Help!! Im having book issues!!!

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Hi all!
Im really stuck for a book at the moment, I just cant seem to find anything that appeals to me at all!
Iv been looking at loads of books recently but so many just seem the same!!

The last few books that I really enjoyed were, The Time Travellers Wife, The House at Riverton, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
I also read The Secret Scripture and my god it depressed the crap out of me!

So if anyone has any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you!!

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Candide - Voltaire
Perfume - Patrick Susskind
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Franny & Zooey - J.D. Salinger
The Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi
Of Mice & Men - John Steinbeck
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Wiki/google these & see which one appeals to you best

1071823928

Thank you! i will definatly look them up, although i read Of mice and men when i was in school and i remember hating it, so il skip over that one!!

Thoie

hanner wrote: »

The last few books that I really enjoyed were, The Time Travellers Wife, The House at Riverton, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
I also read The Secret Scripture and my god it depressed the crap out of me!

So if anyone has any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it!

I think you've been raiding my bookshelves... which would explain a lot. Your one who wrote The House at Riverton has a newish one out (*runs to library*) - The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton) - haven't started it yet. I also liked One Day (David Nicholls?) and The Book Thief (Some Guy).

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher wasn't quite what I was expecting I must say, and I found it a little disappointing, may I ask what you really liked about it?

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is alright if you're looking for something light, though it's not "Wow, brilliant". Audrey Niffeneger has another one called "Her Fearful Symmetry" which is a little predictable, but not the worst thing I've read.

If you don't mind teen fiction I think you might enjoy Fire and Hemlock (Dianna Wynne Jones).

Thoie

Oh, and

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) and
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden?)

1071823928

Haha i think i did raid your bookshelf!!!!
I heard about The forgotten garden but i was unsure if it would be good or not as sometimes when i read a second book by an author its not as good?
I did read Her fearful symmetry and I was so disapointed!!:( It was really predictable and quite boring I thought!
I remember looking at One day, i think it was about 4 different people lives intertwined in 1 day?? it looked good so I might give it a go.
Also I nearly bought The Book Thief but decided against it last minute, will have to go hunting for it again!
Thanks for your help!!

Im not sure what it was about The suspicions of Mr Whicher that I liked, I think it had a slight Agatha Christie's Poirot feel to it and it was sad but sort of fascinating at the same time. Had a lot of family history in it aswell and so much detail. It was really interesting I thought, really sucked me in!

DazMarz

Maybe not what you'd be into, but here are some books I found to be excellent:

Last Light by Alex Scarrow
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Filth by Irvine Welsh
Crime by Irvine Welsh
No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Bringing Out The Dead by Joe Connolly
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
October Skies by Alex Scarrow
The Damned United by David Peace
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

A very eclectic list, but all of the above are books that have served me well in the past! Hopefully you will read some of them, as they are all engrossing and fascinating pieces of contemporary literature.

Thoie

hanner wrote: »

Haha i think i did raid your bookshelf!!!!
I heard about The forgotten garden but i was unsure if it would be good or not as sometimes when i read a second book by an author its not as good?
I did read Her fearful symmetry and I was so disapointed!!:( It was really predictable and quite boring I thought!
I remember looking at One day, i think it was about 4 different people lives intertwined in 1 day?? it looked good so I might give it a go.
Also I nearly bought The Book Thief but decided against it last minute, will have to go hunting for it again!
Thanks for your help!!

OK, yes, you have all my books - may I have them back? I didn't like to say terrible things about Her Fearful Symmetry, but yup, disappointed. I'll be starting The Forgotten Garden soon, so if you want to wait I can let you know how that goes. One Day isn't the 4 people in a single day, though that does sound familiar. There's another one I'm thinking of but can't find at the moment - The something of Lost Things - The Book of Lost Things? Of course, seeing as how you have all my books you can just go back through all the Poirots and Miss Marples in the meantime

Einhard

If you liked Mr Whicher, you'll love Arhtur and George by Julian Barnes. If not, Lever Brothers will give you your money back.

hatful

My cousin reads the same books as you and she's reading "The girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson" at the moment.

726courtown

Here are a few authors to try, they are of various genre.

Stig Larsonn - The millenium trinity
John Connolly - Irish author who bases his books in USA, excellent thriller/Supernatural writer.
Philip Roth - Try "The Plot against America" & "The Human Stain" first.
Sebastian Barry - Try "A long, long way" - Irish/WW1 novel
Sebastian Falks - "A week in December"
These a few of my favourite modern authors, but for classic easy read 20th century lit., try these:
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Hope this helps......

Travel is good

A very good list. I also like Sebastian Faulks earlier novels:
Birdsong
Human Traces

Others:
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving (& anything else by John Irving)
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Shantarwam by Gregory Roberts

i also agree with you all about the Book Thief, I thought it was very good.

726courtown

Have never read any of John Irving's work, will try "A Prayer for Owen Meaney"
Cheers

Travel is good

The BBC had a programme on a few years ago nominating the top 100 reads, "The Big Read", & had a little book to go with it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
That's where I found out about "A Prayer for Owen Meaney" and also "Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks. I've since read more of their books and enjoy both authors.

I also discovered Wally Lamb "I know this much is True", though it's a bit harrowing if you don't know of anyone in this situation.

Thoie

Travel is good wrote: »

I also discovered Wally Lamb "I know this much is True", though it's a bit harrowing if you don't know of anyone in this situation.

I'd forgotten about Wally Lamb - "She's Come Undone". Haven't read "I know this much is true", but "She's come undone" was a bit harrowing in places as well.

Travel is good

Thanks for the tip about "She's Come Undone", will definitely look it up. I also have his last book on the "unread" shelf, "The Hour I First Believed", based on the Columbine massacre.

Well that will keep me quiet for the summer.

I loved Stephen King when I was younger, so one of his best I think is "The Stand". It's one of the few books I hang on to, I normally have to clear all my other books to charity as I have so many!

Acacia

Just finished Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". I thought it was excellent, if a bit depressing.

If you want something a bit lighter , you'd can't go wrong with classics like "Jane Eyre" or "Wuthering Heights". I also highly recommend anything by Tracy Chevlier (especially "Girl with a Pearl Earring") or Sarah Waters.

Happy reading!:)