READING LIST PREPARED FOR MY MUM BUT YOU MIGHT LIKE IT:

 The following novels are in no particular order but are all books I have read, except one or two, that are mainstream novels generally by best-selling authors. I put them together on this list for my mum, and that is what has limited their range – they are all books I think she’d enjoy. They mostly don’t contain supernatural or fantasy elements. They are generally uplifting by the end. You could look them up to find out more on the internet.

 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

This is a moving, funny and ultimately uplifting novel set in the US about a university professor who has no social skills and is probably slightly on the autistic spectrum, and what happens when he meets a very interesting woman. It sold millions of copies internationally. I believe there is at least one sequel.

 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

This was a multi-million copy bestseller when it first came out a few years ago. It is at times shocking, often funny, sad but uplifting by the end. It is the  story of a very clever but socially awkward female scientist in sexist 1950s/60s, who becomes a TV celebrity among other things and breaks down several gender barriers. It was a bestseller, Bonnie Garmus’s first novel, written when she was in her sixties, I think. I thought it was very funny in places and very moving in others.

 

Mrs England by Stacey Halls

A historical novel about a nanny who moves to Yorkshire to work for a wealthy landowner and gets involved in a mystery.  This is an award-winning Sunday Times bestseller from the winner of the Women's Prize Futures Award.

 

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

I haven’t read this but it was recommended to me by a friend who loves Robert Harris books. Robert Harris is one of the bestselling authors in the world currently and his books sell like hot cakes. He is incredibly popular. But they aren’t my kind of thing. However, as my mum likes books about spies and suchlike, I thought I’d include it.

 

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

This was a Sunday Times Bestselling Fiction Book a few years ago. It is quite a short novel, uplifting and entertaining, about someone who again has trouble making friends but who has a mystery in her past. During the book, her life improves and she learns how to get on with others.

 

Tell Me How This Ends by Jo Leevers

BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick – I haven’t read it yet.

 

How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

This is an entertaining, outrageous comic novel about a young woman who sets out to murder each member of her awful family. It was a Number One Sunday Times Bestseller.

 

Starter For Ten by David Nicholls

Nicholls has written lots of bestselling novels but this was his debut, I believe. It is about a young man from a working-class background who goes to university and messes it up. It is funny and realistic. It was made into a film starring a young and lovely James McAvoy.

 

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Instant Sunday Times Bestseller; shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction. I haven’t read this novel yet, but it has been recommended to me many times. It was inspired by Robert Browning’s famous poem ‘His Last Duchess’, and is a historical novel about a young woman who is forced into an arranged marriage with a mysterious and brutal man. O’Farrell is considered to be one of the best contemporary novelists – her last novel was the widely-acclaimed Hamnet.

 

Molly The Maid by Nita Prose

Uplifting, funny, cozy detective mystery about a young, poor, probably slightly autistic maid in a posh New York hotel who solves a murder. There is at least one sequel.

 

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

Historical mystery story with a hint of the supernatural – not scary, but a twisty plot set in two different time periods.

 

A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon

A Sunday Times bestseller – dark comedy-mystery. Entertaining.

 

I would also recommend David Sedaris’s comic memoirs which are very funny – Sedaris is a gay American comic memoir-ist who is the sort of writer you either love or hate – he can be very outrageous. I personally find him hysterical and thinks his writing gets funnier the more you read.

I love anything by Kate Atkinson.

 

The House Of Stairs by Barbara Vine

Barbara Vine is a pen-name for the crime writer Ruth Rendell, one she used I believe for her more ‘literary’ novels. I haven’t read this one but I have read one or two others by her which I thought were excellent, but I can’t remember their titles. This is a detective/crime story and is scary, I believe.