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Recommend some good books please ladies!!

  • 23-01-2011 6:53pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 294 ✭✭intouch44


    I love reading- I find it a great way to switch off from real life, I love Marian Keyes, Patricia Scanlon, Alexandra Potter, Melissa Hill (though was very disappointed with her last few books!)

    Anyway can anyone recommend some authors with similar style (nothing too heavy!) :)


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,028 ✭✭✭✭--LOS--


    anything with legs on the cover is a good place to start


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭EverEvolving


    I found the Steig Larsson trilogy very good -

    The girl with the dragon tattoo
    The girl who played with fire
    The girl that kicked the hornets nest

    Also, the Ross O'Carroll Kelly books are good for a laugh

    Enjoying reading the Dickens books recently, the local library even ordered in 3 they didn't have for me (and everyone else)!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 272 ✭✭Loopie


    Hi OP,

    I like similar authors to yourself, have you ever read any of Sinead Moriarty books? They're very funny, have serious enough storylines underneath but definitely worth a read.

    Also, Sophie Kinsella? Another good author (though I wasn't mad on her last book), don't have-to-think-too-hard books! She has a series of books under Shopaholic. Confessions of a shopaholic film was adapted from her books. She also writes under the name of Madelein Wickham but I've never read any of those particular books.

    If I think of any more authors or books I'll post them.

    L


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 117 ✭✭ruahead


    Philippa Gregory is amazing, I ve read all her books !!
    Try them :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,740 ✭✭✭Asphyxia


    Anything by Jodi Picoult is good I have read a good few of her books and was never disappointed. She wrote My Sister's Keeper and the book is so much better than the movie.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 294 ✭✭intouch44


    Pocketfizz wrote: »
    Anything by Jodi Picoult is good I have read a good few of her books and was never disappointed. She wrote My Sister's Keeper and the book is so much better than the movie.


    I read my sister's keeper and the pact, really enjoyed both but have tried a few more of hers and never got past the first few pages! will have a long list for my next trip to the library, would be broke if I considered getting all the suggestions on amazon!! Keep them coming!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,503 ✭✭✭✭jellie


    intouch44 wrote: »
    I love reading- I find it a great way to switch off from real life, I love Marian Keyes, Patricia Scanlon, Alexandra Potter, Melissa Hill (though was very disappointed with her last few books!)

    Anyway can anyone recommend some authors with similar style (nothing too heavy!) :)

    Sheila O'Flanagan is good for those kind of books :)

    Also a Jodi Picolt fan, have loved most of her books (though theres been 1 or 2 that ive found impossible & have given up after a chapter or so)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 112 ✭✭nonsmoker


    Lesley Pearse is very good, best book I ever read was one by her 'Father Unknown'
    Have read most of her stuff, love it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,080 ✭✭✭McChubbin


    Russel Brand's "My Booky Wook" and "Booky Wook 2" are good if you like biographies. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 282 ✭✭neveah


    I read 'One Day' by David Nicholls recently, it was very good, you might enjoy it. It's about a man and woman who are friends in college and the book follows their lives over 20 years and each chapter is set on the same day but in a different year.

    I generally prefer murder mysteries/crime novels so I haven't read a lot of books by the authors you have mentioned but my mother loves 'chick-lit'/light books including some of the authors you've mentioned and some of her other favourite authors are Jill Mansell, Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown and Tilly Bagshawe so maybe try something by one of them.

    Also have a look in the Literature forum, you might get some ideas there.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10 Rosiedcat


    The Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Suns are fantastic best books I've read in years. Also Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets nest, you won't be able to put them down.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭fitzcoff


    hi,

    i would read most of the books above, would recommend Sister by Rosamund Lupton and The Help by Kathryn Stockett, read them both recently and really enjoyed them.
    nothing heavy in either of them


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 282 ✭✭neveah


    Rosiedcat wrote: »
    The Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Suns are fantastic best books I've read in years. Also Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets nest, you won't be able to put them down.


    I have to agree, I've read all the books you mentioned above, I absolutely love The Kiterunner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the Stieg Larsonn books are really good too but the reason I didn't mention any of them was that the OP said she was looking for something lightweight, I don't think I'd describe any of the books above as a 'light read'....

    OP if you are open to trying another type of book I would highly recommend the books above as well especially The Kiterunner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

    The Help - also excellent!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    The "Thursday Next, Literary Detective" series by Jasper Fforde are really good.

    If you're into fantasy, check out Fiona Mackintosh.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,662 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    Jill Mansell is a good author based on your tastes. If you like light easy reading, stay away from the Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo etc). They've very dark and heavy. You'd also probably like Cecelia Ahern.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,705 ✭✭✭Mountainsandh


    Jill Mansell, Sinead Moriarty, Sophie Kinsella, and one I haven't seen mentioned yet is Monica McInerney (The Alphabet Sisters, and maybe just 3 more novels, all enjoyable humorous reads).
    I tend to approach Cecelia Ahern in cycles : read 2, take a break for a while, then another 2... You'd want to be in the mood for it ! But I recently read The Book of Tomorrows, and really enjoyed it. The "magical" side to it is not overpowering, and is easy to accept.

    Love C.Dickens too, have seen it mentioned above, and I think the literary studies have somehow spoiled his work ! Bleak House, Martin Chuzzlewit, Nicholas Nickleby, etc... they're easy to read really, and very entertaining. Each chapter is like a new episode of a soap, with fun and tearful passages.
    Elizabeth Gaskell is another classic author with easy to read entertaining novels.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,308 ✭✭✭Hersheys


    Claudia Carroll and Emily Barr - both great! In the style of Marian Keyes etc.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 63 ✭✭Miss_Ellie


    'An American Wife' by Curtis Sittenfeld is totally brilliant and un-put-down-able.

    Also 'Room' by Emma Donoghue.

    Again, these may not be very light books....but are well worth reading.

    For light I always enjoy getting stuck into a Jilly Cooper novel.


  • Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Grayson Large Toothache


    I just read the time traveller's wife on saturday, really enjoyed it.
    Reading catch-22 at the moment, pretty funny but not quite marian keyes style...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    OP, you might like A Woman Of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford. Old book - a lot of our mothers would have a copy. It's actually a really entertaining rags-to-riches story.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 952 ✭✭✭bills


    +1 for time travellers wife
    Anything by jodi piccoult
    The Girl in Times Square Paulina Simmons


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,166 ✭✭✭carolinespring


    I read The Help a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Cant remember who its by at the moment but will edit tomorrow.

    Also anything by Alenander McCall Smith is brilliant. I love love love the No 1 ladies series.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    Love C.Dickens too, have seen it mentioned above, and I think the literary studies have somehow spoiled his work ! Bleak House, Martin Chuzzlewit, Nicholas Nickleby, etc... they're easy to read really, and very entertaining. Each chapter is like a new episode of a soap, with fun and tearful passages..

    Dickens' stories were the original soaps. They used to be published as chapter-per-week serials...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,485 ✭✭✭✭Ickle Magoo


    Moved from the Ladies Lounge...

    Requests for book recommendations are better suited here.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 175 ✭✭cucbuc


    Pocketfizz wrote: »
    Anything by Jodi Picoult is good I have read a good few of her books and was never disappointed. She wrote My Sister's Keeper and the book is so much better than the movie.

    I read "Keeping Faith" by Picoult a few months ago. I Couldn't put it down- just one of those easy to read books. She's a good storyteller. I also enjoyed "Nineteen Minutes".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭EverEvolving


    I read The Help a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Cant remember who its by at the moment but will edit tomorrow.

    Also anything by Alenander McCall Smith is brilliant. I love love love the No 1 ladies series.

    +1 to Alexander McCall Smith - I read the Isabel Dalhousie series and found them an interesting light read.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,705 ✭✭✭Mountainsandh


    cdaly_ wrote: »
    Dickens' stories were the original soaps. They used to be published as chapter-per-week serials...

    I know, and I can well imagine the excitement as they waited for the next publication :)


  • Moderators Posts: 24,367 ✭✭✭✭ChewChew


    the Help - Katheryn Stockett

    Room - Emma O'Donohue

    The Postmistress - Sarah Blake

    Tigers Child - Torey Hayden

    The Trial - James Patterson


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,430 ✭✭✭✭Busi_Girl08


    If you want a classic, I would recommend Wuthering Heights. It's not as heavy going and 'wordy' as other classics, a brilliant story, with a lot of passion and great characters.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 200 ✭✭ennis81


    Martina Cole, "the know" and "two women" in particular are great reads ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 309 ✭✭greenprincess


    TWILIGHT!!!! it really is amazing


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,519 ✭✭✭Oral Slang


    Don't really read too many of the authors mentioned by the OP anymore, but I'd recommend any of the following as great reads:

    Jodi Picoult - my sisters keeper, nineteen minutes & perfect match (read most of hers, but these were the best)
    The Help - Kathryn Stockett
    Time Travellers Wife & Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffennegger
    The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
    One Day - David Nicholls
    The Twilight Series - teenage books, but great reading in them
    Torey Hayden - any of them. They're usually great reading, but all quite similar.
    The Book Thief, The Kite Runner, Shadow of the Wind & A Thousand Splendid Suns are are very good too!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 393 ✭✭Rainbow_brite


    I really enjoyed Kate Morton's "The Forgotten Garden" and "The House at Riverton".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 48 sanjo


    Try Tuesday with morrie by Mitch Albom. really enjoyed it


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 49 Misty May


    intouch44 wrote: »
    I love reading- I find it a great way to switch off from real life, I love Marian Keyes, Patricia Scanlon, Alexandra Potter, Melissa Hill (though was very disappointed with her last few books!)

    Anyway can anyone recommend some authors with similar style (nothing too hea. vy!) :)

    You might enjoy books by Janet Evanovitch. They are a light read and very funny. The first one is called One for the Money. I loved them all right up to 14 I think. I found the library great.:)


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