inspire me, I Desperately need good book to read., no horror, something fairly recent.....................

[katierocket]

Really want a good read but need inspiring. Hate horror, don't want anything really intellectual. here are some of my favourite books in no particular order to give idea of what I like.

Secret History
Wild Swans
Memoirs of a Geisha
Anything by Donna Leon
Pursuit of Happiness
Perfume
Wuthering Heights
Driving over lemons
Crow Road
The Beach
I don't know how she does it
anything by Marian Keyes

help please, otherwise I will be forced to try and finish sh*te cecelia ahern book 'where rainbows end' which is making me want to bite someone.

have read colour purple and lovely bones. What is tiger child/one child?

Small Island I would definitely recommend. If you're looking for something really light but highly entertaining then I would recommend The Ivy Chronicles . I also just finished Emma Brown , which is Clare Boylan finishing a novel started by Charlotte Bronte. It's not as good as Charlotte Bronte, obviously, but not bad in a Wilkie Collins kind of way.

honest

only saw bits of the tv thing

had never read it - read it last year on holiday and was blown away

milge - found disgrace v depressing.

bought Lovely Bones but cannot read it

hate anything explicit and upsetting

feel same about The Little Friend, katierocket

sorry, only just clicked that you'd requested fairly recent books.... I enjoyed Brick Lane. have you read Surfacing by Margaret Atwood? really did love The Shipping News - quirky and atmospheric. being a Marian Keyes fan you must have read Rachel's Holiday? it's fab (and if you liked that then you'd really like Jay McInerney's Story Of My Life)

If you haven't seen the film, Cold Mountain is really good. (I only say that because films always change some parts of books.)

oh, almost forgot - read Property by Valerie Martin recently, thought it was amazing (think it won the Orange Prize) and liked The Mermaid And The Drunks too too (Ben Richard, I think....)

Sophie Kinsella's new release is EXCELLENT, very funny and easy to read.

sorry it's called 'Undomestic Goddess'

I like the Janet Evanovich books (they start with One for the money). They're crime but without the gore or horror and make me laugh out loud. And a book called Driving Over Lemons which is so easy to read.

well dinny I just meant I don't really want to read War and Peace but quite interested in Brideshead Revisted suggestion so maybe not just recent releases.
Studied margaret atwood at uni but haven't ready any jay mcinerney, what is his stuff like?

anything by Jodi Picoult - her new one The Pact sounds good - easy to read but makes you think

The Lovely Bones is so distressing, as is Disgrace. Couldn't stop dwelling on both for ages afterwards.

loved Cold Mountain

Satine - driving over lemons was one of my favourites

hate chick lit on principle

The Corrections? it is very good although seems unpromising at the beginning

KR, Enlighten me as to why Cecelia Ahern and bite someone came in the same sentance.

You may save me some pounds.

one child and tigers child are both by torey hayden who was special needs teacher and writing about a little girl she taught. THink u can get them for £3 ish in tescos

Bitchy New York writer, Katierocket - read Story Of My Life, a bit kind of Less Than Zero-ish but not tooooooo depressing. Funny, bitchy and satirical. Only read one other by him - Model Behaviour, which i didn't like as much.

have you read Girlfriend In A Coma, Douglas Copeland?

agree enid but Marian Keyes is very good at it and you can't help but like it.

Is The Corrections heavy going?

Atonement by Ian Macewan?
Agree with Satine re Janet Evanovich, though they go off a bit after about number 6.

NBG, because it's so frustratingly crap that it makes me want to bite someone. I should know better really than to bother picking it up.

ooh, Enid, I love Marian Keyes (most of her stuff). she's v funny..

no not heavy once you get going

like pedalling a bike

Any Tracy Chevalier.