So I've got some credits sitting around collecting dust...hehe.

I've attempted to read 3 different books recently and although they weren't too bad...I just was too bored to keep going and I put them down. The 1st book I was a little over half way thru...but I just lost interest, lol. I was unmotivated to finish to see how it ended. So I picked up a 2nd book..only 2 or 3 pages in I said blah and gave up on it. Started a 3rd book, read a few pages and again, said No thanks.

I know a lot of books don't really get interesting till the middle...but I just don't want to waste my time getting there, you know? So here's where you guys come in. Give me some recommendations to what books are worth my time, the kind you just can't put down and just HAVE to know what happens next. Keep me interested!

I prefer Literature/Fiction. I like books on Oprahs Book Club list or New York Times Best Sellers list.

Thanks for the help!

I just finished a book that I never thought I would recommend but it was a totally fun read..."Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik.  It had humor, intrigue, philosophy, sadness, surprise.  The title refers to a women's beauty shop in the '50's or so, and many plot twists and turns.  It does happen to be on my bookshelf if it sounds interesting to you, but that's not why I'm recommending it.  I even gave it 5 stars in my book journal!

I recommend these 2 by Sara Gruen: Riding Lessons and Flying Changes.  They are a continuation of each other.  She also wrote Water for Elephants but I enjoyed thse 2 more!

These held my interest:

The Shadow of the Wind by Zafon
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Have you tried Sandra Dallas? My whole book club seems to enjoy them and they are not a huge time investment - usually less than 250 pages. The ones I liked best were The Persian Pickle Club and The Diary of Mattie Spenser.

Maybe your tastes are changing - perhaps a new genre is what you need? Try some captivating nonfiction, biographies, thriller, or fantasy :-)

One of my favorite books I always recommend is "Windchill Summer" by Norris Church Mailer.  I just loved everything about this book!  It's kind of a coming of age story, set in the late 1960s, but there is mystery, first love, normal small town life,  smaller storylines amongst the minor characters,  and Viet Nam turns out to play a big part in this story...won't spoil it though! 

Some other authors I like you might want to give a try:  Anne Rivers Siddons (her book "Downtown" was my absolute fave!!), Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series-"Outlander" is the first-please don't let the length scare you!,  and a book called "How I Gave My Heart To The Restaurant Business" by Karen Hubert Allison if you want a sometimes funny, sometimes serious, a little romance, and good foody type book to enjoy. 

I also really enjoyed "The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio", by Terry Ryan,  Karleen Koen's "Through A Glass Darkly", "Now Face To Face", and "Dark Angels" if you like hist. fiction. 

Lucia St. Clair Robson writes great hist. fiction about the Indians.  My fave by her is "Ride The Wind", about Sarah Parker, who was an actual woman.  She gave birth to Quana Parker, who was the last Comanche chief before giving in to the white man.  Excellent, but VERY sad hist. fiction story. 

Hope you get lots of suggestions to try!

summerlady46 - I love Lorna Landvik..I've read 2 of her other books "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons" and "Your Oasis on Flame Lake" and I enjoyed both. Thank you for the suggestion I may just take you up on it.

Caryn9802 - I've got Water for Elephants on my Wish List since I've heard such great things about it. Thanks for the suggestions!

Page5 - You're right, and I'm open to other suggestions  besides just Fiction. Thank you for your suggestions!

harmony85 - I saw the movie "Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" but have never read the book. I really enjoyed the movie though, because I enter sweepstakes when I'm not reading.

Try something by Elizabeth Berg--I'm always immediately drawn into her books.  Not because of exciting or dramatic plot lines but because you care about her characters.

The Manhatten Hunt Club by John Saul,itwas hard to put down!

Have you read Bitsy's Bait & BBQ by Pamela Morsi? I really enjoyed it. It's not my usual type of book, I usually read mystery/thrillers, but I loved it.

How about Jodi Picoult's books.  They are anything but boring.  I also like Marian Keyes' writing.  My favorite book was "Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy and his "Beach Music".  Great books.  I agree with the others on Philippa Gregory and Elizabeth Berg.  So many great authors. How about thrillers?  Lee Child, Harlan Coben, good authors.  Lee Child writes about the same character, Jack Reacher, in each of his books.

Have you read Icy Sparks?  That was an excellent Oprah pick.  Another was What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day.

In the same vein...Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons was great fun.

For something different, you might enjoy the Samurai's Garden or Water Witches, but books I recently read and enjoyed.

You could try reading some short books until your out of your funk. I reccomend the Mrs. Pollifax series none of them are over 250 pages long so by the time you would get bored with a larger book you will already be to the big exciting parts of these.

Have you read any books by Maeve Binchy?  I enjoy her style and the characters in her books are very interesting and very human.  Give her a try...Nights of Rain and Stars is the last one I read by her.  I've read The Lilac Bus, Evening Class, and Tara Road, too.

I like the "Harry Bosch" books by Michael Connelly.  Good detective series.

Cold Mountain was good.. If you like history.

The Stephanie Plum books are good, by Janet Evanovich...if you're looking for humor.

Romance?  How about A Circle of Friends...Maeve Binchy

100 years of Solitude or Love in the time of Cholera...if you like period stories.

Let me know if you read them and like them!!

Heather-I have seen "The Prizewinner..." movie too-and I have to say, it's one of the rare movies I enjoyed as much as the book!   I LOVED how they did the ending.

I have to agree with The Other Bolelyn Girl. I started reading it yesterday and right from the start it was good. No slow start to this book.

I would also recommend something by Jodi Picoult. I recently read "Mercy" by this author and it was a great book! "My Sister's Keeper" was also great, though I was a bit disappointed by how it ended.

Hi, Heather - I am an avid fiction reader and have a few suggestions as my "all time favorites" -- not sure if you like Christian fiction or not, but my all time hands down favorite author is Francine Rivers, especially the Mark of the Lion series (3 books).

I'm currently on my 8th Philippa Gregory novel, "The Virgin's Lover" -- all of her books are hard to put down. I had to have 2 of them "really bad" and paid $16 apiece at Barnes & Noble at Christmas time. They were worth it! She writes about life in the English court back in the 1800's or so and interweaves history in with fiction. Very interesting and entertaining.

Good Luck finding something!!

Maranda

why not try another avenue of books? Like Matthew Reilly's books: any; all are superb. Even his sci/fi are thrilling to read & he is an action writer so be prepared to read books like Raiders of the Arc was on screen!

I totally loved "Patti Jane's House of Curl"!!

JaneJ

I really enjoyed the Adriani Trigiani book "Big Stone Gap" and "The Dead Don't Dance" by Charles Martin.

My favorite book read last year was The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.  I've heard some people think it's slow, but every single person in my book group thought it was great (and that was a first!).

A few others I really enjoyed last year:  The Little White Car (Danuta de Rhodes); Assassination Vacation (Sarah Vowell; nonfiction); Case Histories (Kate Atkinson).

I highly recommend this book to anyone, I read it in one sitting. The Thirteenth Tale By Diane Setterfield!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'll be ordering some of your suggestions very soon.