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Original poster

If I tell you some books I have loved, can anyone recommend something I would like?

81 replies

BlameItOnTheBogey · 07/03/2009 15:10

Books that I have most enjoyed are; To kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, 1984, A Town Called Alice. YOu get the picture. I really want to read a Good book. Not one that is forgettable as soon as you put it down.

Any suggestions?

OP posts:
brimfull · 07/03/2009 19:42

it's fun isn't it
agree that it can be a bit wrong sometimes though

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:43

some more from me
great gatsby
mansfield park
love in the time of cholera
the wrong boy by willy russell (a light read buyt i loved it)

oh you have to read owen meany

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:44

captain correllis mandolin if you havent read it
birdsong - same author

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:45

just glanced at recent posts - would second Steinbeck

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:46

do you like graham greene?

just glanced down the thread - not read our man in havana - may treat mysef to that....

janeite · 07/03/2009 19:47

The Wrong Boy is great fun, especially if you happen to be a Morrissey fan!

Hi Fidelity or About A Boy by Nick Hornby (don't bother with his others as they are rubbish!)

I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen so think you should give her another chance.

You may well like The Road by Cormac McCarthy or The Handaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, both of which are in a 1984-ish distopia vein.

Echo the recs for On The Beach and Steinbeck.

smugmumofboys · 07/03/2009 19:50

I have just re-read Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons and I still love it.
The Time traveler's wife was OK and memorable but I didn't love it.

I'm currently re-reading The Nancy Mitford Omnibus and love that whole period.

Oh, and Jane Austen can do no wrong in my eyes.

teafortwo · 07/03/2009 19:51

It would surprise me greatly if you didn't fall in love with the following books....

www.amazon.co.uk/Their-Watching-Virago-Modern-Classics/dp/1844085287/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid= 1236454215&sr=8-3

www.amazon.co.uk/Outsider-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/0141182504/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=12364 54415&sr=8-1

www.amazon.co.uk/Grand-Central-Station-Down-Wept/dp/0586090398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=123645 4787&sr=1-1

www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Notebook-Harper-Perennial-Classics/dp/0007247206/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books& qid=1236454878&sr=1-1

www.amazon.co.uk/Crossing-Safety-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/0141188014/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qi d=1236454952&sr=1-1

www.amazon.co.uk/Interpreter-Maladies-Jhumpa-Lahiri/dp/0006551793/ref=pd_sim_b_80

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:52

oooh janeite - you seem to have similar tatses to me just reading your list

Ivykaty44 · 07/03/2009 19:53

george and arthur

here

Original poster
BlameItOnTheBogey · 07/03/2009 19:53

Have been off playing with Ggirl's wonderful map and come back to see even more recommendations. Fantastic! Haven't read them all yet and will go back and do so now. But did Steinbeck write the Pearl (or am I way off track?) If he did, is that typical of his stuff? I found it, well, a bit odd but if that's not normal then will give him another go.

OP posts:
popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:55

ooh there is one i AM TRYIing to remember
it has a read cover
it is about 3 (I think) generations of American women. Kinf of an epic saga
cold int be called 'fall at your knees'
will check

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:56

yes it was fall at your knees

janeite · 07/03/2009 19:56

It looks like it Popsy. Although I must admit I didn't like The Great Gatsby. Liked Love In The Time Of Cholera though.

Re: Isabel Allende - her non-fiction is superior to her fiction imho. Paula and My Invented Country (have I remembered that title correctly?) are superb.

Others that I like a lot and think Bogey might like are:
Brideshead Revisited
Lolita
The End Of The Affair

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:56

i also have this i know this much is true waiting to be read

janeite · 07/03/2009 19:57

And "Arthur And George" is really good too.

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:57

janeite - i must look those ones up
I must admit, I have not read great gatsby for many years

janeite · 07/03/2009 19:58

Not sure if I could be seen with a book named after a Spandeau Ballet song though!!

CoteDAzur · 07/03/2009 19:58

If you liked 1984, read Brave New World.

Ivykaty44 · 07/03/2009 19:58

sorry I didn't mean to get their names around the wrong way.

popsycal · 07/03/2009 19:59

lol janiete - I hadnt even noticed

janeite · 07/03/2009 20:00

I didn't even notice Ivy. Tis a fab book.

popsycal · 07/03/2009 20:00

last orders by graham swift

I enjoyed the book of illusions by paul auster
also enjoyed the new york trilogy by him too

there are a few other graham swifts.//

popsycal · 07/03/2009 20:03

I have enjoyed severaL books by Ian McEwan too

DeeBlindMice · 07/03/2009 20:04

Yes, Steinbeck did write The Pearl.

I really love the Pearl, so if you didn't like it perhaps you wouldn't enjoy his other work.

That said, The Grapes of Wrath are very different books - full-length novels rather than novellas. EoE in particular is a massive door stop of a book. They're set in the real-life USA and they are much less dream-like.

However there is still a lot of poetry in the way he writes. The start of GoW is this amazing description of a tortoise walking along the road. It's about the Great Depression and how the economic system fucks the poor.

I get the feeling you might be an East of Eden girl though. It's the story of two families living in a valley in California. I daren't say more lest I spoil it. It is wonderful.