or sad, but I do like funny. Don't mind time period set, either.

Also - where do you start when choosing books to read, in a library or bookshop? Do you start with the bestsellers? Look for favourite authors? Pick a random shelf? I must have stopped reading when I had read all the books in the teenage section at the library and the adult section was full of boring books or trash.

yes jeniete...........very heartwarming (altho also tearjerking) books.

Oh my, there are so many great book suggestions here, this is a FABULOUS thread

I find it's useful when people mention lots of books they like, then you can see which ones you've read and enjoyed and can sort of assume you might like some of the others they've suggested iyswim.

So, in that vein:

• anything by Margaret Atwood (though have not yet attempted Onyx and Crake)
• anything by Anne Tyler (a VERY late find for me!)
• Ghostwritten and CloudAtlas by David Mitchell (would really, really recommend Ghostwritten!)
• Jane Gardam has written some great stuff, particularly Faith Fox and Old Filth
• anything by Kate Atkinson (wonderful collection of short stories - Not The End of the World)
• earlier Joanne Harris (up to and NOT including Coastliners) and then Gentlemen and Players was not bad
• Nick Hornby for intelligent lad-lit (but not Long Way Down which was crap!) particulary How To Be Good
• Secret History by Donna Tartt

(actually must re-read that having just read Twilight based on suggestions on MN and find myself feeling there are similarities between the two...or maybe that's just me?)

• a bit cliched by I really like Anita Shreve, particularly The Weight of Water and The Last Time They Met

I'm sure there are more, but I can't see my bookshelves too well from the pc (the light is too dim and I can't be bothered to get up and look!)

Am also getting out pen to write down some of the others suggestions, there are some great sounding books.
Last time I asked for suggestions on here, I ended up staying up all hours desperate to finish the books, so you all have v. good taste

Ghost Children by Sue Townsend

quick read and moving.

Ooh, I'm adding loads of these to my Bookmooch wishlist (desperate plug as you obviously all have lots of the books I want to read ).

Recent good reads have been:

• Several books by Scarlett Thomas, I particularly enjoyed PopCo and The End of Mr Y
• I've been re-reading Molly Keane, Good Behaviour, Devoted Ladies, Young Entry
• Staying with Virago Modern Classics, I never miss a chance to recommend Invitation To The Waltz, Dusty Answer and I Capture The Castle
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman. One of the best books I've ever read

(btw, I appear to have broken Bookmooch at the moment But do go and have a look at it if you don't know about it. I've been trying (and failing) to operate a one in/one out policy as all my bookcases are double shelved and overflowing. This is a good way to give away books you don't want and get ones you do)

I enjoyed "American Gods" hugely. And "Anansi's Boys" by Neil Gaiman too (in fact even more than AG).

I like the list a lot idea from rebelMum so will list a lot here: apologies if repeating earlier posts at all:

Some of my favourite books ever:

All Jane Austen's - obviously!
Of Mice And Men
Vanity Fair
Stephen King (although you say you don't like horror in the op) - The Stand / The Dark Tower series / Insomnia ? Bag Of Bones / Misery
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited / A Handful Of Dust
Nabavov - Lolita
Isabel Allende - Paula
Everything by Bill Bryson
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
The Ninth Life Of Louis Drax - Liz Jensen
The Matthew Shardlake mysteries - CJ Sansom
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Mind's gone blank and I can't see any bookshelves from here - will try and add to this later.