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

Joining in the thread a bit late in the day but I have to agree with the op and say that The Hearts Invisible Furies is a wonderful read and can quite understand how difficult it is to find a really good book to read next. Like others I can recommend Patrick Gale, I’ve recently read his latest book, Take Nothing With You which was good but possibly not his best. I can also recommend Tin Man by Sarah Winman and anything by Kate Atkinson especially her two WW2 novels:Time and Time Again and A God In Ruins.

Itbis as GabriellaG says a matter of taste. My husband reads a lot of non fiction especially politics. Thankfully his son does too, so they can discuss them together. So not my taste.

Wouldn't it be great if we could have a page on GN where people list favourite books with a sentence or so about them if they wish, so we could all refer back to this?

Cavewoman thank you, yes ‘The Little Friend’ by Donna Tarrt, a marvellous book with every human emotion, as they say, in it and beautifully written.

Loving all the suggestions on here, I’ve downloaded quite a few of them as free samples on amazons kindle books so looking forward to trying them. Some of my favourite authors include Linwood Barclay, John Grisham, Michael Connolly ( Harry Bosch series) and Stephen Leather (Dan Shepherd series). Just finished The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, gripping.

Thanks for your ideas.

Esme not Esmeralda

Oldbatty I struggle with the type of books I used to love. I still read them but a lot of the time I have to go with something lighter. I have CFS and I am tired a lot and it affects my concentration. My mum stopped reading when she got older which I found sad, as she loved talking about books. I'm determined not to give up. Many of the books recommended on this thread aren't too heavy. All I can suggest is that you read reviews, and also get books from the library. If you aren't enjoying the book after a few pages then stop. At least you haven't wasted money. And quite often if you like one book by an author you will like more. Also if you read a book and forget something its easy to flick back. Not so easy on a Kindle. Keeper of Lost Things is good.

The Vanishing Act of Esmeralda Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell.
I failed to finish The Goldfinch but really enjoyed A Man Called Ove.
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.
Loving these suggestions.

Blossom I read a version of this many many years ago (+30?) called Walk Across America by David Jenkins. I still have it plus the National Geographic magazine relating to it. I would love to do this. I must read Greyhound.

Yes hear hear! Thanks Alima for the thread. So many good recommendations ?

I have recommended this book on another thread some months ago. It is one of the best reads I have had this year. It is titled 'Greyhound' by Stephan Piper and is about a young, unaccompanied boy's 2000 mile journey by Greyhound bus across the US.

Several people have mentioned Patrick Gale whose books I really enjoy , but am I alone in not enjoying The hearts invisible furies? I didn't finish it .

I wonder if anyone can help me out? I used to read a lot but I struggle to concentrate these days.

I don't like chic lit or Marian Keys type things but I can't cope with anything too convoluted or heavy.
I like characters, people, stories. I enjoyed The God of Small Things for example.
Can anybody suggest anything please? I have just ordered The Keeper of Lost Things. Thanks in advance.

Another Jane Gardam fan here. Just read Queen of the Tambourine and loved it. Also, The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. It’s a lovely feel-good story, easy reading but not chick-lit (which I don’t like).

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.

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.

Lemongrove The Little Friend?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

mabon1
I have.
I was.