Please help. What shall I read next?

[mummytait]

I adored the time travellers wife and I'm SICK of reading trashy chick lit. I like something unusual and really enjoyed re-reading farenheit 451 and catch 22 recently. What do you recomend?

[China Doll]

How strong is your stomach? Perfume and Memoires of an Agnostic Dwarf are both books I've really enjoyed recently but they're... well, they can be very descriptive. And both are pretty far removed from chick lit!

Sophies World is good if you want a bit of a challenge and are interested in the philosophy. Beloved is great if you want something near to the bone and very moving.

The Lovely Bones is a a great story.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is a wonderful book.

If you feel like going back a few years then you've got your Austens and Brontes which aren't as chick lit as they're made to be. You could also counter balance them with some Mary Wolstencraft too. Frankenstein and Dracula. Oh yes, and Wuthering Heights... nice bit of Heathcliffe and Cathy.

For a bit of mystery, The Woman in White. Some of the modern who done it's are pretty good page turners too.

Not sure if that's any help...

[heathfield]

If you want to immerse yourself in a couple of seriously imaginative science fiction tomes, then 'Pandora's Star' and its sequel 'Judas Unchained' by Peter F Hamilton will keep you busy for quite a while! (You do need both books for the full story)

[mummytait]

Thank for those, I hate starting to read something and feeling like I should finish it just for the sake of reading, and i'v found ab ers recommendations very reliable in the past.

I'm off down the library.

[tickledtrout]

Try the Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (not sure on spelling)

[bensmum]

I agree that One Hundred Years of Solitude is a great book but I preferred Love in a Time of Cholera.
You could try Paulo Coelho as an author - most people know him for The Alchemist but he has written better books I think.
John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meaney is a little different - it's one of my favourite books.
A book which I didn't expect to oike but was very inmpressed with lately was Lionel Shriver's We need to Talk About Kevin

[DrBlockbuste]

mummytait ... Dr Blockbuster would suggest Ken McClure, The Lazarus Strain .. a fast moving thriller on Bird Flu and the FIRST bird flu thriller.

Did you know Sir Sean Connery phoned me and Ken about Dr Blockbuster's film mission?

Let Valentina explain at http://www.blockbusterbooks.co.uk/1.html

[spudqueen]

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute - a fantastic book.

[paulos66]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Mark Haddon

[pingping]

My Sister's Keeper; Plain Truth; or Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

[China Doll]

Oh yeah... 'We need to talk about Kevin' is brilliant! Hard going though, I had no liking for the either of the main characters so it was really hard for me to stick with at times as I was literally eaten up with loathing for them.

But I think that to give me that kind of reaction just shows how powerful it is.

[sophie_1003]

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (can't remember the author) was brilliant, quite easy to read but not chick litty!

[jno]

Carter Beats the Devil is my favourite novel of recent years, though it's recently been reprinted with a horrible cover.

[tara20]

If you like time travelling, try Diana Gabaldon`s Cross Stitch
the first of a series of (till now) 6 novels in a continuing story. It's about a nurse, who in 1946 goes through a circle of stones and lands in 18th century Scotland, Very colourful and with a modern sense of humour against an historical background, you can really get hooked. I'm on the sixth right now!

[mydogsandme]

The Nineth Life of Louis Drax- a very unusual and curious book.

[ann_h]

Martin Amis - Other People

Any Garcia Marquez (but I never could finish Solitude, oddly)

And if you want a bit more of a challenge, Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum

[Realising with horror I can hardly remember more, had all my surviving books in storage for years ]

[ann_h]

Ah, Perfume - remided me about Jitterbug Perfume and Only Cowgirls get the Blues - Tom Robbins (?)

[Ian b]

I'm not a reader of modern books generally, but, for a good read with interesting charactors, you could try 'Pot Pourri' (Pot luck) by Emile Zola, particularly a more recent translation by Brian Nelson for Oxford world classics. you have to be careful with Zola translations because they were heavily censored.
If you liked Farenheit 451, then I think you might like Orwell's 1984.

[Ian b]

Papillion is good.
Salems' lot by Stephen King (don't read it late at night!!!)