I was one of those children who always had her nose in a book. I read voraciously, often staying up late into the night working my way through my latest library haul. My favourite characters – Sara Crewe, Jo March and Anne Shirley – were as real to me as my family and friends.
As a teenager and into my early twenties, reading for school and university replaced reading for pleasure, then I moved to London and my commute to and from work gave me at least an hour every day to fill with books again.
These days, no longer commuting into central London on a daily basis, I don’t have that otherwise dead hour or more to fill and it feels a little decadent (or, erm, lazy) to spend an hour a day during the week lying on my sofa with a book. Which means I’m reading less than I used to and so when I do read a book I want it to be blow-me-away brilliant, average is just not acceptable, particularly given the price of books these days.
With a long weekend away at a yoga retreat in Cornwall coming up, I should have some downtime for reading between classes, not to mention the train journey there and back. I want to take a couple of books with me and I’m hoping you can help. In return, and to give you a steer, following are some of the books I’ve read and loved of late, that I would heartily recommend you add to your reading list.
I can’t get enough of contemporary mysteries that keep me up all night like Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey or Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (an aside, but please, please, please let the film adaptation of Gone Girl be one that does the book justice, with David Fincher in charge, I have high hopes).
I love books that take me to foreign places whether they’re fiction such as Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, a true story like Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed (ditto what I said about Gone Girl, Jean-Marc Vallée’s previous film was the brilliant Dallas Buyer’s Club so…) or that other category of is-it-true-or-isn’t-it or why-let-the-truth-get-in-the-way-of-a-good-story (faction?) such as Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts.
I’m mad about muso biographies like Life by Keith Richards with James Fox or Just Kids by Patti Smith.
I’ve read everything Haruki Murakami’s written (actually that’s probably not true, everything he’s published, and had translated into English would be more accurate, suffice to say I’m a big fan) working my way through 1Q84: Books 1, 2 and 3 earlier this year and I’m waiting, impatiently, for his latest Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage to be available in paperback.
And, as I shared on Tuesday, I’ll happily read a tearjerker too.
So, over to you, what should I read next? I can’t wait to hear your suggestions!
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I’m reading Beautiful Ruins at the moment & I absolutely love it! I read it on the way back from France & we’re now planning an Italian adventure.
Books I have bought & need to read are: Room by Emma Donoghue, The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (my mum recommended this & it might be a total trashy rom com) Ben has just finished reading a book that he loved so I’ll check the name for you & email it over. I absolutely love buying books but like you, rarely find the time to actually ready them! X
I loved Beautiful Ruins so much. Room is excellent. I’ve picked up The Examined Life in my local bookshop a couple of times, but never actually made it to the till and parted with actual cash money for it. Sounds interesting though and the perfect read for a yoga retreat. I very much enjoyed Kate Atkinson’s Behind The Scenes At The Museum and her Jackson Brodie novels but I haven’t read anything by her for a while. Life After Life sounds interesting – it’s going on the list! x
Life after Life is VG. Took a while to get into for me but worth it
Life After Life is the book I’ve recommended to everyone this year – it’s one of those stories that still pops into my head months after I finished reading it. Definitely not a trashy rom com!
Life after Life is definitely not a trashy rom-com. It’s great; if you enjoy books like ‘Room’ and ‘Gone Girl’ you will love it. Enjoy 🙂
Ian McEwan is one of my favourite authors- Atonement is my favourite and I have to say I thought the film was excellent too. Enduring love is another of his I loved. So beautifully written, disturbing and really gets under your skin.
never let me go by kazuo ishiguro is another book to film I love- Ishiguro is another beautifully disturbing writer whose characters stay in my head for a long time.
And for a classic, my all time favourite author is Fitzgerald. When I read Fitzgerald sometimes I go over the same page several times because what he has written is so lovely I want to memorise it, and somehow learn to write and talk like him. My all time favourite novel is the beautiful and damned.
Happy reading!
We have very similar taste in books Anna! I loved Atonement (and the film), Enduring Love and Never Let Me Go. The Great Gatsby is a favourite of mine but I’ve never actually read The Beautiful And The Damned. I must remedy that this year!
I am a big Tracey Chevalier fan myself! I read ‘The Last Runaway’ recently and it was brilliant!x
The only Tracy Chevalier novel I’ve read is Girl With A Pearl Earring but I just had a read about The Last Runaway online, it does indeed sound brilliant. Thank you for sharing! x
I hope you enjoy it! I think she has a beautiful way of writing.
Oh my – I had no idea they were making a film about Wild! I bought that following your recommendation on here and read it on my honeymoon – in California – in April. And I loved it! Being recommended or bought books is one of my greatest pleasures – I love to discover new things to read. Otherwise I seem to find myself reading books from the same authors which I do enjoy but there are so many books out there that I know I should be more adventurous!
I found Before I go to Sleep – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Before-I-Go-To-Sleep/dp/0552164135 – as un-put-down-able as Gone Girl when I read it a couple of years ago. I also read everything Marian Keyes has ever written – I grew up with her books and still love them. I like to think they’re at the smarter spectrum of that horrible term ‘chick-lit’!
For my birthday my husband bought me three books. Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy – which I have finished and loved. It was like seeing an old friend again and I found the storyline quite emotional but won’t spoil it in case anyone wants to read it. The other two are The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard and The Wrong Knickers: A Decade of Chaos by Bryony Gordon but I’ve not started them yet! I heart books!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed Wild Jennifer! Yes, the film is out later this year I think. Reese Witherspoon is playing Cheryl. I like Reese a lot, but I’m not sure about her for this role. We’ll see! I loved Before I Go To Sleep too and used to read a lot of Marian Keyes but not so much recently, is there one of her more recent ones you’d particularly recommend? The Light Years sounds interesting and I very much like the way Bryony Gordon writes so they could both come to Cornwall with me!
Just started Before I go to Sleep. I can really hardly put it down, as it’s great and I really want to know what happened to the character Christine.
Oh, and Sister and Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton are two more modern thriller types that I got up at 3am to keep reading!
Oooh I loved those!
Ooh I haven’t read any Rosamund Lupton but Sister and Afterwards both sound like great reads – thank you Jennifer!
Sister is so gripping! x
I love books too. I have just read The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion – really really loved it and refreshing to read a novel by a boy (I do tend to stick to trashy girly novels!) and Adele Park’s Whatever it takes – that was funny and good for beach reading.
For easy reading Marian Keyes, Joanna Trollope, Jill Mansell, Miranda Dickinson and Erica James plus who doesnt love the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic series?!
For things to get more stuck into, I love Kate Atkinson books – havent yet read her new one. I’ve got Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries lined up – I bought it in hardback as its such a nice cover but its so thick I’m struggling to bring myself to start it. Lucinda Riley is a good author for foreign love stories and good holiday reading. My most favourite recent book which I really loved was A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – I think you’d like that Miranda.
I’ve heard The Goldfinch is good and also a popular one at the moment is We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I’d be interested if anyone’s read either of these and if they think worth a go.
Wow, thank you so much for all your recommendations Victoria, I’m going to have to hit up my local bookshop this afternoon! All sound wonderful, haha, yes, I have to admit to enjoying the Shopaholic books too. I’m desperate to go to India so A Fine Balance really appeals but I might save it for my yoga retreat, then I can dream about India in between classes!
I have always really enjoyed Lisa Jewell’s writing – her stories are always intriguing with some element of mystery but usually a happy ending too.
I adored Ralph’s Party Bryony but haven’t read anything else by Lisa Jewell. Is there one you’d particularly recommend?
Here are some amazing books that I’ve read recently
Kate Atkinson – Life After Life http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-After-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0385618670
Mark Zusak – The Book Thief – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0552773891
Jodi Picoult – The Storyteller http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/144476666X
Khaled Hosseini – And The Mountains Echoed / A Thousand Splendid Suns
Jodi Lynn Anderson – Tiger Lily (adult version of Peter Pan, AMAZING!) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-Lily-Jodi-Lynn-Anderson-ebook/dp/B00CTMA4SA/ref=la_B001IGUVFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408005217&sr=1-1
Lucie Whitehouse – Before we met (thriller type book, quite like Gone Girl) ww.amazon.co.uk/Before-We-Met-Lucie-Whitehouse/dp/1408853582/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408005228&sr=1-1&keywords=lucie+whitehouse
Charity Norman – The Son in Law (again sort of a thriller, about a guy who has murdered his wife) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Son—Law-Charity-Norman/dp/1743316690/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408005202&sr=1-1&keywords=the+son+in+law
Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0099554798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408004904&sr=8-1&keywords=the+night+circus
Tom Rob Smith – The Farm (thriller like Gone Girl!) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Farm-Tom-Rob-Smith/dp/1847375693/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408005253&sr=1-1&keywords=the+farm
Enjoy x
Oh my goodness, thank you so, so much for all your recommendations Ellie! I haven’t read any of the books on your list, apart from A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I adored. It’s going to take me a while to work my way through all of these! x
I second “Before I go to sleep” by SJ Watson as well, it is absolutely brilliant, as well as “Room” by Emma Donague which someone else has already mentioned. Both are fantastic!
Also if you like thrillers, you must read “Into the darkest corner” by Elizabeth Haynes, it is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. And last but certainly not least, “secret smile” by Nicci French is brilliantly written, the TV adaptation has been on TV the last 2 nights actually but it is nowhere near as good as the book! And for a soppy tear jerker try “Me before you” by Jojo Moyes. Happy reading!
I loved Before I Got To Sleep and Room too Kayleigh! Ooh, Into The Darkest Corner sounds great! I just read a review of Secret Smile online, the main character’s called Miranda, so obviously I’m going to have to read that! Me Before You is another one I’ve nearly bought a couple of times, I definitely will now!
I have just devoured six books on my honeymoon so this is perfectly timed!! I also read Elizabeth is Missing and adored it, read in one day! Other than that I also read Her by Harriet Lane (another one day read) and I love Donna Tartt so highly recommend The Goldfinch as well as The Secret History. One of my favourite books I’ve read in a long time was Delirium by Lauren Oliver – it made me cry my eyes out and was just such a beautifully written story. And read Gillian Flynn’s other books – Sharp Objects and Dark Places. Both BRILLIANT and, dare I say it, better than Gone Girl… Enjoy! x
Welcome home from honeymoon Sian! I need a holiday so I can read all these brilliant recommendations. Her sounds just my kind of book. I adored The Secret History, so perhaps I should give The Goldfinch a go. Delirium sounds intriguing, and a series, I do love it when I can get stuck into a series. Seriously, Sharp Objects and Dark Places are better than Gone Girl?! I am going to spend a fortune on books later! x
Thank you! Another Secret History fan – that makes me very happy! I definitely think they’re better. The ending to Gone Girl disappointed me slightly, whereas the other two were perfect. I couldn’t put any of them down! Oh AND I have just started A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing by Eimear McBride which is a challenging read buy enjoyable, and next on my list is The Fault In Our Stars. Amazon is my best friend..! X
Definitely recommend the Goldfinch if you DT, though I skipped the last few pages because the story was effectively over and it was just boring metaphysical stuff! If you haven;t also read The Little Friend by DT then I HIGHLY recommend it.
ALso, if you like biographies and that style, read Any Human Heart by … someone’s whose name escapes me. It is AMAZING
Is it by William Boyd? I read his Waiting For Sunrise last year and very much enjoyed.
Claire was that a TV adaptation? If it was it was very good…. But very sad. I didn’t realise it was a biography though.
I am nervous about the Gone Girl film, I loved the book. I second a lot of the recommendations above! I love Dorothy Koomson books to read on holiday – easy read, but very gripping. I get completely addicted to them. Miranda, you mentioned you were going to a Greek island in a previous post in which case I would recommend The Island by Victoria Hislop. A beautiful read, and takes place in Greece – a tiny island called spinalonga in Crete. My aunty sent it me just before I went to Crete and it was a perfect Greek island read!
Yes, I mean I do like Ben Affleck but I’m not sure about him for Nick and Rosamund Pike, hmm, we’ll see. I am a big David Fincher fan though, so it might all work out. Ooh, I haven’t read any Dorothy Koomson, I must give her a go. Sadly the flights were prohibitively expensive for the week I wanted to go to Greece (next week, Bank Holiday, I know!) but I’m hoping that maybe I’ll make it later in the year. I do love Victoria Hislop novels and it would be just perfect to read The Island actually in Greece! x
Loving this thread!!! I am currently reading The Lemon Grove which a. makes me want to go on holiday as it’s set in Mallorca and b. is disturbing as it’s about about a woman obsessing and seducing/being seduced by her step daughters boyfriend!
I have The Vacationers in my drawer ready to go! I’ve written down a number of these recommendations – thank you 🙂
Sort of on the same track – can you recommend any good travel guides? I’m off to Madrid and Seville next month and looking for something a bit more unique than the usual Lonely Planet…
Both sound intriguing and I love Mallorca so very happy to be transported there whilst I’m on the tube! In terms of travel guides my friend Adam always swears by doing as much as possible from the 24 hours in bit at the front of Wallpaper city guides and than anything else you have time for, I would always have agreed but I was a bit disappointed with their Lisbon guide (they’re much cheaper as an app than as a printed book btw). Luxe City guides are good, and not everything they recommend is as luxe as the title of the series suggests. Online I like unlike.net, they don’t cover Madrid or Seville but one to remember for future trips, also we-heart.com. I really rate Time Out guides too, although there were a couple of duff recommendations in Lisbon (I’m not sure what it is with Lisbon, perhaps the guides need updating!). Have a great trip Lynn!
Just read this – thanks for the tips 🙂 Still over a month to go but I’ve already worked out my wardrobe and just putting together some ideas of what to do. V excited to find out Game of Thrones starts filming on our last day of Seville – I shall be on high alert for the Lanisters!
Miranda you are one of the only people I know to have read Shantaram!! I absolutely love love LOVED this book and it is the best thing I have read in the last 5 years or so (apart from Wild Swans).
I read Gone Girl sometime last year and hate to say but I REALLY disliked the book. I just didn’t get on with it – couldn’t see what the fuss is about and didn’t think the writing or the story line was that good?! (sorry to everyone out there who enjoyed it!).
I too also always had my nose in a book when I was a child – its one of my favourite past times and now that I am older I just dont seem to have as much time for it any more, so I now try and set aside at least ten minutes just before I go to bed to dive in my current read. I also find it helps me to sleep better too.
Keep the book recommendations coming! x
I hated GG too, so much so that I didn’t even finish it but I did love Shantaram (even though it was totally bonkers!)
It really is bonkers, but brilliant too!
Isn’t Shantaram brilliant?! I loved Wild Swans too Emma. I think Gone Girl is a bit Marmite. Although I really enjoyed it I was a bit disappointed with the ending (I won’t say anymore in case anyone’s reading this who hasn’t read it yet). I definitely need to start reading just before bed again, it helps me to sleep too (unless it’s a can’t-stop-reading-thriller of course!). x
Always got my nose in a book! I have a wonderful(!) 1.5 hr commute each way so I race through books at the moment. Currently reading the new Bridget Jones which I’m so far enjoying.
Mostly I read crime fiction – have a very large collection of Patricia Cornwell, Rankin and Kathy Reichs. Also love a thriller (Enjoyed all of Gillian Flynn’s – and really hope that Fincher doesn’t disappoint with the film!) and love the Millenium Trilogy (Girl with the dragon tattoo etc)
Absolutely adored Khaled Hosseini Kite Runner & Thousand Splendid Suns. Also recently read the 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared – very funny.
Off on a short break next week and always pick up a new book at the airport so will be looking out for something new to sink my teeth into!
Jo give Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme books a go. They’re both crime fiction and thriller. I can never put them down so try to resist buying the new one unless I can write a week off!
Ooh, they sound good Clare, I’m going to have rejoin my local library (my membership has lapsed) buying all these recommendations would bankrupt me!
DO IT! I have sooo many on my wish list (including lots of cookbooks) that I went into my library and found the newest Stephen King book. Snapped it up along with three other books….. I think I have a problem :S
Thanks Clare! Will look out for them at the airport next week 🙂
Oh my goodness, that is a long commute Jo! Raced through the Millennium trilogy, read the very first Rebus book earlier this year, and very much enjoyed, but have never read any Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs, must give them a try. I like the sound of the 100 Year Old Man etc etc too. Another one to add to what is now a very long list! Have a great trip!
Be warned – Cornwell is very graphic in her descriptions of autopsies. There have been one or two times I’ve had to skip a few pages myself! But the plots are very gripping and there are a few that arch over several books (confusing if you don’t read them in order!)
Really enjoying this thread – nodding along to some of the recommendations and jotting down others I haven’t read yet. Just wanted to second Ellie’s suggestion for The Book Thief – one of my all time favourite reads.
The Book Thief sounds like a great read. I might have just purchased And The Mountains Echoed when I popped out at lunchtime, but The Book Thief is a strong contender for next up!
If you like a good mystery and don’t mind scaring yourself a little bit I totally recommend Night Film. It’s a brilliant story, loads of twists and turns and it is interspersed with newspaper articles, blog posts and website pages which add an extra something. As I write this my colleague is sat next to me reading ‘I am Pilgrim’ and making all sorts of excited noises so that may have to be next on my list!
Night Film definitely sounds like my kind of book Cat. I’ve heard good things about I Am Pilgrim too!
I loved the Book Thief (I cried my eyes out at the end) and also loved Shantaram. I’ve just finished reading The Shock Of The Fall, by Nathan Filer. It’s an incredibly gripping story about a boy with a mental illness and the death of his brother. It’s really hard to describe it as I’ve never read anything like it, but it is brilliant (it also made me cry!). The list of books I want to read is steadily growing, I just need to find the time! 🙂
I know, I wish I had more time too Alex! The Book Thief and The Shock Of The Fall both sound brilliant. I’m so excited about all these recommendations. I need a couple of weeks on a beach to work my way through (some of) them!
Totally late to this party but loving all the suggestions, definitely going to have a look at some of the mentioned titles here. My Mum bought me Shock Of The Fall but I’ve never picked it up to begin (don’t have a lot of ‘reading’ time these days!) but I will do now.
Room is one of the cleverest and most unique books I’ve read in the last few years, I also love a bit of Marian Keyes and Lisa Jewell for escapism/easy reading though (Vince & Joy was my favourite Jewell book) and I also rate Maggie O’Farrell, ‘After You’d gone’ was particularly haunting/under your skin. I’ve read it twice.
I was in Waterstones yesterday buying my baby weaning book recommendations (so grateful to the RMS community) and on a whim I picked up ‘The Aftermath’ by Rhidian Brook. Apparently it’s an international best seller and was by the till as the ‘book of the week’
Anyone read it? x
Haven’t read The Aftermath, sounds interesting. This post is going to bankrupt me! x
Great thread! I was very impressed with a book called The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. If you’ve ever been to Barcelona, you can imagine it, and if you’re there when you read it all the better. It’s beautiful, and pretty creepy in places.
I love a Victoria Hislop for a holiday read, and The House of Dust and Dreams by Brenda Reid is similar to The Island. I read it in Greece, reread it recently and I was right back there!
I also recently read The Husbands Secret by Liane Moriarty. Great book about the things we can’t help but want to know, until we do.
Sounds intriguing (as does The Husbands Secret) will have to go back to Barcelona to read it, Faye! I do love a Victoria Hislop too, will have to give The House of Dust and Dreams a go.
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson – found it a struggle to get through. A bit, blah, so what.
Enjoyed ‘The Harry Querbert Affair’.
The Silent Wife is a very sophisticated book in the style of Gone Girl. I thought the Husband’s Secret was okay…characters all a bit blah.
The Fault in our stars was a great read – although I did keep bursting into tears on my morning commute and had to save it to finish at home.
The Goldfinch is amaze – quite long-winded though.
Burial Rite by Hannah Kent is a beautiful read.
Loved the Wrong Knickers by Bryony Gordon.
The Vogue factor by Kirstie Clements was so-so.
We Were Liars – a page turner that I sped through.
Currently engrossed in Tigers in Red Weather – get very annoyed when my commute ends at the mo!
Wow, thanks Chrissi! Did you buy them all on Kindle or are any actual books I can borrow?!
All on kindle I’m afraid. I wait until they are randomly reduced to 99p or £1.19 then stock up!
I was very lucky to be able to do English literature at uni (I have a master in it) so my passion for reading spilled over into uni – I was able to spend my full 4 years reading books, most of which were great!
I truly loved The Timetravelers Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) – my (now) husband bought it for my birthday one year and I read it cover to cover in record time. I have actually avoided the film as I don’t think it will live up to the book!
Recently read The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern) – very very good if you like a mix of mystical, magical nonsense mixed with romance and intrigue. Again, made my way through this very quickly.
I love poetry as well – would thoroughly recommend Out of the Blue (Simon Armitage) – its a wonderful collection of poems based on the events of 9/11 – sounds horrific but honestly, its some of the most beautifully written poetry I’ve read. Reminiscent of war poetry (if you did that at school? I did and loved it!) in that its about a horrible event, but just wonderfully evocative. If you don’t want to read it, you can watch the very handsome Rufus Sewell read through the poems on youtube – also very good!
Made me want to pick up a good book now, pity I’m a work! Oooops!
Annie, I LOVE The Time Travellers Wife! It made me totally sob in places though, I could never re-read it! And The Night Circus is great too. Good books!
I very much enjoyed The Timetraveler’s Wife and avoided the film for the exactly the same reason Annie. The Night Circus sounds intriguing. I don’t really read poetry (too many dull poems forced upon us at school) but after seeing some live poetry recently I’m inspired to get back into it. Rufus Sewell reading poetry is very appealing too!
Love books, love my kindle… Must reads from my perspective are: Apple Tree Yard and The Never List. These books have stayed with me since I read them. Plus The Goldfinch always gets my vote. Amazing, but looooong!
I think The Goldfinch might be one to save for holiday Lorna, so I can really get into it, as opposed to reading a couple of pages a day, which is all I could probably commit to in everyday life.
I’ve recently read The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which I found incredible. Best book I’ve read in a while. A lovely moving story with quite a bit of philosophy and beautifully written. Finished it when I was in the hair dressers and just sat there weeping!
Also recently finished Me Before You but was left quite disappointed by the story and writing.
Just started The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which so far I’m really enjoying. Quite a fun, playful book with a fast moving story and good characters.
I loved the The Elegance of the Hedgehog too Victoria, and have to admit to having a good old cry at the end! The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay sounds interesting. Another one for the (every growing) list!
‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier would make an excellent read for your Cornwall trip. Whilst Cornwall is not mentioned in the book, the author was from Cornwall and it is believed that Cornwall provides the setting for the novel. One of the best books I’ve ever read is ‘the Rotter’s Club’ by Jonathan Coe. It’s a coming of age story set in 1970s Birmingham. It’s written from many different perspectives and is utterly wonderful. Happy reading!
Rebecca is one of my favourite books every Laura, I reread it about once a year! A friend gave me The Rotter’s Club when I was stuck at home with snapped Achilles tendon, agree, a wonderful book!
If you love Rebecca then I highly recommend Sally Beauman’s Rebecca’s Tale. It is a sort of prequel written from the perspectives of four characters (including Rebecca!) – it is absolutely amazing!
I’m a little late here but I could’ve forgive myself if I didn’t recommend my fav books…
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Just phenomenal. Loved it loved it.
Wolf Hall is just brilliant. As is the Goldfinch, blew my away just as The Secret History did.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is superb and Every Last One still haunts me now (in a good way!)
Some great choices here and such an amazing response from fellow readers! I’ve recently started a fiction blog called GIRL, 20 and I would love it if you gave it a read. I’ve just reviewed Nina Stibbe’s Man At The Helm which comes out this Thursday – it’s a hilarious and very touching portrait of single motherhood in the 1970s http://girltwenty20.wordpress.com
I have just got back from two weeks spent reading every day and couldn’t wait to get to the library to stock up on more books! Thank you so much for all the tips. I have chosen ‘Room’.
The new book by the author of ‘The Husband’s Secret’ is even better! Got it at the airport and had read it by day two of the holiday!