Grab me from the first page

[BookCat]

Thanks for all the recommendations.

As to the sort of books which normally interest me:
anything which has a cat in it, but not a sad ending; historical fiction, preferably British or European, though I also like novels which have a sympathetic view of native Americans; my fave books are "A Fine and Private Place" by Peter Beagle, "Nicholas Nickelby" by Dickens, "Castaway" Lucy Irvine. Other genres include gritty romance (not erotica, but not totally sloppy), whodunnits, books with mystery but not gory horror. I can also be found reading classic children's books: love Enid Blyton.

I'm not so keen on sci fi, books centred around dogs or horses. The author I dislike most is Jane Austen - reading her is like wading through glue. I'm not too keen on the fantasy genre, but light fantasy which doesn't involve crazy worlds, I might try.

I hope this helps.
Thanks again.

[JSWolf]

I'll jump in and very highly recommend Ready Player One by Ernst Cline. It is one heck of a good book that grabs and keeps hold till the end. It's one of those books that you don't want to end.

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.

A quest for the ultimate prize.

Are you ready?

[BookCat]

Sounds like a computer game a friend of mine was playing a few years ago. Spooky.

[AndrewH]

Perhaps you'll find these more to your taste:
The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell - the first in his Warlord Chronicles trilogy. A realistic portrayal of King Arthur as a warlord circa 500AD.

Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Based on 8th century Tang Dynasty (China) and the events leading up to the An Shi Rebellion.

Sailing to Sarantium, by Guy Gavriel Kay - the first of his Sarantine Mosaic duology. Based on Constantinople under Justinian I.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann. Although a non-fiction book, I found this as entertaining as any fiction thriller I've read. A look at the life, mysterious disappearance of, and search for the legendary explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett.

[elemenoP]

I recently finished "His Majesty's Dragon" which I thought was excellent. It fits this criteria: "not too keen on the fantasy genre, but light fantasy which doesn't involve crazy worlds, I might try." It is historical fiction set during the Napoleonic War... but with talking dragons. Everything else is true to history (as far as I know!). It grabbed me right from the start (and I *never* read fantasy). It is the start of a series and I'm also not much of a series reader. But I'll read the next one and then see from there...

eP

[BookCat]

Andrew, The Winter King looks really good.

elemen, I've had His Majesty's Dragon on my ereader for ages, since way back when Sony gave it as a freebie. The title always put me off, especially "dragon" as I imagined it to be heavy fantasy stuff. Will get round to reading it.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BookCat

Thanks for all the recommendations.

As to the sort of books which normally interest me:
anything which has a cat in it, but not a sad ending; historical fiction, preferably British or European, though I also like novels which have a sympathetic view of native Americans; my fave books are "A Fine and Private Place" by Peter Beagle, "Nicholas Nickelby" by Dickens, "Castaway" Lucy Irvine. Other genres include gritty romance (not erotica, but not totally sloppy), whodunnits, books with mystery but not gory horror. I can also be found reading classic children's books: love Enid Blyton.

I'm not so keen on sci fi, books centred around dogs or horses. The author I dislike most is Jane Austen - reading her is like wading through glue. I'm not too keen on the fantasy genre, but light fantasy which doesn't involve crazy worlds, I might try.

I hope this helps.
Thanks again.

I am sort of thinking witty and whimsical?
Martha Grimes - Richard Jury (pretty sure there is a cat in there)
Margery Allingham - Campion
Georgette Heyer - regency romances and some mysteries
Janet Evanovitch and Lois Grieman - Pretty funny and witty in spots.

Helen

[The Terminator]

A really good book was "The Secret Adversary" by Agatha Christie, it's also in the public domain so you can get it for free. I couldn't put it down from the first page.

Grishams earlier works were really good too, but not his newer ones. Here's a few to stay away from:

The Confession (Okay, but not gripping)

The Litigators (Junk, I never once thought "Can't wait to get to bed so I can pick that book back up" the book came off an assembly line)

The Tort King (Slow, and really preachy, just pushing Grishams hate for Mass Tort)

The Street Lawyer (Seemed a little bit politically motivated, in addition to being slow.)

[Format C:]

I cannot put down Bill Bryson's History of Nearly Everything.
It's not fiction, but it did grab me indeed.

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by BookCat

elemen, I've had His Majesty's Dragon on my ereader for ages, since way back when Sony gave it as a freebie. The title always put me off, especially "dragon" as I imagined it to be heavy fantasy stuff. Will get round to reading it.

That was me exactly. I got it as a freebie, and it's been on my reader for years. Nothing was grabbing me and I decided I to give it a shot, and I'm very glad I did!

eP

[BookCat]

Terminator, I've read "The Secret Adversary"; downloaded it from manybooks a couple of years ago. I agree, it is unputdownable, though I kept imagining the main characters to be much younger than their stated ages.

Many eons ago I took in lodgers, myself and one of them both loved Agatha Christie and swapped books. I've lost count of how many I've read, though I did make a list of them. Luckily, I'm very bad at remembering plots so can read a novel and only realised I've read it before towards the end!

Thanks for the heads up about Grisham, he's an author I've never read. (I'm sure of that!)

speakingtohe, looked up your recommendations on Amazon: great choice. Many of them are in series, would you suggest I start at the beginning, or could I begin with Martha Grimes' "The Black Cat"? I have already read lots of Heyer, love her wit and strong bolshy heroines.

Format C, I've got the pbook of Bill Bryson's "Shakespeare" but can't get passed the first few pages without putting it down and doing something else. He begins by saying that very little factual evidence exists regarding Shakespeare's life. End of story! Loved Philip Burton's fictionalisation of the bard's life in "You, My Brother". The experience has put me off Bryson a little.

Thank you for the recommendations. Please keep them coming.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BookCat

speakingtohe, looked up your recommendations on Amazon: great choice. Many of them are in series, would you suggest I start at the beginning, or could I begin with Martha Grimes' "The Black Cat"? I have already read lots of Heyer, love her wit and strong bolshy heroines.

I like to read books in order when possible but... I particularly admire books that can be read in any sequence.

I think all that I suggested can be read in any order but the characters do seem to have a life (unlike me) and occasionally one feels that they have missed a significant event. Still any which way is fine until you read six or more in a series. By then, I at least, start to take a personal interest in what happened when. I have not read the black cat but can't see why not.

Helen

[jbcohen]

How about on the first screen, that would be 1632.

[Mick4545]

'The Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follet. Reading the prolog to this book had me hooked. The sequel, 'World Without End' was just as good.

[way8lifter]

Dean Koontz ...Intensity...though no my Number one favorite book ...is in my top 20 ,,,this is the one of the few books I know of the caught me at page one ...

the other being Simone R Greene ..DeathStalker ...