Urgent Plea.
This is not my post for today - I will put that on later. But I have just discovered that it is my turn to recommend the next book for our Book Club and the meeting is next Monday. I have not read a single book this month which I consider is suitable. Please has anyone a good suggestion? If so could you post the title urgently. Rachel - you recommended The Reader which was a brilliant choice and generated much discussion - have you anything else? Thanks in anticipation.
I've just finished "The Librarian" by Salley Vickers: really undemanding but strangely reminiscent of an earlier era.
ReplyDeleteKarl Ove Knausgard, A Death in the Family. It is the first of a series. I have only read that one, but he is a good writer so anything by him I think would be good.
ReplyDeleteKnausgard's book is an autobiographical novel which I highly recommend.
The Lost Man- Jane Harper. Set in Australia on a family's cattle ranches in the outback; two brothers find their third brother dead in the middle of nowhere.......(no more spoilers) - but there are a number of issues that arise that take the reader in other directions and make the story interesting. I found it gripping and really well-written. Easily the best book I've read all year.
ReplyDeleteThe Ballroom by Anna Hope.
ReplyDeleteHotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.
The Familiars by Stacey Halls.
Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers.
Hope this helps.
'The Garden of Evening Mists' by Tan Twan Eng,-Booker prize winner- sounds dreary when you read the descriptions, but a fascinating and haunting book, or Sally Vickers 'Grandmothers' being read on Radio 4 at the moment, which I think is gently subversive or Ann Patchett's 'Bel Canto'.
ReplyDeleteI think all of the above would generate good discussion at a Book Club.
Good luck.
J.P.
I am currently reading "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" by Elif Shafak. It is set in Istanbul and very readable.
ReplyDeleteHere the link to a review in the Guardian, which you might find interesting: Guardian Review
I have also read "The Bastard of Istanbul" by the same author and I liked this a lot.
Virgil Wander...
ReplyDeleteWhere the Crawdads Sing. Loved it. Beautifully written, and informative.
ReplyDeleteThe Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I read it years ago and it stays with me still. Very readable and moving. I just saw it has been on the New York Times best seller list for 421 weeks... it is that good.
ReplyDeleteDevon
David Park
ReplyDeleteTraveller in a strange land
‘A walk in the Woods. ‘ by Bill Bryson - ‚not to be read in public for fear of emitting loud snorts‘ - The Times
ReplyDeleteI'm not a member of your club but I strongly recommend The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Greetings from British Columbia, Canada
ReplyDelete"A Single Thread" by Tracy Chvalier is set in an English village and is fiction based on fact: the famous tapestry kneelers in the town's church. This author also wrote "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" which was later made into a movie.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book and wish the author would write a sequel to it, but so far, she doesn't do that.
Wishing you well!
"Sounds Like Titanic" by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman. It is one of the best memoirs that I've ever read. It’s a rich, powerful book, far more than the simple story of a young girl pretend playing the violin. Everyone should read this book.
ReplyDelete'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. An unusual title but a lovely light read. Sheila
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all these suggestions - there is enough here to keep us going for ages - I had made a list of half a dozen for members to discuss and choose which one to have as our enext month's choice.
ReplyDelete'Ridley Walker' by Russell Hoban. It is never a good idea to ask people for book recommendations, but you did.
ReplyDeleteMiss Buncle’s Book by D E Stevenson. 1936.
ReplyDeleteA charming and funny novel about a woman who writes a book about a woman who writes a book about her village and people recognise themselves and respond typically with hilarious results.
I will just add two favourites;
ReplyDeleteThe Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.
The Plot - A Biography of an English Acre by Madeline Bunting. Lovely North Yorkshire story about her father's plot of land near Sutton Bank and the chapel he built on it.
How serious and how recent a book?
ReplyDeleteVery serious - "Five Smooth Stones" by Ann Faribairn.
Something light and fluffy but very entertaining - and of the books by Donna Andrews (mysteries).
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
ReplyDeleteThe Salt Path. You will need tissues but it is sensitively written.
ReplyDelete