A book that has made you think long after you have finished reading it

Urmstongran - I'm going to look up A little Life on Amazon right now ! I , too , loved The Women's Room and The Group. Read both when I was young and impressionable. Anyone read The American wife ? I thought that was brilliant.

Grandmajean

I think if I read The Women’s Room now, it wouldn’t have the same affect, but at the time it seemed to be so inspiring, and a book about ordinary modern women, I still have my original copy.

I think that lots of books have made a huge impression on me from very young to now.

Many that other people have listed, but also the nightmare utopia of Brave New World, and I had a period in my teens of discovering and reading horror struck about the Holocaust and Hiroshima. They together with other stuff underpinned my attitude for the rest of my life.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is also up there for horror. My heart bleeds for those women, and any woman experiencing suppression.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver; Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo.

I did really like A Thousand Splendid Sons I should have listed that one too, such a heart breaking ending.

Another book that made a big impression was Educated, a memoir of how a young American woman, Tara Westover, who without any formal education and all the odds stacked against her, managed to become a Cambridge graduate and then, if I remember rightly on to post graduate studies at Harvard.

Urmston I've heard much about A Little Life, some loving it others finding it gruelling but I'm ever looking for that next special book to fall in love with............could this be one of those?

Definitely!!
It has unpleasant undertones so don’t expect it to be a light read. But gripping? Hell yes. I couldn’t put it down.

We have similar tastes I think Terribull (I’ve read your list bar two) so I’d be very surprised if this isn’t a book that stays with you for a long time afterwards.

Grandmajean my eldest daughter sent this at the time... “oh mum - one certainly couldn’t use the word ‘enjoyable’ but I read it voraciously and it hits like a punch in the gut. I was terrified to turn the pages sometimes in fear of what might unfold. But I too cared for the characters and felt a ‘loss’ somehow when I exhaustedly closed the book for the last time. To think. I’ve put it back on your bookshelf here. Thank you for the recommendation”.

Sara1954

Grandmajean

I think if I read The Women’s Room now, it wouldn’t have the same affect, but at the time it seemed to be so inspiring, and a book about ordinary modern women, I still have my original copy.

Sara1954-agree ! I read The Group years ago and recommended it to our present day book club. Most didn't like it . Guess it might be an age thing as they are mostly about twenty years younger than I . Might read The Women's Room again !

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

Gone with the Wind - I read it twice, many years apart and how my opinion of all the characters changed.

The Secret History - Donna Tart

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Delila
Agree about The Grapes of Wrath.

Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owen. It's fiction but it stayed with me for days, I could not stop thinking of the plight of the abandoned little girl and those that helped her. Very moving.

The L shaped Room
Sons and Lovers
Of Human Bondage
Rain
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Tess of the d'urbervilles
Madame Bovary
Anna Karenina
To name a few

simtib

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini still makes me shudder whenever I think of it. How could people be so horrid.

Yes. That’s the book that, in recent years left me feeling numb for ages afterwards. But going back to my youth Orwell’s ‘A Clergymans Daughter’ made me realise how easy it is to go into a downwards spiral and not be able to get back up again: as relevant now as it was then. And Zola’s ‘Germinal’. Something that formed the basis of my political beliefs and, again, as relevant now as it was then. I daren’t read Never Let Me Go. If the book had the same effect on me that the film did I’d drown in sadness.

Gajargran
I’ve not long finished that one. I loved it.
Your right in what you say the plight of the little girl heart breaking.

Recently finished Ice twins by S. K. Tremayne.. Very atmospheric and some lovely pictures of scenery that really enjoyed. Kept me guessing to the end.

I have read The Belle Fields and sequel Ashes of Roses written by Lora Adams several times now since written a few years ago. They certainly stopped me in my tracks at the time and I enjoyed the re-read just as much as the Have read The Belle Fields and sequel Ashes of Roses by Lora Adams several times now and enjoyed them just as much second time around! Funny, sad, emotional, be prepared for the twist at the end! Had to endure over a year for the sequel though - couldn't wait for it to be published to see what became of the main characters and it was worth the wait! If anyone gives them a go hope they enjoy - problem is I just couldn't put them down and still enjoy in my mind!

grandMattie

Oh and “The Female Eunuch” which was banned in Australia where I was living at the time. I was sent a copy by an acquaintance and read it with all the gullibility and idealism of an extremely naive 20 year old.

Wow! I never knew that it was banned in Australia!
I read it when I was 13 - which was probably a bit young.
I read loads when I was a teenager.
A Clockwork Orange made me think a great deal (so much better than the film).
Fay Weldon also had a big effect on me.
More recently - Notes on a Scandal.
Ive re-read it a few times.
I love Zoe Heller's books. I don't know why she hasn't had a new book out for so long.

Fanny
I loved Faye Weldon when I first discovered her . Early books like Female Friends, and Down Among the Women were really good, but I’ve gone off hat over the years.

Yes, same here Sara.
Her early books were so different to anything else. I think that she really captured the zeitgeist of 60s feminism. I read them in the 80s though - but they were still relevant.
I think that the first one that I read was The Fat Woman's Joke.

Oh - and Puffball - that was a good one!

Frank Herbert's Dune. It deals in depth with the need to conserve natural resources long before such issues became fashionable. Environmentalists have pointed out that Dune's depicting a planet as a complex—almost living—thing has influenced the growth of movements such as Extinction Rebellion.

'American Dirt' by Jeanine Cummins - although quite gruelling and horrific gives you a new perspective on those making that awful journey from Mexico to the US. Very well written.

I also loved Fay Weldon's earlier books, many mentioned here, Praxis was the first one of hers I read then I went through most of them. Somewhere along the line she went right off. Her autobiography is very good though, she's had an interesting life.

Everything by Terry Pratchett

Ruby - I agree with you about American Dirt. An enthralling book. Another recent memorable read for me was While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart. So many good reads!