Top 20 Best Books to Get Lost In

[@helenejeppesen2133]

I've read 17 of these 20 books!!! I think I might have a "reading problem" :-D

[@rebecca.reader]

The only one I have read is the Juliet Marrillier.... she is one of my favourite authors of all time. But most of the others are on my TBR. And it has reminded me I need to get to them soon .

[@aditisachdeva1652]

I'm actually getting back to a lot of children's literature at the moment. I'm currently reading The Secret Garden and listening to The Twits by Roald Dahl on audiobook.

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

A new film version of The Secret Garden will be released this year. It's with Colin Firth. You can see the Trailer on KZbin.

[@bookishshenanigans4769]

What a stonking great list, I've only read 10 and really want to read Anna Karenina soon. Love your earrings too as always (shallow but there it is).

[@KM-dd1cm]

As the pandemic continues on in my neck of the woods I was just looking for some recommendations like this - thanks!

[@martinachiarini7653]

Hi Lauren! Can you do a bookshelf tour, please? It'll be very interesting!!!

[@summerseasstitch]

I've dnf'd The Blind Assassin so many times. I can recommend Atwood's Cat'sEye and The Robber Bride and also lots of her shorter novels. Another of her books Oryx and Crake, or was it Crake and Oryx was quite a diffiult read and I dnf'd it when my then puppy chewed it to pieces. Well done Harvey ;). Thanks for all your content in these trying times, I really love your channel x

[@aryaa7028]

I love your videos and recommendations!

[@KDbooks]

I have read a total of 2 book recommenced. Both Donna Tartt... 10 of which are on the bookshelves... I wish there was a global pandemic which would keep me locked in to force me to read them?

[@Alfred_51]

I would recommend Ghana Must Go by Yaa Gyasi

[@carly885]

I love all of the mythology retellings you've mentioned as well as the crimson petal and the white so I'll have to try the others 😊

[@natashalast9688]

Great recommendations! I’ve read almost all of them. During this crazy time I’m picking up a lot of horror / thriller books 🤷‍♀️. I think it’s the intense distraction I’m after - and it’s working. Stay safe and thanks for another great video.

[@elenathegreat]

I just read Homegoing and I totally agree with you - I loved how it was basically a series of short stories but the linkages between the made it very engaging and easy to keep reading.

[@CharlieBrookReads]

So many of these I already love like Home going , Song Of Achilles and Anna Karenina. I own Half A Yellow Sun and haven't yet gotten to it so I shall take it off my shelves and make it a priority the same goes for Essex Serpent ❤️ Thank you for these recommendations 😘❤️ xx

[@buchanancerezalmegan]

Thank you! I love the way you speak about books, there's passion and authenticity behind it. Makes me want to read basically everything from this video!

[@fozzymup268]

Hello Lauren. Agree with you about Fingersmith. Fantastic book. Immersive, atmospheric, a book you really get lost in! Best Wishes 💕

[@kirstytaylor6]

I loved, loved, loved All The Light We Cannot See. It's so beautiful. I also really loved Homegoing. Such a clever book!

[@Zangerstein]

I agree with you. Horrors and thrillers are my go to books lately. There’s a certain comfort there. Anyway, out of all these, I’ve only read Fingersmith (and every book) by Sarah Waters. My most favorite of hers though is Affinity, it’s so depressing and sad, that I have dived into every inch of it. Fingersmith can be read multiple times easily though because of the pace. I have copies of Tartt and Doerr so I might as well get to those. Stay safe and healthy!

[@carotvatho13]

hey! it's really exciting to hear you talk about all these books, they all sound so fascinating!!! hope to be able to get to them soon! stay safe during this difficult time

[@lilymarie428]

I've been meaning to pick my Stay With Me for years! Think it's finally time to download it! Also thanks for giving me the push to read The Goldfinch, it's page count has intimidated me for months

[@TrulyMadlykids]

Secret History is one of my favourite books - I read it over 20 years ago and it has really stayed with me.

[@basketca2]

I can only agree about "Silence of the Girls." I absolutely loved it. I've heard a few reviews saying it's not really a feminist book because "they talk about the men!!" Yeah, no shit. They've been kidnapped by the men and they're being raped by the men, living in a camp created by men in a war between men. Of course they ackownledge their existence. On fantasy, I'd recommend Robin Hobb's series "The Realm of the Elderlings." The books are not too long, so it's manageable; but it's a 16 book series, so you can drown yourself in them for months if you want to. However, the series is divided into several trilogies and one tetralogy, so you can read the first 3 at your own pace and, if you don't feel like reading any more, leave it there and not feel like you've missed the ending. The series is closed too, so unlike "Game of Thrones" or the "Gentleman Bastard" series, you don't need to worry about waiting 20 years to read the end of the saga ;)

[@katrienschiepers7300]

I just finished reading Half of a Yellow Sun and I absolutely loved it. The storytelling is so great and I also loved that I learnt something about which I knew nothing. There's so many books about the World Wars, but I hardly ever see anything about all the other wars that happened outside of Europe/North-America (although they are usually involved in some way or directly caused it). You have made me really curious about The Blind Assassin. I remember my mum reading it on a holiday many years ago and I thought it was a thriller for some reason. Now I've heard your description, I think I will give it a go as well (if I can get my hands on a a copy). Right now, I am reading The Familiars by Stacey Halls and I think it's also a perfect book for these times. Happy reading!

[@LaurenWade]

Absolutely, I really enjoyed The Familiars ☺️ I also must, must reread Half of a Yellow Sun as it was so long ago that I read it! Xx

[@aleksandradavidovic2456]

So many of these sound really interesting! I've only read Anna Karenina but I'd really like to read Circe and Vanity Fair.

[@laitae]

Great recommendations, thank you. I'm now curious about Kindred. I literally sped through Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents not long ago. Her writing is so engaging. What you said at the end resonated with me for sure, I crave danger in books these days, it helps me to distract from danger in our lives.

[@iceandfireBOOKS]

Ah I went to uni in Colchester and I can’t go visit my friends this summer, definately have to pick up the Essex Serpent

[@theStranger666]

I used to work in the Albert Sloman Library at the uni. Miss my friends too. Did you like the paternoster? 😁

[@alicejohnston215]

Lots of great sounding books, thank you Lauren! :) I just finished Circe and really enjoyed it. I tried reading The Iliad a while ago and gave up because I felt that I could either enjoy the poetry of it or figure out who was who and king of where and whose army etc! But not both at the same time! But now maybe I'll read Song of Achilles so I know the story, then The Iliad. Have you read it? Just started Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and I'm hooked already! Xx

[@heyitssuz]

Evelyn Hardcastle and Stay With Me are on my TBR. I've always been terrified of Vanity Fair but while in quarantine I have been obsessively checking the website of a second-hand bookstore near my apartment and scored a beautiful old edition divided into 2 books for 3.2€ altogether so I'll have to give it a go someday. Also, pleeeeease share where you get your earrings, they're always so cool and fun!

[@LaurenWade]

Haha thank you! I would but I mostly forget where they’re from and they don’t have labels in like clothes so I can’t find out 🤣 the ones in this video are at least 10 years old to be fair haha xx

[@Butterfliesatdusk]

What a great collection of books which I own 95% of them ( we have very similar reading tastes) . I haven't read them all yet but really looking forward to reading Anna Karenina and just recently downloaded Stay With Me. Loved The Song of Achilles such a beautiful book and Circe I read in 2 days. Thank you for this video you are my favourite book tuber your content is always so informative and captivating. Stay safe, happy reading 😊📚

[@MaryAmongStories]

ahh Anna Karenina is amazing! and so is The Silence of the Girls ^^ I've only read Daughter of the Forest, but I neeeed to read more books by Juliet Marillier! thank you for the recommendations

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

Does Anna Karenina have a lot of boring parts?

[@LeanneRose]

I'm going to start Kindred this evening and you've got me so excited to read it!

[@LaurenWade]

Ooh hooray! I hope you enjoy it xx

[@KeepCalmwithBooksandCoffee]

Great recommendations! Thanks for all the ideas

[@MyLocsareREAL]

Yesss!!!!! This video has PERFECT TIMING, my birthday is Sunday and I plan on reading all day, and was thinking of some good books too choose for myself, I’ve never read any Juliet Marillier books, so, I’m definitely getting “Dreamer’s Pool” Thank you Lauren 🥰 all of these recommendations are Wonderful 💕

[@amymccann5469]

Thank you for these wonderful recommendations! I literally want to read all of the books featured!

[@australischenberline]

All the things you said about Anna Karenina made me think of ‘The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili’. It follows a family through the red century... and is also very long (but rewarding and heartbreaking nonetheless). I would be interested to hear your thoughts on it!

[@HannahsBooks]

Octavia Butler is phenomenal. Kindred is amazing, and so is Parable of the Sower and its sequel. It is even more intense in some ways.

[@VelvetLibrary]

So many amazing sounding recommendations here! I recently read The Song of Achilles and loved it, so I'm itching for all the mythology retellings!

[@TravelingBibliophile]

I have read Anna Karenina and Vanity Fair a couple of years ago and they were both great while the majority the rest of the books you mentioned are on my physical TBR right now but which to choose next?

[@wonderlandfreak613]

I'm so happy I found your channel! I own so many of the books you mentioned, thank you for the extra motivation to read them!

[@valerieohara3649]

Thank you

[@jillschroeder9760]

Lovely choices!!

[@christinacampbellbooks]

I definitely need to add Vanity Fair to my TBR. I absolutely loved the most recent BBC adaptation. Becky Sharp was such a wonderful character.

[@drawyourbook876]

Great selection of books!

[@КристинаХудякова-м1ш]

Thanks Lauren, for such a lovely video! I loved The Secret History a lot. I think it's absolutely brilliant! But I hesitate a little about reading The Goldfinch. There are so many controversial feedbacks about it. Did you like it as much as The Secret History?

[@LaurenWade]

I think if you like Donna Tartt’s writing then you’ll like both of them. I preferred the Secret History but probably only because I preferred the subject matter; I really enjoyed them both! Also with there only being two main books that she’s written, people seem divided on which is their favourite, I have friends that loved the Goldfinch, so I’d definitely give it a go! Xx

[@angelinapurvapriya9871]

I'm having All The Light We Cannot See on my lap. 112 pages in and enjoying it immensely. And, I've been meaning to make a post on Anna Karenina as well on Instagram. 🙌

[@Georgehillier2014]

Recently rebrought Anna Karenina and Vanity Fair as I lost my copies over the years. Both fantastic books

[@abookjockey5931]

Ugh I loved The Blind Assassin too!

[@kaylaalbers1153]

Off topic, but those earrings 😍

[@recklessoldier]

I was so disappointed by kindred... The premise was indeed really interesting but the execution, not that much imo.