May Recommendations

What to Read Next?

If you have enjoyed any of the reviews over the past month to go on and read the book, and are now wondering 'what next?', here are some follow-on recommendations that will keep your To Be Read shelf fully stocked.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

The Shining by Stephen King -- In the unlikely event that you've read the sequel without trying the original, I strongly recommend going back to the beginning and seeing how it all started.  The Torrence family stay in a remote, snowed-in hotel over the Winter as caretakers, while father Jack struggles with recovering alcoholism and son Danny deals with the Overlook's many ghostly inhabitants.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell -- While giving away the similarities would mean some pretty big spoilers for The Bone Clocks, there are definite crossovers between these two.  The story of Holly Sykes and her association with a secret society of true psychics.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill -- These days I prefer the son to the father, but this really is an excellent, creeping ghost story with the spite and anger of King's works.  Rock star Judas Coin is sent a haunted suit by the family of a dead ex-girlfriend.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Nutshell by Ian McEwan -- For those who like a little humour in their literary fiction, McEwan modernises the story of Shakespeare's Hamlet, telling the story from the perspective of a fetus in the womb.

Apologies I only have one recommendation under this book, but it really isn't the sort of thing I normally read!

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood -- Another fictional account of true crime, and another that leaves the truth of the situation to the reader's imagination.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield -- Siblings who are just a little too close, sharing secrets, mistrust, and just a little claustrophobia.  Read my review.

The Sculptress by Minette Walters -- A thriller-crime classic, The Sculptress questions the guilt or innocence of an unlikeable woman.

Under the Skin by Michel Faber

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber -- Faber's last book also explores the boundaries between alien and human when the inhabitants of a newly colonised planet demand a missionary to teach them about Christianity.

The City and The City by China Mieville -- These books share noir elements, and a dark, nihilistic fatalism in their lead characters.  Read my review.

The Girl with All the Gifts by M R Carey -- While these books are tonally very different, they both feature heroines who are technically the bad guy, and who should not be underestimated.

Fellside

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood -- Prison life from slightly different angles, Atwood's possibly somewhat rose-tinted.  There are no dramas, but it is a fairly heart-warming tale about some aspects of prison life.  Read My Review.

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman -- For a first-hand description of the American prison system, Orange is the New Black is a little shallower than its TV series but still gives some interesting insights.

Affinity by Sarah Waters -- For anyone who read the back of Fellside and was hoping for a creepy ghost story set in a prison and was subsequently disappointed.  Give this one a try.  It's a sad ending, but worth it.

The Courage Consort

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan -- Infamously known among my friends and family as The Book the Broke Up My Marriage.  On Chesil Beach is another book that should, probably, be a short story but works very well independently.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling -- Another novel that looks at the absurdity of English manners and ideas of politeness, and the farcical situations they can provoke.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson -- While these books are about quite different things, both are brief stories that leave a lot of open questions.  I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys puzzling over the book more than the actual reading of it.

Life After Life

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North -- The set up for these books is very similar, but the story turns out entirely different.  Harry August is all about the apocalyptic dangers and spying adventures of living the same life over and over.

The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley -- So much of the joy of Life After Life comes from the ensemble cast of ordinary people living through ordinary times.  This collection of letters shows some of the real lives from this time, and how they came to be extraordinary.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters -- I described the experience of reading Life After Life as like slipping into a warm bath.  The Little Stranger is another of my warm bath books, and might almost be a sequel to Life After Life, showing 'what came next' in Britain after the war left its class structure in disarray.