Some good books I'd like to recommend

I have loved Jane Austen since being a teenager, and if you haven't read any of her books you have a treat in store - Pride and Prejudice would be a good start; you have to get used to the style, because it wasn't written recently, but Jane wrote at a time when there were many great novelists around and she was one of them. I have belatedly discovered how much I love George Eliot! Should have read her long ago, but have now devoured them all - again, get used to the style and you have some deeply interesting stories with depth - very gripping; I'd start with Silas Marner (not very long) or Adam Bede - both grip you and you understand so much about the life ordinary people lived then.

tiggypiro I have just finished pillars of the earth what mammoth read it was. I too recommend it,don't be put off by the size of the book. I've ordered the sequel from the library. I'm reluctant to read anything else because the story of Kingsbridge is embedded in my head. That's often the case with any of ken folletts books. I believe there's a third so it may be sometime before I get round to my normal genre reads. I'm a lover of Anne Tyler, khaled hosseini, Victoria Hislop and I've read and enjoyed Erica James. They are great holiday reads. I've just downloaded TerriBull's recommendation The kind worth killing.

Have you tried Louise Penny; good landscapes of Canada and characters that one grows to love so much that you can't wait to read the next one. Everything under heaven by the author anno wrote about is free on Amazon so I'll start the Silk Road adventures today! Will send a recommendation (or otherwise) Belle Fields and sequel look an interesting reads. Next ones for the kindle!

Just a quick note - good news - the sequel to The Belle Fields mentioned earlier has now been published. I've been looking forward to this book since thoroughly enjoying Lora Adams' first in the series. Got it on Amazon as an e.book - the title - Ashes of Roses. Read it in 2 or 3 sittings - couldn't put it down! Very well written again with obvious thorough research. It's answered many ?'s on how most of the characters in the original ended up - glad some thrived and others got all they deserved!! Very pleasant reading. Hope anyone who's interested has a chance to read both and enjoy as much as I have. Good reading!

I think I've just come across a book by accident which I think may be quite unique? Maybe any subscribers on here can put me right if there are others? It's certainly been a good read and took me back to my childhood in the 50's and 60's. It's a compilation of poems written by 5 sisters who all contribute with their memories of childhood, teen years and later into adult life. Some are very touching and emotional - some cheery remembering their Christmases, pets, their mum and dad etc etc. It seems they had an up and down childhood with a loving overworked mum and a dad who worked all hours but' liked a drink'! A lovely addition to the book are the illustrations included - some very poignant!
The book is available on Amazon as an E.Book but I've also seen paperbacks and hardback copies on Lulu.com.
"Say Kangaroo" by Five Sisters - I can definitely recommend this one to you folks if any of you get a copy would love to know what you think!
Cheers and good reading

just reading another fred kitchen book - 'life on the land'. it follows the year at a farm and the characters are very well described. set in edwardian england the annual events and patterns of farm life are testament to fred kitchen's working life - his knowledge and experience shines through! just finished the belle fields by lora adams for the 2nd time and enjoyed even better than my first read. it never fails to surprise me how much i missed the 1st time round. again set in late victorian / early edwardian times it follows the life of a local village girl who lands a job in the local 'big house'. the ups and downs for the main character (Emily) beggars belief and the descriptions of annual celebrations and the lives of those that had it all and ordinary folks trying to make ends meet is excellent! 2 good reads for you?

Will do. I see it has great feedback on Amazon.

Hope you enjoy it annodomini and perhaps you will come back here with your opinion of it once you have read it.

Thanks for the recommendation, Terribull. I have put it on my wishlist.

Have just read a really good thriller "The Kind Worth Killing" not too formulaic, loads of twists and turns and an unexpected ending, would recommend it to those who like their crime.

Anything by Alice Munro. Her output isn't huge-mostly short stories but they are brilliantly written. A Canadian author she eclipses Margaret Atwood in style although MA writes much longer things. Try "The Progress of Love".

I've come to this late, and am about the sixth person to recommend Anne Tyler - I haven't read her latest yet, A Spool of Blue Thread, but I' ve loved the others (and identified with so many of her characters). Anything by Kate Atkinson too, though I didn't "get" Emotionally Weird, and David Nicholls. Peter James, Peter Robinson and Mark Billingham for crime, and the early Patricia Cornwell and P D James (not the later ones).

Erica James. I am not normally a fiction reader but her books keep me thinking, her plots wend their way to a conclusion, or not. The only one i did not like was the one about a writers group.

Here is a list

ericajames.co.uk/collection/

For those who love countryside/nature writing, can I recommend H is for Hawk bybHelen Macdonald. Beautiful, lyrical writng.

I'm just reading The Dandelion Years by Erica James and it's really lovely.

I agree about A Thousand Splendid Suns, it was fantastic. The Kite Runner was good, but not as good. I was slightly disappointed in And the Mountains Echoed.
I`m now reading Into Danger, by Kate Adie. I thought it was going to be about her experiences reporting news from all over the world, but it`s actually about people who do dangerous things for a living. OK though.

Has any one read The man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks it has been recommended by our book club ? I have looked at on my kindle it appears to be about mental health issues

Yes I agree. And better than And the Mountains Echoed.

Khaled Hosseini -A Thousand Splendid Suns for a real insight into life in Afghanistan. Well written and moving. Be prepared to cry.
The Kite Runner is his first novel-good as well but ATSS is brilliant.

I`ve only read one of Victoria Hislop`s books, The Thread, an enjoyed it immensely. The Sunrise has been recommended to me as well, so I`ll probably give it a go, on the basis that one man`s meat is another man`s poison, we don`t all like the same things.
For some heartwarming reading, I can recommend books by Katie Flynn, mostly set around WW2 or the earlier parts of the last century. Also, in a similar genre, books by Annie Murray.

I love Ann Tyler and my DVD of the Accidental Tourist is almost worn out. My all time favourite of hers is Digging to America and follows two different Chinese babies adopted into two American families.
New on my list of favourites is Alexander McallSmith BUT only his Isabel Dalhousie novels.
I have just read Victoria Hislop The Sunrise and won't read another. it was recommended but it bored me. The characters are only drawn by what they look like and how they dress, that doesn't interest me so much I want to know how they think!

Recently joined Gransnet and happy to have found the book club. I've just finished Still Alice by Lisa Genova, about a fifty year old lady who is a Professor of psychology who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. The book tells the story from Alice's perspective of the progression of the disease and the reactions of her family. I would definitely recommend.

Hello fellow bookworms,

I recently compiled a Summer reading guide that I hope some of you might find useful. I am lucky enough to be sent lots of books to review and these all stood out.

I am always on the look out for books outside of my favourite genres (nature writing, travel, food writing, American lit, memoir and bio) as I do tend to get in a rut personally although I would also adore some recoms for books set in the USA, especially Hawai'i, the Deep South and New Mexico. We're going on a two month trip to the States next May, starting in N Carolina and travelling through the Deep South, ending in Louisiana and then another trip in October to New Mexico so I like the idea of a themed state by state reading odyssey...

I also love landscape writing (at a loss to know how to describe it better) such as Rob Cowen, Robert MacFarlane, Tom Cox, Mark Cocker, HE Bates non fiction, Kathleen Jamie and Linda Cracknell. If any of you are fellow landscape-ologists I'd love to 'chat'.

www.buryspy.com/life-and-style/books/item/596-summer-reading

An author I discovered by way of Kindle Daily Deals is an American writer, Dana Stabenow who writes mysteries set in Alaska. I got 'hooked' on the characters and the evocation of Alaskan scenery and culture. Her main character is Kate Shugak and the first in the series is 'A Cold Day for Murder.' Better known on the other side of the Atlantic, I think, but a growing number of fans over here.

I have recently finished The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark. A lovely story about a young Mother who falls in love with a house on Arran.