I need a page turner to get me reading again.

[LowLevelWhingeing]

I used to read a lot, but since DC's I'm finding it harder and harder to concentrate on anything serious and I just end up MNing instead!

So can anyone recommend something really gripping, where you just have to know what's going to happen next?

I usually read Booker shortlist type books (as my mum always buys me the for my birthday) but they're just too serious for me at the moment. Saying that, I don't actually want complete trash either!

I've recently tried and discarded:

Stepehn Fry - Moab is My Washpot
Mark Haddon - A Spot of Bother
Nick Hornby - Juliet Naked.

hmf.

I think my concentration span is too short.

I did quite enjoy Julie and Julia - the one about the woman cooking her way through the Julia Child cookbook.

I'm not drawn to chick lit type books. Don't want anything gory, but maybe a thriller could do it?

I don't know. Whaddya think?

Stieg Larsson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Absolutely gripping. Really recommend it. It is a little gory, but fits your other criteria.

Have you tried Christopher Brookmyre?

Have you tried The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters? That was gripping - I sat down to start it and didn't move a muscle until I finished it, was compelling.

I was in the same position as you. I was given The pillars of the Earth at Christmas and couldn't put it down. The only trouble with it is that it's too heavy to hold in one hand while breastfeeding!

chimamanda ngozi - title er - can't remember = something about the sun.

its a winner - shit you not.

alternatively try terry pratchett

Have you read The Kite Runner? - Absolutely fantastic read and beautifully written. I couldn't put it down and was gutted when it ended.

Is that Yellow Half of the Sun, Custardo?

Custardo - I think it's called 'Half of a Yellow Sun'.

Umm. Louis de Bernieres, 'Birds without Wings' is a possibility? Much better than 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', tho' maybe same problem as for Cies: "The only trouble with it is that it's too heavy to hold in one hand while breastfeeding!"

I'm in a similar position to you. My last three Bookers are sitting on the shelf and I just can't bring myself to pick them up.

Suggestions I'd make are:

Robert Harris's books - these are wonderful and really gripping. The historical detail is fabulous and they are easy to read too.
William Boyd - Especially Any Human Heart and Restless
Kate Morton - The house at Riverton
Agatha Christie - any. My big fave at the moment. I've been getting them out of the library and ploughing through them. My faves so far are:

Murder on the Orient Express
4.50 from Paddington
A 1950s collection that had Destination Unknown, The Pale Horse and a couple of others in it.

Agree with someone else re. The Kite Runner though.

If you're looking for really unputdownable but slightly trashy though I'd suggest Gone with the Wind, The Thorn Birds and Valley of the Dolls.

i am reading alot of David Morrell.
he wrote 'Rambo' (but dont let that put you off)

i have read Creepers, the Protector and Scavenger.

Scavenger is about geocaching/treasure hunt thats turned into a game - it is excellent.
Creepers was about an old Hotel and some urban explorers enter this builing illegally and trouble awaits.

his books have a survival theme and you wont be able to put them down.

anything by Libby Purves is good (kind of like a novel written from a good MN thread)

The white tiger ( I know was a booker) is gripping

Nicci French

enjoy

Jesse Kellerman - The Brutal Art. Witty, gripping and unexpectedly moving.

I loved 'Notes from an Exhibition', think the author is Patrick Gale.

Have you read any David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas is the most famous I think but the others are just as good IMO. Ghostwritten is my favourite.

Other than that, I like biographies for an easy read, Slash's is my most recent favourite

I've recently finished The Gargoyle, it was very good, original & gory & funny

Just started Me Cheeta which is shaping up to be wickidly funny

Another vote for Stieg Larsson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

It's excellent and it got me reading again.

Am just reading Drood by someone whose name I forget. Tis on Waterstones. So far it's very good - very gothic!

I also just read 'Hearts and Minds' by Amanda someone - Craig? That was good too - deffo a page-turner.

Does it have to be fiction? Some of the best books I read are non-fiction.

I am currently on The Year of Living Biblically and it is fascinating stuff. I'd also recommend Runaway, How to Talk to a Widower, The Book Thief, or Addition.

Crime novels keep me going too, sometimes (I also liked The Brutal Art). Harlan Coben is good author of page-turners.

More Swedish crime: The Wallander series by Henning Mankel - recent BBC adaptations w Kenneth Brannagh were fab, the books are great too and are reasonably translated.

I just started Belinda Bauers Blacklands - recommended in The Guardian - and it is really good so far.

Sorry I disappeared, had to pop out to RL unfortunately

Wow, loads of recommendations - thanks

I had wondered about Steig Larssson, they look a bit naff but I can see that they're popular so...

Christopher Brookmyre - never heard of him , looks interesting.

Sarah Waters - I did read another one of hers from the Booker list a couple of years ago. I'm afraid it might count as 'too high brow' for my addled attention span.

I did start Half a Yellow Sun and I could see that it was quality but I dropped it for being too gory. In my defence, I was very post-natal and emotional at the time and it just didn't suit the new baby vibe, what with the hacking of limbs in the streets etc.

I do like a big heavy book Cies. Really enjoyed Wild Swans and the fact that it went on for ever was great!

I loved White Tiger, The Book Thief (probably the most recent gripping read actually) and the Kite Runner, so spot on there.

Right I'm going to wade through these recommendations and order a few. Many thanks, it looks like I may get out of my reading rut thanks to you lot

Actually, can anyone recommend where to start with Terry Pratchett?

A Thousand splendid suns by same author as the kite runner - devestatingly powerful, unputdown-able even better than KR I thought...

What about some vintage thrillers? Sherlock Holmes? John Buchan (the 39 steps is a cracking read). The Three Musketeers?

Pratchett: I started with Mort, which is one of the best of the early ones. Wyrd Sisters is great too. You might want to read them in order at some point, but there are a lot of them...

'Mort' or 'Sourcery' both offer a good start with Pratchett. There are several character strands with the later ones, my favourite of which by a long chalk concern the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch. The first one of these is 'Guards! Guards!', but they're all good. Just look for Sam Vimes on the back cover

Aha! Terry Pratchett. I never tried him (due to snobby prejudices I am ashamed to admit to now) but I have really enjoyed them. I have read them all, DH is working his way through them and it is the book that DS and i read together. You might as well start at the beginning - Color of Magic - although it doesn't really matter as all the books stand alone.