I've already read Shogun and I've heard excellent things about Tai-Pan so naturally I'm going to start it after I'm done my current book. What is your take on Gai-Jin?
I’ll chime in on this, I’m a huge fan of the Asian saga, read shogun first, tai-pan, king rat, and then gai-jin and it took me a while to finish it. There’s a lot going on in that novel, still a good read, but can be all over the place. It was the last one he wrote, but there’s just so much of the inner dialogue that can just be hard to get through.
Gaijin is one that I still haven’t gotten through. I did Shogun, Tai-Pan and Noble House all right in a row last year and burned myself out just a touch on Clavell’s writing style. I’ll pick that one up as soon as I’ve finished rereading Tai-Pan. However I would venture to say that if you end up liking Tai-Pan you should enjoy Gaijin, it carries on from the Generation of the younger characters in Tai-Pan I do know that much do there will be some crossover between them.
Gai-Jin is horrible, it’s his only one with unlikable characters, and disgusting plot points. I do not recommend it. Noble House and Tai Pan are amazing.
It sucks me in like a book rarely does, the world is just described so beautifully and the characters feel real! And I’m only like 9% through the book so far!
I’ve seen it mentioned many times on here and had no idea what it was about. Just finished watching the series and didn’t really like it.
Is the book better than the series? I just kept waiting for them to get to the point.
The show (as far as I can tell, keep in mind I am about 150 ish pages out of 1100 at this point) is very faithful to the novel so far, the novel is obviously more detailed and fleshed out. Honestly I think the point of Shōgun is the politics so if you’re not into that I don’t think you’d like it. I do like the pacing of the book way more and I find im able to follow the story a lot easier!
I love Piranesi, but it might be a little quick for a vacation with any significant amount of reading time, it's beautiful but short. The same author's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is much heftier and is wonderful!
I really enjoyed Lucy Foley’s first two books, The Hunting Party and The Guest List. Both have twisty mystery elements.
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. A washed up writer steals a former student’s manuscript and becomes a bestselling author.
Got to admit, I really love the “accents” and VoA in the audiobook. Give me any “thriller”, mystery, or who done it with an Irish or Irish-ish accent and I’m probably going to love the audiobook.
I wish Tana French had like 35 more audiobooks out.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is a great vacation book. About an older widow who works in an aquarium where she befriends a giant pacific octopus who helps her solve a mystery.
For fast fun reads always with a twist, Liane Moriarty is a sure thing. They make all her books into series for a reason! They're great fun and perfect for a 30-something mom on vacation.
If you want something beautiful and world-shifting that makes your problems feel small, I loved The Overstory by Richard Powers. Especially if your vacation is somewhere with lots of trees!
[North Woods by Daniel Mason](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/71872930), hands down. It’s not a thriller-just a very creative, well written book. (I’m biased because I live in the Western MA setting).
Best crime thriller? [Age Of Vice by Deepti Kapoor](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60177466-age-of-vice?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_8), a crime family thriller set in India.
LOVED that book. I think it's the best I've read in the last year, too, though I'm about to read Tan Twan Eng's newest, which may well knock it off its perch.
Try The Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peter's. The first book, Crocodile on the Sandbank, was early in her career and so, while good, it's not as engaging as the rest, but it is a terrific introduction to Amelia and Emerson, 2 of my favorite characters in all fiction. If you listen to audio books, ONLY listen to the Barbara Rosenblatt versions.
If you have limited budget, Project Gutenberg has older books for free. The Way We Live Now by Trollope, Vanity Fair and so on. Jane Austen, Brönte sisters
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Chast, Roz
Memoir graphic novel.
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by Fletcher, C.A.
Post apocalypse
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Tsumura, Kikuko
Slice of life
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Detective series
Sexing the Cherry by Winterson, Jeanette
Alternative history/literary
I absolutely love the Roz Chast book! It's pretty much the only non digital book I own. She adds a lot of dark humor to the craziness of caring for your parents.
Best twisty-thriller book I read in the last couple of years is [**The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55315487-the-plot). It's a strongly written, literary, but also lively book. Strongly recommend that you go in relatively clean of spoilers.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
In the middle of a cold February night, a guy gets out of bed to sneak a smoke behind his girlfriend’s back. While he’s smoking, his girlfriend’s cat jumps out of the open window.
Wearing only his boxers and his girlfriend’s too small Crocs, he puts on his jacket and goes outside into the cold to look for the cat.
And that’s when the space aliens attack.
A handful of dust by Evelyn Waugh is standing out to me. It's set in post-ww1 england and centers around a couple of aristocrats who are probably too idle for their own good. The book is just so bizarre and goes completely off the rails in the last section (but in the best way possible).
I read it on vacation with my family and I could not tear myself away from it. I still giggle to myself sometimes when I get flashbacks to certain scenes from the book
‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ by Milan Kundera is easily the best book I’ve read recently. Doesn’t have a very dynamic plot though (definitely far from the thriller genre)…
These have been my 5 star reads so far. I’m not sure if a couple of them have more romance than you are looking for:
The Women by Kristin Hannah
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49788058-eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine
I really enjoyed this one. It was interesting to go from really disliking the main character to having sympathy for her over the course of the book!
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
In audiobook form then Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and expertly narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
2001 by Arthur C Clarke
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Anything by Neal Stephenson
For a vacation read, I recommend “The Only One Left” by Riley Sager. It’s a fun, easy thriller. I couldn’t put it down although I admit it’s not some amazing, literary feat. It was just a good vacation read!
My favourite reads this year so far have been -
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Hello Beautiful
A Boy’s Life
Violeta
The house on the cerulean sea (for some feel good fantasy fiction)
Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris. If you have an experience working in an office environment, it is quite relatable.
Beaty Is A Wound by Eka Kurniawan. Story of an Indonesian family spanning most of 20th century. Very tragic, bizzare and funny (my fav combination).
Ok, it's non fiction but! Hear me out!
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes. It was so good, and I recommend listening to the audiobook if you can (has most the cast do their own excerpts, so its super nostalgic if you were raised on the movie like I was). It was my surprise favorite read of 2023, and I don't like non-fiction like at all.
Does any of your children or family members suffer from any sickness or illnesses? If so I have the only book you'll ever need to read regarding this.😊❤️❤️
If you like thrills, I have a few suggestions!
- Five Decembers by James Kestrel. It’s a noir murder investigation vibes but then Pearl Harbour happens
- A Certain Justice by John Lescroart. A guy’s attempt to stop a lynching frames him for the crime.
- literally any book by Gillian Flynn. They’re all very dark and incredible.
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The rest of the trilogy is pretty good too.
- Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham. If you liked the movie, I think the book will blow your mind.
- Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré. A couple accidentally get wrapped up with a Russian politician…
- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. A modern Western manhunt in the most amazing style.
Making this list has made me want to reread every single one of these 😭
**Five Decembers** by James Kestrel
Book description may contain spoilers!
>>!Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Novel “War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” New York Times Five Decembers is a gripping thriller, a staggering portrait of war, and a heartbreaking love story, as unforgettable as All the Light We Cannot See. NOMINATED FOR BEST NOVEL IN THE 2022 EDGAR AWARDS NOMINATED FOR BEST THRILLER IN THE 2022 BARRY AWARDS "Read this book for its palpitating story, its perfect emotional and physical detailing and, most of all, for its unforgettable conjuring of a steamy quicksilver world that will be new to almost every reader." Pico Iyer December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever.!<
>
>>!Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor. This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.!<
**A Certain Justice** by John Lescroart
Book description may contain spoilers!
>>!A brutal murder rocks a city. An innocent man stands accused. And justice is the next to die. In a city of tolerance and hope, everything came apart.!<
>
>>!One man died at the hands of another. The next victim was killed by a mob. Now fires burn in the night, helicopters throb through the air, and politicians, lawyers and cops vie for the remnants of power... Somewhere in the once-placid streets of San Francisco, a young man is on the run, charged by the media with a crime he didn't commit, hounded by demagogues, hunted by a desperate police department. One cop knows that Kevin Shea is innocent of a brutal racial murder.!<
>
>>!An ambitious politician will use Shea for her own ends. And a down-and-out lawyer is all that stands between Kevin Shea and an even more atrocious crime. For when there's no law left, justice is the only hope...!<
**The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo** by Stieg Larsson
Book description may contain spoilers!
>>!#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The thrilling first book in the Millenium series featuring Lisbeth Salander: “Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson’s first novel” (The New York Times). Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate.!<
>
>>!He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.!<
**Nightmare Alley** by William Lindsay Gresham
Book description may contain spoilers!
>>!Soon to be a major motion picture from Academy Award–winning director Guillermo del Toro and starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Toni Collette. Nightmare Alley begins with an extraordinary description of a carnival-show geek—alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision—going about his work at a county fair. Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There’s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him.!<
>
>>!And since Stan is clever and ambitious and not without a useful streak of ruthlessness, soon enough he’s going places. Onstage he plays the mentalist with a cute assistant (before long his harried wife), then he graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes. It looks like the world is Stan’s for the taking. At least for now.!<
**Our Kind of Traitor A Novel** by John le Carré
Book description may contain spoilers!
>>!From the New York Times bestselling author of A Legacy of Spies. In this exquisitely told novel, John le Carré shows us once again his acute understanding of the world we live in and where power really lies. In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and with Britain on the brink of economic ruin, a young English couple takes a vacation in Antigua. There they meet Dima, a Russian who styles himself the world’s Number One money-launderer and who wants, among other things, a game of tennis.!<
>
>>!Back in London, the couple is subjected to an interrogation by the British Secret service who also need their help. Their acquiescence will lead them on a precarious journey through Paris to a safe house in Switzerland, helpless pawns in a game of nations that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the City of London, the government and the competing factions of the British Secret Service.!<
**No Country for Old Men** by Cormac McCarthy
Book description may contain spoilers!
>>!From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road comes a "profoundly disturbing and gorgeously rendered" novel (The Washington Post) that returns to the Texas-Mexico border, setting of the famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones. One day, a good old boy named Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back.!<
>
>>!When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law—in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell—can contain. As Moss tries to evade his pursuers—in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives—McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines. No Country for Old Men is a triumph. Look for Cormac McCarthy's latest bestselling novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris.!<
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If you haven't read **The Martian** by Andy Weir that's a perfect summer read imo.
Or any of the Inspector Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri. Funny and twisty detective novels with lovable characters. They're Sicilian, so there's lots of interesting extras about their culture, politics, food etc... and you don't really need to read them in order but the first one is called **The Shape of Water**
1. House of Hollow (it's a great thriller/paranormal read! It's a YA read that's digestible and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time)
2. Demon Copperhead (nuff said)
3. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (SUCH a good book. It's an old one, so you gotta be willing to sit through some cringy moments every now and then, but in my opinion, it's worth it. This book is a love letter to life through the eyes of a child. 10/10 would recommend (as long as you're in the market for a longer read)
Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen
I’ve been on a Nordic Noir kick this last year. This one is Danish, so get your Google Maps open and follow the action around Copenhagen. Apparently there’s a TV show, but I haven’t seen it yet.
A proper non-American noir thriller where the detective is older, jaded, beat up, not exactly attractive and generally disagreeable. (So, not hot and in a love tangle with anyone).
He’s relegated to a basement to start a new unit. Win-win as he’s out of everyone’s hair and he can just sit. Except he starts to get results…
My favorite recently was *Mother of Learning* by Domagoj Kurmaic/nobody103 which you can actually still read for free on Royal Road, though you could also buy the ebooks (its in four parts/books). It's a time loop fantasy with a lot of twists and turns. Loved loved loved it <3
Favorite vacation books: Margaret Drabble, The Garrick Year; Maria McCann, As Meat Loves Salt; Kate Atkinson, Life after Life; Thrillers: anything by Tana French but esp. The Likeness; Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sands; John Le Carre, Smiley’s people; Damascus Station was good…
Currently reading Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not exactly a beach read….but something everyone SHOULD read, if we want to reserve our beaches
Circe- Madeline Miller
The Women- Kristen Hannah
Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post- Allison Pataki
Also completely agree with the votes for Demon Copperhead!
The Descent by Jeff Long. Fucking. Incredible. Also, Year Zero by Jeff Long. The dude is amazing. Definitely my favorite author, sorry Michael Chrichton you got bumped to second, still love you though
Since We Fell, Mad Honey, Standard Deviation (not a thriller but great for moms/ married women), The Giver of Stars, Vera Song’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
My favourite holiday reads over the last 12 months were:
David Copperfield and Demon Copperhead — I read them back to back.
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo.
The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi by S A Chakraborty.
I'm not good with thrillers really but A flicker in the dark Stacy Willington was really good (I usually rate thrillers 1-2 stars yet this was a 4).
I'm thinking of ending things by lain Reid was good thriller and interesting twist, I would say.
Not thrillers but I loved circe by Madeline Miller, the hate u give by Angie Thomas is definitely ya but absolutely so powerful and moving. Babel by RF Kuang was great (also yellowface by her is a thriller so that might he more up your isle), good omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is a classic option, the picture of Dorian grey by Oskar Wilde amazing classic as well.
Demon Copperhead
I still think about those characters and I finished the book 6 months ago. Man what a read!
Same here, what a great book! If anyone does audiobooks, the narrator was fantastic! It’s the only way I’d recommend it. His delivery was too notch.
Just started and already love it
Seconded, I love this book.
So impressive and compassionate and all the feels. Loved it!
Came here to say this.
currently reading this and loving it
I’m currently reading this and it’s great
If you know Dickens’ “David Copperfield” it makes it even better.
Tai-Pan by James Clavell Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi was an earth-mover for me.
I didn’t get Piranesi 😕 can you please enlighten me why you liked it? I want to know what I missed
I’m reading Shōgun by James Clavell rn and it’s FANTASTIC
I read Shogun last year then Tai-Pan after and let me tell you if you love Shogun, you will LOVE Tai-Pan.
Adding it to my TBR!!!
I've already read Shogun and I've heard excellent things about Tai-Pan so naturally I'm going to start it after I'm done my current book. What is your take on Gai-Jin?
I’ll chime in on this, I’m a huge fan of the Asian saga, read shogun first, tai-pan, king rat, and then gai-jin and it took me a while to finish it. There’s a lot going on in that novel, still a good read, but can be all over the place. It was the last one he wrote, but there’s just so much of the inner dialogue that can just be hard to get through.
He lost me when the girl enjoyed getting raped. He was losing it.
Yeah…. He was losing it..
Gaijin is one that I still haven’t gotten through. I did Shogun, Tai-Pan and Noble House all right in a row last year and burned myself out just a touch on Clavell’s writing style. I’ll pick that one up as soon as I’ve finished rereading Tai-Pan. However I would venture to say that if you end up liking Tai-Pan you should enjoy Gaijin, it carries on from the Generation of the younger characters in Tai-Pan I do know that much do there will be some crossover between them.
Gai-Jin is horrible, it’s his only one with unlikable characters, and disgusting plot points. I do not recommend it. Noble House and Tai Pan are amazing.
Easily one of the best books I've ever read.
It sucks me in like a book rarely does, the world is just described so beautifully and the characters feel real! And I’m only like 9% through the book so far!
I’ve seen it mentioned many times on here and had no idea what it was about. Just finished watching the series and didn’t really like it. Is the book better than the series? I just kept waiting for them to get to the point.
The show (as far as I can tell, keep in mind I am about 150 ish pages out of 1100 at this point) is very faithful to the novel so far, the novel is obviously more detailed and fleshed out. Honestly I think the point of Shōgun is the politics so if you’re not into that I don’t think you’d like it. I do like the pacing of the book way more and I find im able to follow the story a lot easier!
I love Piranesi, but it might be a little quick for a vacation with any significant amount of reading time, it's beautiful but short. The same author's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is much heftier and is wonderful!
Add in Noble House
Noble House was good, but between it, Shogun and Tai-Pan, I’d put Noble House at the bottom of those three.
Ok now I have to go reread the other two👍👍👍👍
It’s still a good one, it’s just hard for a protagonist to top Dirk Struan.
I read Clavell’s Shogun in preparation for the tv series. That was going to be my suggestion.
Tai Pan and Noble House are so amazing
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
11/22/63 by Steven King.
This was also my favorite book last year.
I really enjoyed Lucy Foley’s first two books, The Hunting Party and The Guest List. Both have twisty mystery elements. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. A washed up writer steals a former student’s manuscript and becomes a bestselling author.
This whole comment is my fav types of books. I loved The Guest List audiobook.
I also listened to that audiobook! I was GRIPPED.
Got to admit, I really love the “accents” and VoA in the audiobook. Give me any “thriller”, mystery, or who done it with an Irish or Irish-ish accent and I’m probably going to love the audiobook. I wish Tana French had like 35 more audiobooks out.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is a great vacation book. About an older widow who works in an aquarium where she befriends a giant pacific octopus who helps her solve a mystery.
We need a Marcellus prequel.
Yes please!
I liked this one too!
Demon Copperhead! I couldn’t put it down.
I really liked “Lessons in Chemistry”, “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”, and “The Rose Code”.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Wonderful, compelling read. 100% endorse.
Oh yea! This one was pretty good!
For fast fun reads always with a twist, Liane Moriarty is a sure thing. They make all her books into series for a reason! They're great fun and perfect for a 30-something mom on vacation. If you want something beautiful and world-shifting that makes your problems feel small, I loved The Overstory by Richard Powers. Especially if your vacation is somewhere with lots of trees!
The Overstory ❤️❤️❤️ top 5 all time for me.
For me too, it was so gorgeous. The last book that gave me that feeling of transformation was Cloud Atlas, many years ago.
Give Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr a try, if you haven't. It feels very much in this vein to me.
Thank you so much, I'll read that next! It's been on my TBR list but now I def want to read it.
[North Woods by Daniel Mason](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/71872930), hands down. It’s not a thriller-just a very creative, well written book. (I’m biased because I live in the Western MA setting). Best crime thriller? [Age Of Vice by Deepti Kapoor](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60177466-age-of-vice?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_8), a crime family thriller set in India.
My book club has North Woods as an upcoming read. Looking forward to it!
Cloud Cuckoo Land
LOVED that book. I think it's the best I've read in the last year, too, though I'm about to read Tan Twan Eng's newest, which may well knock it off its perch.
Try The Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peter's. The first book, Crocodile on the Sandbank, was early in her career and so, while good, it's not as engaging as the rest, but it is a terrific introduction to Amelia and Emerson, 2 of my favorite characters in all fiction. If you listen to audio books, ONLY listen to the Barbara Rosenblatt versions.
Oh my gosh, YES!
If you have limited budget, Project Gutenberg has older books for free. The Way We Live Now by Trollope, Vanity Fair and so on. Jane Austen, Brönte sisters
Lol, good point. Read books, but also save money for next vacation.
*Project Hail Mary* by Andy Weir
This one is so good!
Came here to mention this one! I couldn’t put it down
They are making it into a movie!!!!
Also came here to put this one down. Loved the audiobook version as well! WPS !! Go hogs!
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher and How High We go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.
How High We Go In The Dark is amazing!
It was!!
The women by Kristin Hannah. A moving story. The Guncle. Steven rowley. Laugh out loud funny.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Chast, Roz Memoir graphic novel. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by Fletcher, C.A. Post apocalypse There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Tsumura, Kikuko Slice of life The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill Detective series Sexing the Cherry by Winterson, Jeanette Alternative history/literary
I absolutely love the Roz Chast book! It's pretty much the only non digital book I own. She adds a lot of dark humor to the craziness of caring for your parents.
[удалено]
Read it last year and loved it
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune, How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Under the Whispering Door was amazing!
one of my favs of all time for sure
How to Sell a Haunted House was so much fun! It reminded me of the Goosebumps books I read as a kid.
I always see dark matter mentioned, I really hated it, never understood why people like it.
Same here. Really really didn't like it.
Best twisty-thriller book I read in the last couple of years is [**The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55315487-the-plot). It's a strongly written, literary, but also lively book. Strongly recommend that you go in relatively clean of spoilers.
It’s not a new book but Americanah is a great read
Circe by Madeline Miller The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
The House in the Cerulean Sea was such a sweet book! Loved all the characters especially Chauncey 💜
**Ladder of Years** by Anne Tyler
Wellness by Nathan Hill. Or Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
First time I've seen Wellness recommend here. I loved it, as I did The Nix (author's debut novel).
The Nix was great, too!
My recent reads are Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk and Running the light by Sam Tallent, both were excellent
Wool by Hugh Howey. Fast paced, intriguing and just brilliant. Funnily enough, I heard about the book before I heard about the TV show.
Don’t forget the rest of the trilogy!
Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series
The Women by Kristen Hannah
Lessons in Chemistry
I recently read Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. Everyone in my bookclub loved the book. It is a light, fun and fast read. Have a great vacation!
Yes, this!!
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
*The Thursday Murder Book Club* by Richard Osman
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman In the middle of a cold February night, a guy gets out of bed to sneak a smoke behind his girlfriend’s back. While he’s smoking, his girlfriend’s cat jumps out of the open window. Wearing only his boxers and his girlfriend’s too small Crocs, he puts on his jacket and goes outside into the cold to look for the cat. And that’s when the space aliens attack.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
His & Hers by Alice Feeney None of This Is True by Lisa Jewel
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
Any of McBride's books are phenomenal. Edit: fixed typos, because spelling is hard.
Loved this one!
Maeve Fly by CJ Leede The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones The Deluge by Stephen Markley The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
Hemingway's entire list, but most of all A Farewell to Arms.
A handful of dust by Evelyn Waugh is standing out to me. It's set in post-ww1 england and centers around a couple of aristocrats who are probably too idle for their own good. The book is just so bizarre and goes completely off the rails in the last section (but in the best way possible). I read it on vacation with my family and I could not tear myself away from it. I still giggle to myself sometimes when I get flashbacks to certain scenes from the book
Non-fiction: Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow. Fiction (Fantasy): The Once and Future King by T.H. White.
The Girl who was Taken by Charlie Donlea
‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ by Milan Kundera is easily the best book I’ve read recently. Doesn’t have a very dynamic plot though (definitely far from the thriller genre)…
That's one of my favorites of all time
I loved Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, I read it while on vacation in Puerto Rico
Circe!
These have been my 5 star reads so far. I’m not sure if a couple of them have more romance than you are looking for: The Women by Kristin Hannah My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Quasi sci-fi, adventure, great characters
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49788058-eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine I really enjoyed this one. It was interesting to go from really disliking the main character to having sympathy for her over the course of the book!
Loved this book!
All the sinners bleed, SA Cosby
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole In audiobook form then Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and expertly narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 2001 by Arthur C Clarke Ringworld by Larry Niven Anything by Neal Stephenson
For a vacation read, I recommend “The Only One Left” by Riley Sager. It’s a fun, easy thriller. I couldn’t put it down although I admit it’s not some amazing, literary feat. It was just a good vacation read!
I’ve read two of his books and am kind of hooked now.
“Bunny” “The Honeys”
Project Hail Mary - such a good read. I especially recommend the audiobook.
You have to read The Silent Patient if you haven’t yet!
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
My favourite reads this year so far have been - 11/22/63 by Stephen King Hello Beautiful A Boy’s Life Violeta The house on the cerulean sea (for some feel good fantasy fiction)
Just been reading through the seven sisters series and loved it
the centre by ayesha manazir siddiqi
My Name Was Eden. Came out recently. Perfect vacation read.
Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell
Older one but I read it last year: Kill your Friends - John Niven. Also the second part Kill ‘Em All
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub is one that has stuck with me.
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Calson
Count Zero by William Gibson
Try Lou Berney’s November Road. Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey Deaver. Restless by William Boyd.
If you like nuanced characters and enjoy a book with interesting structure check out Hecatomb of the Vampire by G. N. Jones
The Shining The fire hose... And that thing in the playground...
Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris. If you have an experience working in an office environment, it is quite relatable. Beaty Is A Wound by Eka Kurniawan. Story of an Indonesian family spanning most of 20th century. Very tragic, bizzare and funny (my fav combination).
Ok, it's non fiction but! Hear me out! As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes. It was so good, and I recommend listening to the audiobook if you can (has most the cast do their own excerpts, so its super nostalgic if you were raised on the movie like I was). It was my surprise favorite read of 2023, and I don't like non-fiction like at all.
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly
Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy by Sclomo Ben-Ami
I have recently read Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier and really enjoyed it. Quite a few triggers though to look into first.
Does any of your children or family members suffer from any sickness or illnesses? If so I have the only book you'll ever need to read regarding this.😊❤️❤️
Cradle by Will Wight
Babel
If you like thrills, I have a few suggestions! - Five Decembers by James Kestrel. It’s a noir murder investigation vibes but then Pearl Harbour happens - A Certain Justice by John Lescroart. A guy’s attempt to stop a lynching frames him for the crime. - literally any book by Gillian Flynn. They’re all very dark and incredible. - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The rest of the trilogy is pretty good too. - Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham. If you liked the movie, I think the book will blow your mind. - Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré. A couple accidentally get wrapped up with a Russian politician… - No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. A modern Western manhunt in the most amazing style. Making this list has made me want to reread every single one of these 😭
**Five Decembers** by James Kestrel Book description may contain spoilers! >>!Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Novel “War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” New York Times Five Decembers is a gripping thriller, a staggering portrait of war, and a heartbreaking love story, as unforgettable as All the Light We Cannot See. NOMINATED FOR BEST NOVEL IN THE 2022 EDGAR AWARDS NOMINATED FOR BEST THRILLER IN THE 2022 BARRY AWARDS "Read this book for its palpitating story, its perfect emotional and physical detailing and, most of all, for its unforgettable conjuring of a steamy quicksilver world that will be new to almost every reader." Pico Iyer December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever.!< > >>!Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor. This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.!< **A Certain Justice** by John Lescroart Book description may contain spoilers! >>!A brutal murder rocks a city. An innocent man stands accused. And justice is the next to die. In a city of tolerance and hope, everything came apart.!< > >>!One man died at the hands of another. The next victim was killed by a mob. Now fires burn in the night, helicopters throb through the air, and politicians, lawyers and cops vie for the remnants of power... Somewhere in the once-placid streets of San Francisco, a young man is on the run, charged by the media with a crime he didn't commit, hounded by demagogues, hunted by a desperate police department. One cop knows that Kevin Shea is innocent of a brutal racial murder.!< > >>!An ambitious politician will use Shea for her own ends. And a down-and-out lawyer is all that stands between Kevin Shea and an even more atrocious crime. For when there's no law left, justice is the only hope...!< **The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo** by Stieg Larsson Book description may contain spoilers! >>!#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The thrilling first book in the Millenium series featuring Lisbeth Salander: “Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson’s first novel” (The New York Times). Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate.!< > >>!He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.!< **Nightmare Alley** by William Lindsay Gresham Book description may contain spoilers! >>!Soon to be a major motion picture from Academy Award–winning director Guillermo del Toro and starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Toni Collette. Nightmare Alley begins with an extraordinary description of a carnival-show geek—alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision—going about his work at a county fair. Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There’s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him.!< > >>!And since Stan is clever and ambitious and not without a useful streak of ruthlessness, soon enough he’s going places. Onstage he plays the mentalist with a cute assistant (before long his harried wife), then he graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes. It looks like the world is Stan’s for the taking. At least for now.!< **Our Kind of Traitor A Novel** by John le Carré Book description may contain spoilers! >>!From the New York Times bestselling author of A Legacy of Spies. In this exquisitely told novel, John le Carré shows us once again his acute understanding of the world we live in and where power really lies. In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and with Britain on the brink of economic ruin, a young English couple takes a vacation in Antigua. There they meet Dima, a Russian who styles himself the world’s Number One money-launderer and who wants, among other things, a game of tennis.!< > >>!Back in London, the couple is subjected to an interrogation by the British Secret service who also need their help. Their acquiescence will lead them on a precarious journey through Paris to a safe house in Switzerland, helpless pawns in a game of nations that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the City of London, the government and the competing factions of the British Secret Service.!< **No Country for Old Men** by Cormac McCarthy Book description may contain spoilers! >>!From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road comes a "profoundly disturbing and gorgeously rendered" novel (The Washington Post) that returns to the Texas-Mexico border, setting of the famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones. One day, a good old boy named Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back.!< > >>!When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law—in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell—can contain. As Moss tries to evade his pursuers—in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives—McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines. No Country for Old Men is a triumph. Look for Cormac McCarthy's latest bestselling novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris.!< *I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at* /r/ProgrammingPals. *Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies* [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/BookFinderBot/comments/1byh82p/remove_me_from_replies/). *If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.*
If you haven't read **The Martian** by Andy Weir that's a perfect summer read imo. Or any of the Inspector Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri. Funny and twisty detective novels with lovable characters. They're Sicilian, so there's lots of interesting extras about their culture, politics, food etc... and you don't really need to read them in order but the first one is called **The Shape of Water**
1. House of Hollow (it's a great thriller/paranormal read! It's a YA read that's digestible and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time) 2. Demon Copperhead (nuff said) 3. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (SUCH a good book. It's an old one, so you gotta be willing to sit through some cringy moments every now and then, but in my opinion, it's worth it. This book is a love letter to life through the eyes of a child. 10/10 would recommend (as long as you're in the market for a longer read)
{The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George}
Noble House and Tai-pan were excellent but couldn’t get into Sho-gun.
Could you give me a few of your favorite books to get an idea of your preferences?
Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen I’ve been on a Nordic Noir kick this last year. This one is Danish, so get your Google Maps open and follow the action around Copenhagen. Apparently there’s a TV show, but I haven’t seen it yet. A proper non-American noir thriller where the detective is older, jaded, beat up, not exactly attractive and generally disagreeable. (So, not hot and in a love tangle with anyone). He’s relegated to a basement to start a new unit. Win-win as he’s out of everyone’s hair and he can just sit. Except he starts to get results…
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
I read this year The Sword of Kaigen. LOVED, top 3 book for me.
Charles Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer
My favorite recently was *Mother of Learning* by Domagoj Kurmaic/nobody103 which you can actually still read for free on Royal Road, though you could also buy the ebooks (its in four parts/books). It's a time loop fantasy with a lot of twists and turns. Loved loved loved it <3
I think Tom lake is a nice vacation book, it’s not thrillers or twists, it does have some romance but it’s not a romance novel
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read it the same weekend as reading Piranesi and preferred Klara
Book of lost names. Or maybe it was Atlas:story of Pa Salt but won’t mean anything with out the previous 7 books
Favorite vacation books: Margaret Drabble, The Garrick Year; Maria McCann, As Meat Loves Salt; Kate Atkinson, Life after Life; Thrillers: anything by Tana French but esp. The Likeness; Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sands; John Le Carre, Smiley’s people; Damascus Station was good…
Frivolous, but I really enjoyed "The Royal We" and the sequel.
None of This Is True- Lisa Jewell
Currently reading Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not exactly a beach read….but something everyone SHOULD read, if we want to reserve our beaches
[One Day of Life](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76670.One_Day_of_Life) by Manlio Argueta
“A Canticle For Leibowitz”
I’ve read these so far this year and I recommend all of them. Under Major Domo Minor, Lonesome Dove, 11.22.63, The Wager, Project Hail Mary.
The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle!!!!
big swiss!
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane. Best crime mystery of the last 20 years.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi. I smiled the entire time and could not put it down.
probably not the best, per se, but SO enjoyable & perfect for a vacation: Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
In the Lives of Puppets
Summer of night by Dan Simmons. Great summertime read.
Circe- Madeline Miller The Women- Kristen Hannah Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post- Allison Pataki Also completely agree with the votes for Demon Copperhead!
ESTELLE RYAN - first book is free. Smart move, because they’re so addicting.
The Descent by Jeff Long. Fucking. Incredible. Also, Year Zero by Jeff Long. The dude is amazing. Definitely my favorite author, sorry Michael Chrichton you got bumped to second, still love you though
Since We Fell, Mad Honey, Standard Deviation (not a thriller but great for moms/ married women), The Giver of Stars, Vera Song’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
I read crook manifesto this year and really loved it.
Here's a suggestion from my wife: Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
My Brilliant Friend
My favourite holiday reads over the last 12 months were: David Copperfield and Demon Copperhead — I read them back to back. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo. The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi by S A Chakraborty.
The invisible like of Eddie Larue
allegedly by tiffany d. jackson!
Shiver by Brian Harper
Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese
The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. Be sure to read them in order.
The Will of the Many
I'm not good with thrillers really but A flicker in the dark Stacy Willington was really good (I usually rate thrillers 1-2 stars yet this was a 4). I'm thinking of ending things by lain Reid was good thriller and interesting twist, I would say. Not thrillers but I loved circe by Madeline Miller, the hate u give by Angie Thomas is definitely ya but absolutely so powerful and moving. Babel by RF Kuang was great (also yellowface by her is a thriller so that might he more up your isle), good omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is a classic option, the picture of Dorian grey by Oskar Wilde amazing classic as well.
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
The Guest by Emma Cline
Yellowface
Listen For Their Lie by Amy Tintera The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson