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

So so many but recently our book group read JJ Moyes The Giver of Stars about the packhorse librarians in Kentucky, never heard of them, and I still think about them now. Loved most of Thomas Hardy.

I'm another who will go with Grapes of Wrath. Recently read The Radium girls and couldn't put it out of my mind for days. It was just harrowing.

Educated by Tara Westover.

Never let me go Kaseo Isheguro.
Where the Crawdads sing

'Silk and Cyanide' by Leo Marks, son of the man who ran 84 Charing Cross Road, about the code makers and breakers of SOE in WW2. At times very funny, it is very, very sad as he talks about the agents he trained, like Violette Szabo. He wrote 'The Life that I have' poem for her, to help her remember her code.

I think that in recent years Never Let Me Go, it was a harrowing read and I felt quite upset even though it’s fiction, it’s so heart breaking.
Also All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Duerr ( set in WW2) and
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

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!

Everything by Terry Pratchett

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.

'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.

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.

Oh - and Puffball - that was a good one!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Delila
Agree about The Grapes of Wrath.

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

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

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 !