Desperate plea: need a cracking book to read...

[LadyThompson]

Ok, I like literary fiction (favourite authors John Updike, Evenlyn Waugh, Graham Green and Jonathan Coe); I like comic novels; however, I will also read the occasional page turner (say, by David Nicholls) and I even read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the dreaded Twilight books.

I need something that is going to hook me in. Stylishly written would be great, but, as I say, I read and enjoyed the Twilight books Old or new, it doesn't matter. Please help!

The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
How Far Can You Go by David Lodge
The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith (nonfiction)
Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate by Robert A Caro (nonfiction)

Have you read The Secret History by Donna Tartt? It's an old one, you probably have.

August 1914 by Barbara Tuchman (nonfiction)
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (ABSOLUTELY UNMISSABLY GREAT in fact I am going to stop there because if you haven't read it oh boy)

I haven't read the Donna Tartt actually. Maybe I should.

I had heard The American Wife was good.

Have you read The Other Hand by Chris Cleave? Really does hook you in, and is quite funny (but at the same time can be very shocking) - I don't know anyone who didn't enjoy it. A relatively quick and easy read, so will probably only last you a couple of days though. (I couldn't put it down)

I have only read one Mantel, a very early one called An Experiment in Love. What's good about A Place of Great Safety?

I've never heard of Chris Cleave. (By the way, if I suddenly vanish, it's because I have gone to bed as I am pregnant and very tired (and I wish I had a book for bed ) I am however very grateful for everyone's suggestions. It would be helpful if people could roughly describe what sort of book it is (sorry, I'm being demanding!)

the absolute best book ive read all year by a mile and was nominated for the Galaxy prize thingy was the absolutely fantastic couldnt put it down

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.

absolutely brilliant. loved it. read it again as soon as id finished it and ive never ever done that with a book before! from what youve said you enjoy i think youd like it.

I second the Life of Pi and the Donna Tartt. Do not, under any circumstances, read The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse - I am going to finish it be sheer obstinance, it is terrible but it won't defeat me. However, when I was very pregnant a friend bought me a subscription to Vanity Fair and it was the best present ever, try a wordy magazine maybe?

The Quincunx, Charles Palliser - Victorian conspiracy thriller kind of thing. Starts off slow but soon gets its hooks into you.

Read a v early Kate Mosse and wasn't that keen.

I have lots of house mags to read for light relief (wea re renovating a cottage and DP has been kind in supplying them for me) but what I crave is a really juicy but yet emotionally substantial BOOk.

god i read labyrinth - it killed time on the train. its a bit....well its a bit davinci code isnt it!? i didnt enjoy it very much. i did like the time travellers wife though. that seems to divide opinion somewhat. my DH recommended that one and said id love it - he was right.

i got to The Gargoyle first though..fab!..did i tell you that? (DH read that one after me and he liked it too)

Kate Mosse = crap.

Yes to The Gargoyle.

Have you read 'A Clockwork Orange' before? If you can get past the sheer horror of it, it is v v good indeed.

How about The Virgin Suicides by J Eugenedes, or Half Of A Yellow Sun by somebody whose name I have forgotten.

Or Dracula.

Yes exactly Vicar except da Vinci is better written, and given how bad that is that gives a notion of how bad Labyrinth is.

have just raced through 'remarkable creatures' by tracy chevalier - really loved it (about the two women fossil hunters in 1800s lyme regis - much better than it might sound!)
recently loved
'we are the mulvaneys' by joyce carol oates
'widow for a year' by john irving
everything that anne tyler has written

also douglas kennedy can be a good read
as can anita shreve

A Place of Greater Safety is.... well. I was slightly influenced by having been knocked sideways by Gerard Depardieu in Danton a few months beforehand, so was ripe for more French Revolution shenanigans. So, it's set in Revolutionary France; it's slightly hallucinogenic and all over the shop; it's funny; it's passionately romantic; it's very, very long; it's gripping.

Ooh - what about Girlfriend In A Coma? I bet you've read that Vicar!

Have just read (and could not put down) "A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian" It was sad, funny, touching and dramatic all in one book.

I seem to be recommending an awful lot of very long books I read pre-children. Well, some post-children, but I really shouldn't have been shoving them in front of cbeebies for that length of time.

So, shorter/racier ones:
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Montserrat
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (nonfiction) - OMG it's great.

[janeite why fed up?]

Don't ask! I'm better now - need to change it. But thank you for asking.

janeite i have indeed!! well spotted! rather like douglas coupland!

Am half way through 'Juliet, naked' by Nick Hornby and am loving it! Would highly recommend.

What about "One Day" - admittedly not started it yet, but it looks good and I can't wait. Lots of good reviews on here (recent thread about two good books the OP had read recently)

The Relucant Fundamentalist is v good. Also The something of water by somebody (ALicia??) Shreive (sorry). Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. Anything by Sarah Waters partic Affinity.

'Arthur And George' is superb.