Recommend a book

The Lovely Muffin

Hello,

I am trying to get into reading again.

The last book I read was one of Cecelia Ahern's books (I can't remember which one) and that was a few years ago.

I have no idea which type of book I'd prefer to be honest. I am open to all suggestions.

I was recommended the book '1984' but I cannot remember the author's name so can't do much with just one title and no author.

Can anyone help me? With both book recommendations and maybe the '1984' book author?

Thanks.

sxt

George Orwell wrote '1984'. Mighty fine book too:)

tyler71

1984 - George Orwell. Great book and worth reading but pretty downbeat and definitely not a happy ending. If you haven't read anything for a while, may not be the ideal first choice.
You probably want something fairly light and a bit of a page turner, but seeing as you posted here, maybe not pure fluffy stuff. Maybe 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', 'The Time Travellers Wife' or 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', which both myself and my wife enjoyed (unusually)

Black Swan

The Millennium Trilogy beginning with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. A dark mystery with several twists about an investigative journalist and a troubled female computer hacker turned angel of revenge on keyboard and streets.

shinikins

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

The Millennium Trilogy beginning with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. A dark mystery with several twists about an investigative journalist and a troubled female computer hacker turned angel of revenge on keyboard and streets.

Fantastic trilogy of books, i was gutted when i finished them, because i knew there were no more! One of the best books i've read recently is The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley. Its based on the true story of a Chinese princess who became a spy for Japan through circumstance, Very entertaining, and sad.

Linguo

Shutter Island is a brilliant book, read it and then go see the movie!

Black Swan

shinikins wrote: »

Fantastic trilogy of books, i was gutted when i finished them, because i knew there were no more!

Read and viewed the film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," plus I just finished the second in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and thoroughly enjoyed the growing plot and character development of Lisbeth Salander, the high tech Goth avenging angel. Will have to find the third book online, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, as it is not in public library or sold in the bookstore chains yet over here.

Nick Dolan

Mc Carthys bar by Pete McCarthy and the sequel The Road to McCarthy. Theyre about his travels around Ireland and the world, unfortunatly he died soon after the second. They are definetly suited to someone looking to get back into reading because his sence of humour is fantastic and his writing style is breezy and cheerful. You will expel tea through your nose many times, especially in the bit in the first book where he takes the ferry to Cork

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Of Mice and Men - John Steinback
It's not a huge book and it's a straightforward narrative so should wont be too heavy, considering that you haven't read in a while.
It's also superb, I wouldn't consider myself and emotional person (in fact I often get called an emotional retard ) but I felt like crying at the end of this book.

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone, keep them coming.

Athena1

I like Douglas Kennedy's books - The Pursuit of Happiness, State of the Union, The Woman in the Fifth and many more. Another lovely writer is Rosamunde Pilcher - really curl up with her books. A town called Alice by Nevil Shute was one of the best reads ever! There are so many good books out there.......enjoy.:)

Denerick

One of my favourite all time books is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. I can't recommend it enough OP.

Shryke

Denerick wrote: »

One of my favourite all time books is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. I can't recommend it enough OP.

I was going to say something else but its gone out of my head. I'll second this, its a better rec than I had.

OxfordComma

As other readers have said, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is very good. A real page-turner. Here's just a few other suggestions off the top of my head:

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller - a very intriguing psychological study that gradually gets more sinister as you get into it. It's a short book too, so perhaps a good introduction to reading.

The Time-Traveler's Wife - a modern love story with a twist. It's not my favourite book, but it's quite a moving read.

Roald Dahl's short stories (there's several collections of them available) are really excellent. Very thought-provoking and unusual. Dahl is mainly known as a children's author, but his books for adults are just as good.

The Beach by Alex Garland - another great page-turner that presents some very interesting ideas about travel and everyday life.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - this is possibly my favourite book. It's written in 19th century English so perhaps not a good book to start off with, but definitely read it at some point. It's incredible.

cynder

The best book i have read is Tom Knox, The Genisis Secret....... couldnt put it down read it from cover to cover in 4 hours.

DazMarz

"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton

"Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane

"Crime" by Irvine Welsh

"Last Light" by Alex Scarrow

kielmanator

Propably not the most orthodox list ahead, but to each his own!


Tom Clancy: The Jack Ryan series
Lee Child: The Enemy et al.
Andy MacNab: The Nick Stone collection, plus his non-fiction stories from his days in the Regiment.


1984! Brilliant book!
To Kill A Mockingbird also very good.
If you enjoy 1984, definitely read Animal Farm by Mr. Orwell.:D

Kielmanator

The Lovely Muffin

Wow, so many recommendations, thanks so much! Keep them coming!

Denerick wrote: »

One of my favourite all time books is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. I can't recommend it enough OP.

I actually have this book somewhere, I'll dig it out and go from there.

Sl!mCharles

The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruíz Zafon.
Great novel, set in Barcelona, with a mysterious atmosphere and colourful characters!
Check out reviews on amazon for more detailed descriptions, but it's a fantastic book (I found) to get back into reading. Good luck!

Travel is good

I'd say you'd like "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.

You can order a lot of these books from your local library. I've ordered a good few books from them recently, and just started reserving books online. It saves you a fortune!

Did you read any of the Ross O'Carroll Kelly books? Very funny, actually had me laughing out loud in public.

I'm not great with the chick lit books but Marian Keyes is one of the better writers.

I also like John Irving, "A Prayer for Owen Meaney".
Sebastian Faulks "Birdsong" or anything else by him.
"Shantarwam" by Gregory David Roberts

I just found this thread, there are lots of good recommendations on it
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055509419&page=3


There are loads more good books out there, and not enough time to read them all. Welcome back to the world of reading!

minister poxbottle

monkey on my back by ERIC DEXTER a true life story about a opium addict

Livvie

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Hello,

I am trying to get into reading again.

The last book I read was one of Cecelia Ahern's books (I can't remember which one) and that was a few years ago.

Cecelia's books put you off reading?

I don't know anyone who hasn't enjoyed Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - and it's sequel, World Without End.

And for added interest, POTE has been filmed and will be on tv late summer I think.

What kind of genre do you like?

Ramza

I was in the same boar as yourself OP until I picked up a book I had bought a while back and never reasd ; The Catcher in the Rye

Really great read, not long at all, 100 or so pages (I know some people don't like long books)

It takes place over two days, it's kind of hard to sum up the book in a nutshell

rubabbel

Books like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Shadow of the Wind, the Stieg Larsson books, even McCarthy's The Road if you want something quite dark, all of these books I would think would be fine for you to get back into reading. However, if you're more a fan of Cecelia Ahern, maybe try something in the light Romantic type of book? Marian Keyes, Patricia Scanlan although can't give firm recommendations as haven't read any of them myself. Stephanie Meyer's The Host is another one my sister read and liked (she'd be a fan of romantic fiction).

Travel is good

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

I just finished it today and really enjoyed it. It's only 121 pages so you'll fly through it. I can't recommend it highly enough!

I also loved previous books by Alan Bennett, two autobiographical ones:
Untold Stories and
Writing Home

Nody

Orphanage - Robert Buettner
Brilliant start on a series about aliens invading earth and military life; the books are a bit odd in their pacing were the last 50 pages rushes past the story but I like them.

The Painted Man: Demon Trilogy 1 - Peter V. Brett
This may turn out interesting depending on how the story develops in the next books; this as stand alone does pretty good though with a nice first book from a new author. All humans are under attack by demons who only come out at night; only wards hold the demons back but the wards are not perfect.

Market Forces - Richard Morgan
Richard Morgan is my favoirte author at the moment (I've bought all he has written to date) and this one is a stand alone classic about greed and a future dark world were economy rules all.

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies - Jane Austen ; Seth Grahame-Smith
Seriously funny book, that weaving in of the zombies is done superbly and I'd recommend it to any one who wants a laugh and light reading.

The Steel Remains - Richard Morgan
Only one book so far (grrr!) but this is what got me into Richard in the first place. This is NOT your standard fantasy book, the main hero is Hulk Hogan who happens to be gay in a country were you're not allowed to be gay, who meets aliens out to conquer the world etc. It is at times overly sexual with out needed but this is definitly not your standard high fantasy style

Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan
See a theme with my authors here? Altered Carbon is a intresting story on a universe were you can change bodies, if you can afford it and the follow up of a man who killed himself but don't know why he did it. It is the first in a series of three so far (the following two are weaker imo) but even as a stand alone book it is very interesting.

Nekropolis - Tim Waggoner
Not a book I'd recommend in general because I found the story rather weak and slow but as a world it is amazing. Think of an alternate city were all demons, mages, undead, vampires, lycans and everything else in between lives, welcome to Nekropolis and the one undead zombie detective who's trying to eek out a living!

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks everyone for the recommendations.