It's that time of year again

[janeite]

Long summer holidays coming up, including two weeks in Greece.

What can I read?

I need gripping and exciting novels (no chick-lit, no overly lit-fic) that will last me for a day or two each (read very, very quickly).

Things I have enjoyed recently are:

• all the CJ Sansoms
• World Without End and the other one
• A murder-mystery featuring Oscar Wilde
• re-reading Brideshead Revisited
• the Frank Talis Viennese mysteries
• somebody Kellerman - a mystery about an artist - was a Richard and Judy

Favourite authors ever are Austen and Stephen King but of course, I've read all of theirs.

What have you liked recently, Pointy?

erm, let me think. I have been a very poor reader recently, just not getting stuck in. I liked Engleby a lot. And I quite enjoyed Be Near Me (O'Hagan) even though there's something about him (author) that I don't like. Have just started Out Stealing Horses by a Norwegian, can't recall his name, and it is very promising

Thanks. I know nothing about any of them so will have a peek on Amazon.

Didm't realise this was your thread, jane.

Tell you what I read a ocuple of years ago and loved. Woman's World by Graham rawle I think. Var funny, pacy, interesting. Try that. Good for a hol, nothing else like it.

You hated Never Let ME Go? hmph

owen meany (john irving) is a great book and an easy read...owen is a tiny boy who has an odd voice who people are drawn to and things happen around eg he accidentally kills his best friends mum with a baseball...made me laugh and cry

Have you tried David Mitchell? - as in Ghostwritten, and Number 9 Dream, not so much Cloud Atlas, and not (as far as I'm concerned) Black Swan Green? The first two are on my genius book list (and I bet you a great deal I am fussier than you are).

I also rate James Robertson, of Gideon Mack and (even more so) Joseph Knight.

Currently I am admiring Barack Obama - I am finding Audacity of Hope even more neatly articulate than Dreams From My Father.

(Can I just say about Stephen King - you are having us on, arncha)

James Baldwin and Trollope are also on my genius list, just by the way. If you haven't done the political Trollopes (Can You Forgive Her and thereafter), that's a summer feast.

I second (or is that third) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the Girl who Played with Fire. They fit the gripping and exciting category. I have recommended them to two others (male) and they both loved them. I also like a big chunky book for the holidays and I have Wally Lamb - The Hour I First Believed but any of his are good. I am reading the Northern Clemency by Phillip Hensher - 700 pages if it's bulk you're after. Do you think you could be tempted by a hit of historical action? If so, then I recommend the Tudor Court novels by Phillipa Gregory. That might be a bit too far outside your brief but she tells a very good story and I find them gripping. Let me know if I'm on the right lines and I'll try and think of some more.

I've always found summer holidays really brilliant for reading Books That Should Be Read - it sounds odd but it really works. It's how I discovered War and Peace. I'm going for Turgenev this summer, and taking a couple of (hitherto unread) Dickens

You might like this - not well known but absolutely wonderful

I also read a lot of history on holiday - and it's the only time of year I ever read any history.

One last suggestion - dunno if you ever purge your bookshelves - but I did this quite recently and took boxes and boxes to the charity shops. Once the last box was delivered, I had a sneaky browse and bought a dozen or so, and they are just things I would never have bought at Waterstones or from Amazon and they've been so much fun. Margery Allingham and JB Priestley and all sorts. Try it and see.

Playing with the Moon, Eliza Graham.

If you like Neil Gaiman you might like Rupert Thomson.

I've just been raving about him on the 'Any recommendations' thread so I won't repeat it all.

Oh lots more lovely recs. Thank you.

Have read the Philippa gregory Tudor ones. I liked the first couple than thought they got a bit samey.

Owen Meany sounds worth a look.

Gah to Dickens.

Bink - I am 100% serious about King. My tastes are nothing if not eclectic (music = The Smiths, Jesus And Mary Chain etc and Wham!!!).

Keep em coming - I lurve threads like this.

oh yy I enjoyed reading Engelby (but there were bits I didn't like)

I forgot - I am just coming to the end of Go Tell it on teh Mountasin re Baldwin. Very well written

Books I have read recently and enjoyed (although I am not exactly up with the times!):

A Fine Balance - Mistry (brought a tear or three to my eyes and I am not a sentimental person)
Middlesex - Eugenides (and Virgin Suicides is also supposed to be v good).

Will second Owen Meany - one of my fav books but I love John Irving and think lots of his stuff is worth reading.

Also almost anything by William Boyd (loved the New Confessions).

Have you read In Cold Blood by Capote for a bit of 'true crime-lit?

I also second/third the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo - very involving.

Did you say you don't like thrillers? Sophie Hannah's books might come under that genre but very clever and involved writing, imho.

Thanks both.

Have just added 'Swallows And Amazons' to my list, after reading another thread.

What else? Something lovely and happy and exciting and gripping. No worthiness; no overly 'clever' writing; no really deep themes; no chick lit; no misery manuals; no Tony Parsons!

Have read 'The Virgin Suicides' (loved it) and 'Middlesex' (okay); deffo don't do true-crime stuff.

Looks like the dragon girl and Mr Meany are winning so far!

the YaYa Sisterhood is that kind of good holiday read

have only just read my first one but what about a pg wodehouse?

Read Ya Ya. Read Wodehouse (although maybe time for a revisit).

So what are you going to read?

I don't know!

I need at least six huge books.

Water for Elephants, an enjoyable fast read

American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon

Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold

I am a bit nervous of your 'mustn't be clever' stipulation. All the above are clever and good and interesting and readable and hugely enjoyable and I'd love them on a holiday. They are also LONG. I have no idea if you'd find them too literary though.

Both the Dragon and the Played with Fire - takes you to five. One more. You should revisit something, or make yourself read something different. Do you like biography? Samuel Pepys one is the best I have read in many year, also I am enjoying the V.S. Naipaul biog v much at the minute. Might not be your idea of an enjoyable read though. Do you like Barbara Vine?

What else - other than Austen and King - have you enjoyed recently?

Read Pepys.
Read Carter Beats The Devil (didn't like it).

By 'clever' I mean self-conciously, self congratulatory clever such as 'Attonement' and that ilk, where you can almost hear the sound of the writer slapping him/her self on the back and imagining the reviews.

Not hugely fond of biogs but I do like history books.