I have read a slew of terrible books recently. Like, so bad. I hated, HATED, the new Lisa Jewell. I read that horror novel Diavola and truly lost brain cells. Can you suggest me similar books to the ones I enjoyed below?
I love historical fiction. Pretty much any facet but I looooove Maggie O’Farrell’s work and I am a WWII historian so I love that time period but am open to anything.
– The Marriage Portrait, Hamnet both by Maggie O’Farrell
– The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
– The Last Twilight In Paris by Pam Jenoff
– The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
– One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter
I love women’s contemporary fiction:
– Tom Lake, Ann Patchett
– 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (was ok but I did enjoy)
– The Wedding People
– Normal People by Sally Rooney (hated Beautiful World Where Are You, though)
Thriller
– Sharp Object by Gillian Flynn. LOVED.
– We Used to Live Here. Devoured this.
– What Happened to Nina? By Dervla McTiernan
– none of this is true by Lisa Jewell
Nonfiction
– 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
– How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
– Anything WWII or Holocaust Related
– We Wish To Inform you Tomorrow You Will Be Killed Along with Your Fammilies by Phillip Gourevitch
– the Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
by Consistent_Time_1467
9 Comments
You would love The Lives of Lee Miller! Nonfiction but reads like fiction to me. Incredible woman, fashion photographer turned WWII war photographer.
Fiona Davis- Lions of 5th Avenue and The Address were my two favorites
Beatriz Williams- Most of hers center around WWII historical fiction, and then a little bit before and after. I love 100 Summers, The Forgotten Room, and Along the Infinite Sea
Hotel Laguna, by Nicola Harrison, was a pretty lighthearted but interesting historical fiction read. It centers around immediate post-WWII and women needing to leave factory jobs and basically find a new life
Have you ever read Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada? It’s an excellent book but utterly devastating and based on a true story. It was published in 1947 so only just after WWII ended.
You may like The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank or An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.
If you enjoyed reading Maggie O’Farrell and Ann Patchett, then you’ll surely like Matrix because of its intensity and historical background but with a very unique voice.
The Night Watch will probably be an excellent choice since it is set during WWII, although it is full of emotional intensity.
As for HHhH by Laurent Binet, it is historical, but it is not TikTok popular; rather, it is aware of itself, as the book itself tells the story of its making.
Lastly, if you enjoyed reading Sharp Objects, then I recommend you to check out Eileen.
Hope one of these picks works out better for you than the other recent ones 😅
Oh, you love historical fiction? Then I’d give The Witch of Blackbird Pond a try! It’s a classic written by a female author and it tells an intriguing story about a girl struggling to adapt to a new culture and religion. It also deals with the terror of the unfounded Puritan witch trials and the discrimination against Quakers. I think it has nice writing style, and good emotional hook. Definitely worth a try in my opinion!
WWII related: The Time In Between by Maria Duenas
Related to your Phillip Gourevitch pick: Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
fiction: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali; When The Angels Left The Old City by Sacha Lamb
non-fiction: When The Stones Speaks by Doron Spielman
My first thoughts were Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver for a contemporary choice of the Wolf Den trilogy by Elodie Harper for a historical. Or Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier if you’ve never read that one; it’s an absolute banger of a suspense novel.