Help. Can’t read.

I second the Cazalets. Easy to read but beautifully written. Also the Rabbit books by John Updike (I love a family saga!) and the Forsyte Saga. I’m currently making my way through the five Ripley (The Takented Mr Ripley) books by Patricia Highsmith. Again, easy to read with a great storyline. I hope you get your mojo back OP x

Children books are a great idea. I’ve been decluttering and found a number of my DC’s classics so decided to read/reread them and it’s been most enjoyable. I’m currently reading The House of Arden by E Nesbit. I’d forgotten how well written some of these books are, they are sophisticated and don’t talk down to children.

For adult books, there’s The Cazalet Saga, five books in all, the Miss Read books and also Rosamund Pilcher.

The current trend for psychological thrillers is very addictive . Writers like Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena, Claire Douglas, C.L.Taylor, and many more.
As a lifelong keen reader I hope you find something to enjoy. Books are wonderful. If you want non fiction that isn't too serious then try Bill Bryson. His ,"The Road to Little Dribbling" is so funny, it's a journey around Britain. All his books are so amusing. Good luck.

midgey

How about funny books? Martin Jarvis reading William for instance, Jeeves and Wooster.

Don’t want to “listen” sorry plus I really don’t like marrying Jarvis sorry !,

Urmstongran

Because I was emotional I forgot to add the book!
No. 7

Yes read that too ! For book club

I often find i can’t concentrate on anything ‘heavy’. Books I have enjoyed recently that I found easy to read
Clare Chambers - Small Pleasures, In a Good Light
Lissa Evans - Crooked Heart, Old Baggage
Jenny Eclair - Moving
Belinda Bauer - Exit

You say “no” to non-fiction but not all is ‘serious’. I enjoy nature writing eg Robert McFarlane, Richard Mabey, or, going back a few years, Akenfield by Ronald Blythe, a story of an English village and its people.

I am currently reading Abir Mukherjee - A Rising Man. I could only find the large print copy in the library, the day I went, and although I don’t need LP it does make it seem easy to read. It’s a crime novel set in India after WW1 and beautifully narrated by the newly arrived English investigator, a traumatised ex-soldier.

Hope you get your reading mojo back, Lucca

Pythagoras

Away With The Penguins by Hazel Pryor - light reading that's also interesting.

Oh yes, I read that last year, very enjoyable

How could I forget it ?

Away With The Penguins by Hazel Pryor - light reading that's also interesting.

Good suggestion Nannarose

Penguin Children's Classics:

The Borrowers (I re-read it a few years ago and loved it again)
Goodnight Mr Tom
Charlotte's Web
Ring of Bright Water

Nannarose that is spot on! I totally forgot I did just that at one point in my life. I read ‘Winnie the Pooh’. I felt it was all I could cope with and it comforted me. Thank you for the memory and your wise words. It might just be what Lucca needs right now.

Lovely book recommendations, but I would look at it differently. I have come across this in people who are bereaved or ill.
I suggest going back to books you loved as a child or young adult. Those kind of books are often easy to read, and as you once loved them you don't have to follow every little bit.
As you come to them again, it will, with luck, spark the idea to follow something up.
I have done it myself when things are difficult, and I hope that it might work for you.

Bet even!

Alexander McCall Smith....the Isabel Dalhousie series. Such gentle but uplifting reading. Recommend you start at the beginning of the series. Best you can't lay them down! ?

You might enjoy Matt Haig, The Midnight Library. I also second Anne Tyler, I've read all of her work.

If you like the classics, you might enjoy Madeleine Miller. She has three books, Song of Achilles, Circe, and more recently Galatea.

How about funny books? Martin Jarvis reading William for instance, Jeeves and Wooster.

Because I was emotional I forgot to add the book!
No. 7

I’m trying to think of ones that I’ve enjoyed recently that didn’t take too much concentration (all these dotting about in different time zones are starting to feel like that for me now).

I could recommend The Motion of the Body through Space, Lionel Shriver, and The Family Holiday, Elizabeth Noble. The Sight of You by Holly Miller. And I’d second Ann Tyler, if you haven’t read her books?

And finally, (I’ll shut up now and let someone else have a turn) No. 7

This is in my top 5 of favourites ever.
I recommended it to a group of book clubbers years ago. They all loved it so much they arranged a mini bus trip it to the plague village of Eyam after reading it!

I do hope you might find one or two of my suggestions helpful Lucca.
Reading is such a joy to me. I can sense your sadness in trying to get your reading mojo back.

When I went through a seriously bad time emotionally 14y ago, a dear friend gave me a bookmark. She knew my circumstances (one of the few people who knew the full story). On the back of the bookmark she wrote ‘there will always be books to read’.

It made me cry then and fills me up now just thinking of that most awful time in my life.

Sorry. I’m wittering on.

Bill Bryson?
I must be the only person who hasn't read his books.

Thanks all. I appreciate your input.
GSM for some reason I’ve never been keen on short stories?d
No to non fiction .. too serious !
Thanks ug ivecread American dirt but will look at others

No. 6

And from my bookcase ... No. 5
Written in 1938 and has line drawings too which are charming in themselves!
All the better reason not to have on a Kindle.
Our book club loved this one two years ago when we read it!

No. 4

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No. 3