Hear hear - LOVE John Boyne!! |
The Tender Land is so good |
Agree with pps about Tana French and Geraldine Brooks. I would also suggest Kate Atkinson's novels. |
TL,DR this post but I loved Amor Towles' The Rules of Civility. For classics, you can't beat Henry James for subtle moral and emotional dilemmas. |
I read through it and realized I hate stories where the author is compelled to go through the rest of the person's life, when all they should write is the exposition, rising action, climax, denouement. But the idea of discovering notes in the knot of a tree is solid gold stuff from my childhood. So I read it through. |
+1 for Emilie Giffin. Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Babyproof, and Where We Belong were my favorites. Easy breezy/escapist reads, but still great examples of smart, character-driven chick lit.
For more elevated chick lit/family saga, I recommend The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher. |
I also really liked The Rules of Civility. I've been trying to get through A Gentleman in Moscow for some time and am having trouble getting into it (although many people I know really love it), and I found Rules of Civility a much more enjoyable read for some reason. And agree with previous posters who recommended Crazy Rich Asians - the first was the best but the other two in that series were also enjoyable - Katie FForde, the Outlander series (I found some of the books in the middle started to drag for me, but the first two especially I thought were great), and Georgette Heyer for excellent fluff. I could reread Cotillion alone so. many. times. And the Little Lady Agency series by Hester Browne was a fun read! I also like M. M. Kaye, if you're up for some long novels, or her mysteries are shorter. Trade Wind is one of my favorite books of all time, and it's set in mid-19th C Zanzibar which was a fascinating setting to me. Finally, just about anything by Meg Cabot. Including her YA fiction. She is so freaking funny. |
I recommend Phillipa Gregory's Plantagenet and Tudor series, which starts with "The Lady of the Rivers". All books are told from a female perspective and you get an easy and painless history lesson too. ![]() |
OP here! Thanks again for all the suggestions, I've compiled a loooong list to try to get through!
I did read Nothing to See Here. I give it 4/5 stars. I really really liked the characters, the set-up, the writing...my one disappointment is I thought the ending could've been done better. Next up is The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. Not recommended on this thread, but I had a hold on a copy from the library for a long time. I watched a couple seasons of the Amazon Prime series so I'm interested to see what the book is like. |
When Breathe Becomes Air it’s by a neurosurgeon that loved literature. |
Oh, The Huntress is sooooo good |
Oh lord, I recently tried to read Man in the High Castle and it was terrible. I could not believe how bad it was. I hope you like it more than I did = I found it torture to get through. (I am one of the Nothing to See lovers.) If you want a semi-trashy book, I recently read One To Watch when I heard it recommended on Pop Culture Happy Hour. I'm not normally a romance reader, and found the tropes irritating in this book, too - but outside of that it was super fun to read. |
I just finished The Push and loved it. It was very creepy and suspenseful but you have to be ok with dark. |
I have that coming today from Book of the Month. Adding my subscription has been the best part of pandemic. Here’s a referral if anyone is interested. https://www.mybotm.com/9cc24b1e6eee?show_box=true I just finished The Wife Upstairs, which was a good, easy mystery. |
Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev The Jetsetters The Vacationers |