Recommendations for a lapsed reader

StudentC

Hi all

Just found this part of boards today, I was hoping there would be a reading forum somewhere.

I was always a fairly keen reader when I was younger, but have lapsed a bit the last few years. I always have a book in my bag wherever I go - I hate not having one, but I've got fairly lazy with what I read - too much chicklit and Grisham-type stuff these days. I read alot for work/college (research) so sometimes amn't too keen to take out somehting 'hard to read' on the bus or in the evenings, especially as i tend to fall asleep! I read a fair bit of popular science and travel writing, but I'm keen for some good novels.

Anyway, I'm looking for some recommendations - authors who are reasonably easy to read (so if I fall asleep I can pick up my place easily the next time), but a good story.

The last few months I've read (and enjoyed) some of the recent popular stuff - Khaled Hosseini (sp?), Alice Sebold, Lionel Shriver, John Boyne, Mark Haddon etc

Any more suggestions? Anything with a good story and some ideas to think about, but no fantasy or science fiction..

Thanks for any ideas

orangecake

You could try some of Margaret Atwood's novels, I've read The Blind Assassin and The Handmaid's Tale which I thought were both very good but at the same time light enough (in terms of getting in and out of the story) to read on a bus or in the airport etc.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro was an extremely thought provoking read along the same lines.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan is also fantastic and I think would fill your criteria, as would Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a gripping classic that would also fit the bill...

xaforb

From another lapsed reader.

I lost interest a few years ago but came back, sort of, in 2008. Looking only to find something completely different or extraordinary I can highly recommend these two as very thought provoking books:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

which may be the most extraordinary story of all time.


Nobody Knows What My Dreams Are by Patrick Clerkin

Equally compelling and is set in Dublin in the 1960's

I doubt that you will fall asleep reading either of these

StudentC

Thanks for those suggestions, will keep me going for the next wee while :-)

Blush_01

I second the Atwood recommendation. Oryx and Crake is spectacularly different to most of her stuff, but great. I also loved The Robber Bride, The Blind Assassin, The Handmaid's Tale, The Penelopiad, Cat's Eye... John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things is wonderful, I'm becoming a big fan of Paulo Coelho (especially The Witch of Portobello), Joanne Harris's Chocolat is pretty good, and I read Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture at the beginning of the year and would recommend it highly. Sam Hanna Bell's December Bride is also pretty good, and reads as being much more modern than I expected.

All of the above are very readable.

The Mad Hatter

I'd strongly recommend David Mitchell and Neil Gaiman. Mitchell's novels have the double benefit of being literary and intelligent without bogging you down in technique, and Gaiman mostly does fantasy-style (though very much his own style) and is an absolute master storyteller.

For Mitchell, I'd say go for Cloud Atlas, which is his most popular, though Number9dream is also excellent.

As for Gaiman, I've generally found that I enjoy his short stories more than his novels. Smoke and Mirrors is an excellent collection of them. His recent sort-of-children's-book, The Graveyard Book is also superb.

finalfantasist

I have a suggestion: The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde. Well, anything by Forde. If you're going to read his Thursday Next series, start with The Eyre Affair. This guy is a very funny writer.

Hyndsy85

I'd whole heartedly recommend any book by Danny Wallace. (ie Yes Man, Join me or Friends Like These)

They are very funny and a pleasure to read. Very easy going too