Is anyone able to recommend a book as good as this please?

He said She said did have a surprising ending and was a good read. I also enjoyed Light between the Oceans.

I had forgotten Any Human Heart, I loved that one.
I have tried to like The Goldfinch, and I admire her writing, but couldn't get on with it all.
I thought The Secret History was good, and also the one ( forget the title) set in the deep South.
Joanne Harris is a good writer, I like all her books.

Donna Tartt books, although brilliant, seem overlong and could do with some more editing IMHO.I wish I could think of the deep South book title by her, as it was really good.

Loved harold fry cried and laughed

Have you tried the Old Filth trilogy, by Jane Gardam? I read them with my book club. They are not something that I would have normally chosen, but so glad that I read them, and they are now in my top books of all time.
I too loved A Man Named Ove, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

I have just started reading The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor. I have read other books by her and starting this book reminded me why. She is such a brilliant writer, which these days seem to be few and far between. I also have a collection of her short stories and they are excellent.

I run a reading group & the best book we have read for ages if not forever is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.
It will make you laugh a lot & cry a bit. Brilliant book. When I finished it I went back to beginning & read it again.

I love all of the Jodi Picoult books, but her latest one 'Small Great Things' is one of her best. I was absolutely riveted, a real page turner with an ending that takes you by surprise.

Nearly forgot. 'Time and Time again' by Ben Elton.
Another book with an ending that takes you by surprise.
I loved it.

'A Man called Ove' is brilliant. A lovely book is 'My Life in Houses' by Margaret Forster - it's about all the houses she has lived in. You might cry at the end - be warned.

I too enjoyed 'Children of the Archbishop' by Norman Collins. Read it years ago along with books by Elizabeth Goudge (try her 'City of Bells'. I re-read and re-read PG Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster stories. Loved Mapp and Lucia and the classic 'Diary of a Nobody'.

Recent books include 'All the Light we cannot see' and Eleanor Oliphant. Didn't get on with Elizabeth Strout's 'Lucy Barton', even though it's much hyped.

The best book I have ever read is The Sojourner by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
And I am a 70 Plus bookworm!

Outlander by Diane Gabaldon and the other 8 in the series

jillyblom59- we obviously share the same good taste! Jane Gardam is a wonderful writer.
I recently downloaded Lucy Worsley's 'Jane Austen at home' for 99p. It's excellent. She writes as well as she presents. A clever lady and fun too.

That girl in the letters.

I've had 'All the Light We Cannot See' in my wish list on Amazon for a while now and have just ordered it. I would recommend 'The Tatooist of Auschwitz' by Heather Morris and 'Theo' by Amanda Prowse.

mabon1
I have.
I was.

A book I turn to time and again (6 times) and find incredibly touching, like nothing I've ever read before or since, is The Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho.
My second pick would be Kes by Barry Hines.

IMO there were a lot of (unintentional?) subliminal messages in the book about Harold Fry, messages that tell us a lot about humanity, frailty and compassion. A bit like winter, when the land and trees are bare and you see the starkness of hills and drabness of empty towns through sheets of rain, shorn of all light and softness.

Ooh. Where to start.mive 9nly red 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by JB. Brilliant.
Recently read 'The Dry'by Jane Harper. Set in Aus in drought. Late nights up reading. Felt full of it for hours and days after. Highly recommend. Immediately downloaded her next 'Force of Nature. Another page turner. Pre ordered her next..
I loved most of the books listed. Ove, Eleanor Oliphant, etc would recommend 'Elizabeth is Missing' by Emma Healey;
'Spill, Simmer, Falter,Wither' by Sarah Baume; 'Olive Kitteridge' by Elizabeth Stroud (my fav of hers by a mile); 'The Boy at the Door' by Alex Dahl and all the detective, Ari Thor Arason,series set in Iceland by Ragnar Jonasson, translated by Quentin Bates. Not action packed thrill,ers, more slow burn,good characters, stories with depth.
Just started 'The Eskimo in the Net' by Gerard Beirne. Promising

GabriellaG the end of "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" left me reeling, (don't want to say why, as wouldn't like to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it)

Didn't see it coming.

PS. GN members who have read the book and "know" me, will understand.

I’ve just finished The Heart’s Invisible Furies and it was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time for all the reasons Alima said. I’ve just started another by John Boyne, The History of Loneliness, so far so good although I don’t feel it’s going to be as good as The Heart, which I just found by accident in the library.

Lemongrove The Little Friend?

Enjoyed tremendously See You in September by Charity Norman. read all through the night!
Eleanor Oliphant, Man called Ove and Harold Fry all good.
Some of my good reads this year.....
Calling Major Tom..David Barnett
Dear Mrs Bird A j Pearce
Tattooist of Auschwitz
Tin Man was highly rated but I didn't enjoy.
Have read so many good ones, also read a lot of rubbish when feeling too unwell to concentrate, but it gets me through the night! Love reading. However unlike most people here I cant recall the detail weeks later unfortunately.

Thanks to Alima for starting this thread. I feel like a child in a sweetshop, having all these ideas for books to read. I too borrow e-books from the library, and think it's a wonderful scheme, though I think I shall always prefer physical books. At least it saves me from hauling a bag full of books back home, although I used to love the anticipation of enjoying my choices. I too love Patrick Gale, Margaret Forster and Elizabeth Taylor, but can't get on with Jodi Picoult, which just goes to show how different we all are. I loved "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" and " All The Light We Cannot See". I have to add a couple of authors that never disappoint me: Helen Dunmore and Alice Munro.