Need a good novel to read!

[Jenny in GA]

After almost five months of on-again, off-again, I finally finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and am ready to plunge right into something new, but I don't know what. Any suggestions?

 

Broad question, I know.

 

Here's some things I've liked before:

 

Maeve Binchy is probably my favorite author (I particularly loved Circle of Friends and The Glass Lake, each of which I read twice.)

 

I like Anne Tyler, although I sometimes find her too depressing. (My favorite was A Patchwork Planet.)

 

I liked The Help a lot. I also enjoyed a quick read a few years ago called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

 

My all-time favorite read in high school (and what I wrote my senior paper on) was Catcher in the Rye.

 

Anyway, what have you liked? Any suggestions? And/or is there already a thread which discusses this?

 

Jenny

http://beanmommyandthethreebeans.blogspot.com/

[jenL]

Have you read The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini? Both are fabulous!

 

I also recently enjoyed Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.

[ChristusG]

I'm currently reading The Hunger Games. It's really good so far!

[ScoutTN]

I just discovered and am enjoying the Mrs. Pollifax books, thanks to a recommendation from this board.

 

Recently re-read The Winds of War by Herman Wouk and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

[Stacia]

Some I've enjoyed:

 

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

Bel Canto by ann Patchett

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Dancer by Colum McCann

[ktog29]

How about Alexander McCall Smith? He wrote the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. He also has two more series set in Scotland. Sometimes their hard to find in an IRL bookstore...some of them are shelved in mysteries.

 

Hope you find something great!

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I, too, enjoyed Hunger Games and the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Right now I'm really enjoying The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

[Liz CA]

I, too, enjoyed Hunger Games and the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Right now I'm really enjoying The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

 

I always like the mystery genre. I love "Trent's Last Case" by E.C. Bentley - a classic by all accounts IMHO, or if you like humor and suspense, try Elizabeth Peters and one of the Amelia Peabody Series. Ann Perry writes suspense novels set in Victorian times and always deals with some social ill - well written but not necessarily humorous.

[RoughCollie]

I can't recommend individual books because when I like an author, I pretty much read everything they have written. Right off the top of my head, these are some authors whose books I like a lot.

 

I like books by Elizabeth Berg, Maisie Mosco, Anna Jacobs, Noah Gordon, Stieg Larsson, Charlaine Harris, Lisa See, Elizabeth Strout, Lilian Harry (Corner House Girls), Jan Karon, Francine Rivers (Mark of the Lion series), Jeffrey Archer, Elizabeth Ogilvie, Lorna Landvik, and Henning Mankell.

 

I liked Nora Roberts' Irish Trilogy and Chesapeake Bay Saga.

 

I like all the standard mystery bestsellers by Lisa Gardner, James Patterson (The Women's Murder Club), Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum), John Sanford, Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, Nelson DeMille, Stuart Woods, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffrey Deaver, Robert B. Parker, Dick Francis, and so forth.

 

I really like the Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear, the Flavia De Luce books by Alan Bradley, Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay, The Fire Dream, by Franklin Allen Leib, and Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.

 

I find a lot of good books on Amazon and Amazon UK by looking at books others bought who like the same authors I do, or by searching fiction on Amazon with key words like "world war II". Sometimes I just take books out of the library on spec, but the last time I did this I got 15 duds.

Edited May 15, 2010 by RoughCollie
I keep thinking of more authors. I'll try to stop now.

[kalanamak]

After almost five months of on-again, off-again, I finally finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and am ready to plunge right into something new, but I don't know what. Any suggestions?

 

Broad question, I know.

 

Here's some things I've liked before:

 

Maeve Binchy is probably my favorite author (I particularly loved Circle of Friends and The Glass Lake, each of which I read twice.)

 

I like Anne Tyler, although I sometimes find her too depressing. (My favorite was A Patchwork Planet.)

 

I liked The Help a lot. I also enjoyed a quick read a few years ago called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

 

My all-time favorite read in high school (and what I wrote my senior paper on) was Catcher in the Rye.

 

Anyway, what have you liked? Any suggestions? And/or is there already a thread which discusses this?

 

Jenny

http://beanmommyandthethreebeans.blogspot.com/

 

Have you read any Hesse? My favorite is Rosshalde, but it has a medical issue, which is why it my favorite. I also love the three short stories at the end of The Glass Bead Game.

 

How about The Razor's Edge?

And of course, since this is me typing, I have to mention Kristin Lavransdatter.:)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Anything by Tracy Chevalier

 

The Rashi's Daughters Trilogy by Maggie Anton

[BikeBookBread]

I just finished North & South and Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. I loved both of them...in fact, I was so sad each time I finished.

[Erica in PA]

After almost five months of on-again, off-again, I finally finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and am ready to plunge right into something new, but I don't know what. Any suggestions?

 

Broad question, I know.

 

Here's some things I've liked before:

 

Maeve Binchy is probably my favorite author (I particularly loved Circle of Friends and The Glass Lake, each of which I read twice.)

 

I like Anne Tyler, although I sometimes find her too depressing. (My favorite was A Patchwork Planet.)

 

I liked The Help a lot. I also enjoyed a quick read a few years ago called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

 

My all-time favorite read in high school (and what I wrote my senior paper on) was Catcher in the Rye.

 

Anyway, what have you liked? Any suggestions? And/or is there already a thread which discusses this?

 

Jenny

http://beanmommyandthethreebeans.blogspot.com/

 

You have two of my all-time favorites on your list: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Catcher in the Rye. I have a bit of a melodramatic streak when it comes to reading. Some other books I have really enjoyed are A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Lovely Bones, Great Expectations, The Hiding Place, The Amateur Marriage, and Memoirs of a Geisha. I will have to look at the other recommendations you've received, because I am looking for a good novel myself!

[Jlynn]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and

 

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

 

both of these were great summer time reads for me!

[Maureen]

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn is one of my all time favorites.

[Jenny in GA]

Thanks for all the recommendations; I am putting some of my Wish List.

 

I just remembered one I read a long time ago and liked; it seemed like something this crowd would enjoy: Glittering Images by Susan Howatch. There was also a sequel of sorts called Glamorous Powers.

 

Jenny

[Jenny in GA]

Oh, and how could I forget I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb?

 

Jenny

[OrganicAnn]

I first read Maeve Binchy in a college course. The other contemporary female Irish writer that I read in the course was Mary Lavin. I don't have a specific novel to recommend. She wrote several collections of short stories, so you could read a short story of hers to see if you like it.

 

Another author I like to recommend is Nick Hornby.

[jvenice]

I'm currently reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. He has spun the soul NY and the lives of several characters through a web of a story in several voices with complexity and sometimes heartbreaking purity. I think it won a National Book Award. He is an Irish writer and has the wit and wisdom you expect from the land of artists and poets. I think we will see much more of him...he has the soul of Joyce and the questions of Beckett. I am awestruck thus far. It has plenty of language though and shows real NY life in the 70's for immigrants and natives alike.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Are you looking for fun or profound? :D

 

I love Maeve Binchy too. I have all of her books and I've read them over and over and over again. I think Light a Penny Candle is my very favorite.

 

I just finished Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie because it was a freebie for Kindle. I really enjoyed it. There's some abuse mentioned in the book, but it's not detailed--just alluded to (in case you're sensitive to things like that).

 

I also recently read Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg. It was pretty good.

 

I also love Elizabeth Gaskell--someone above mentioned her. I loved Wives and Daughters and Cranford and Ruth. Mary Barton was depressing. I don't think I've read anything else by her, yet--working my way through.

 

Wilkie Collins is a fun one. Victorian mystery type stuff. You can't go wrong with The Moonstone or The Woman in White.

 

Also check out Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier.

Edited May 16, 2010 by LemonPie

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Oh, I forgot about Cecilia Ahern!

 

I've read There's No Place Like Here, P.S. I Love You, and If You Could See Me Now and liked them all.

[lauracolumbus]

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and

 

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

 

 

 

Both of these were great summer time reads for me!

I also like anything by Elizabeth Berg and Ann Patchet. And I recently read March and enjoyed it.

 

If you have time, it would be great to stroll the bookstore aisles.

 

Laura

[tiffany k]

I really enjoyed The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley is very good as well and he has a new one out that I haven't read yet. I've also enjoyed Dissolution and Dark Fire by CJ Sansom, they are mysteries set in Henry VIII's reign.