The Secret History is one of my favorite books of all time. Also The Alienist by Caleb Carr, which I reread every couple of years. And the Mists of Avalon, because I have so many fond memories of reading it when it first came out.

Janet, I am a huge Stephen King fan, but there was a scene in Dr. Sleep that made me put the book down and quit reading (around page 142) which I have never done before with a book. It disturbed me to a point that I've never felt before - just writing about it makes me want to gouge it out of my brain. UGH.

I am currently reading some really good mysteries by Jussi Adler-Olsen about a detective in Copenhagen. Along the lines of the Tana French series, which I also love.

If you haven't read Richard Russo, his books are fun and engrossing. And I second American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

To add to the excellent mystery suggestions above, I've really enjoyed everything published so far by Canadian author, Louise Penny. Her Inspector Gamache series is one of my all time favorite mystery series. I finished reading the latest one last night, and can't wait for the next to be published.

(Your trip will be such an adventure. I can't wait to hear about it. I'll be living vicariously. Hope you see penguins!)

Have you read The Hunger Games series? Or The Millennium Trilogy? You'll never want those series to end. Or His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.

For stand alone books, I really enjoyed The Historian by Kostova. It's sort of a historical fiction about Dracula.

Oh, something my son and I have both enjoyed are "The Magicians" and "The Magician King" by Lev Grossman, Kind of like "Harry Potter Goes to College" in a really good way.

Here are a few that have been recommended to me lately. I've downloaded all of them to read this year.
Here Be Dragons-Sharon K Penman
Wolf Hall-Hillary Mantel
Boy's Life-Robert R. McCammon
Life after Life-Kate Atkinson

I'm curious to know what caused alaskagirl to stop reading Dr Sleep. I don't recall anything that greatly disturbed me. I did just read Misery and I had to walk away from it several times. Stephen King is a master at getting in his reader's head. Annie Wilkes is cockadoodie scary!

Vivi, it was the scene with the True Knot after kidnapping the baseball boy fairly early on.  The way King described it made me physically ill.  I have a son that age, which didn't help.  Usually I can stomach horror and none of his other books affected me that way.  Gerald's Game, with the guy rattling teeth in the corner of the room, freaked me out, but that was just creepy scary, not haunting.  The only comparable reading experiences I've had was the rape scene described in "Little Bee" and the pedophile section in "Gone, Baby, Gone".  I wish I could erase them from my mind.

I loved "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain. It's Biographical Fiction about Ernest Hemingway's first wife.

For TV shows I just finished streaming "Homeland" with Claire Danes. Angie mentioned it in a post and she was right.... Claire Danes is magnificent.

I'm also a fan of The Secret History. And I liked those Adler-Olsen Una mentioned. And the last great book I read was Jonas Jonasson's The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

I like reading really really fictional stuff while flying and it usually is Kay Hooper :).
Have a hard time getting paper back stuff and download it from kindle onto my smart phone and read away

I loved "The Secret History". I also have loved anything by Anita Shreve or Elizabeth Berg.

I just came back from holidays and read on my e reader to pass the time in airports and on flights. Love that thing! My favourites were

The Silent Wife - ASA Harrison
Divergent - Veronica Roth (the kids' choice - I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did!)
The Light Between Oceans - ML Stedman
The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe

Alaskagirl, oh of course! That was very disturbing and having a child around that age makes it even more so. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

Hmmmm, I will read anything but especially like anything by Mathew Reilly, fast paced and action packed. Loved the 'Clan of the cave bear' series ( an oldie but goodie) anything by Julliette Marillier, fantasy based on fairy tales and if you like something a little dark, The Historian is a great read. Thank you for sharing everyone, there are a few here I'll be looking for

Wow, so many great suggestions! I'm on my phone and that makes it hard to respond to each individual post, but trust me, I took copious notes and did a little shopping today at a great little used book store near the radio station. I am stocked up now!

Now, the tough part. Narrowing down the choices of what to take on the trip...

For watching a series, it's Downton Abbey for sure. A must see, and it's my all time favorite! You'll have three seasons to catch up on with that one. If you want something shorter - with only one season to catch up on - watch Mr. Selfridge. Another PBS Masterpiece Classic that is fantastic. Season 2 is about to start soon.

Lots of good recommendations here, Janet. I'm currently reading Beautiful Ruins. Great story that jumps between Italy and Los Angeles.

I can also highly recommend:

Middlesex (AMAZING BOOK!)
A Visit from The Goon Squad
State of Wonder
Me Before You
Great House

For a good classic read, check out Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge. They combined these two books to make a movie years ago starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, but the books are actually two separate accounts of a marriage from the husband's and wife's POVs. A little sad, but compelling.

I have just put down "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern - just magical. And then for really light reading, I love the Anthony Capella books - "The Food of Love" and "The Wedding Officer". He has written a whole lot of other books, which are on my reading list.

Loved "The NIght Circus!"

I walked away from Stephen King 27 years ago after having been a huge fan. "It" just did me in. Nothing in particular, but my baby was in the hospital (he turned out to be fine) and the book I was reading to pass the time had to do with children in peril, and ... I decided I'd had enough, closed the book, and never went back. (Plus I was still mad at him for what happened to the little boy in "Cujo.")

A caution on the Hunger Games books, which I know everyone adores. I read the first one only and found it incredibly disturbing. My son loved it and read them all and I know lots of kids and adults who felt the same. For me, the theme of a government putting children into a "kill or be killed" scenario was just too horrible.

Thanks for the additional suggestions!

Stephen King is a master of the disturbing, it's true. Somehow I can usually shake it off, knowing that it's all imaginary, but yeah, he knows how to write some twisted stuff that will stick with you.

I started reading his books pretty young -- my BFF (still to this day) was a big fan and got me into them. I was reading The Stand not long after it came out, so I would have been, what, 14 years old? My mom picked it up and read a couple of pages and was pretty horrified. But she never forbade me or discouraged me from reading anything. She had a huge love of reading and knew I did too, and she also knew I enjoyed "I Capture the Castle" (one of her favorites) as much as I did SK.

Janet, The Stand is my favorite of his books. I also read it around that age and find it bears rereading well. "It" was by far the most frightening. Then there were some duds - hated Dreamcatcher and Duma Key. Loved the Talisman. Desperation freaked me out completely. Wow, the man is prolific...

I can't tell if my lack of tolerance for anything involving kids is from being a parent or just getting older and more cynical about it being to close to reality sometimes.

Oh, I meant to add Carl Hiassen for airplane reading - funny and sly.

Janet, I know you have plenty of ideas already to keep you busy, but I just had to jump in because I love a discussion of good books!
I just finished the Goldfinch a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it! As an aside, Google some images of Donna Tartt: she was recently named to some "best style" list or other, and I do love her androgynous style and perfect bob.

I'm currently reading the second book of the Old Filth trilogy by Jane Gardam, and finding it very interesting. It's very British, and so a little different for me, and an interesting look at the lives of people who have grown up or spent time in the British Colonies.

A couple of other random recommendations of some of my favorites that pop into mind- not new, so maybe you've read them all:
A Yellow Raft on Blue Water, by Michael Dorris
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
Any of Margaret Atwood's books, with my favorite being Cat's Eye

Una - I have found my tolerance for books/TV/movies about violence to kids has gone way, way down since I had kids of my own. I also found the rape scene in Little Bee very disturbing (ugh, now I need to try to forget about it again).

The Stand is one of my favorite books and agree that it seems to stand up well to re-reading. I also really enjoyed Bag of Bones and Lisey's Story by Stephen King. I haven't read any of his recent books except Under the Dome and I don't recommend that one (the end was kind of dumb).

Janet - do you read any fantasy? If so, I would recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

I also loved Kate Atkinson's Life After Life.

If people are like me and can take dark reading material--not so much graphic violence, but dealing with heavy subject matter--one book that comes to mind is We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver. (I also admired her most recent novel, Big Brother. Kevin did have explicit violence in it, to warn you.)

Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada.

One of my all-time favorite novels, Jernigan by David Gates. Bleak and hilarious at once.

Mystery Ride by Robert Boswell.

I also recommend Middlesex. As well as A Visit From the Goon Squad.

Janet might also enjoy another of my top-ten favorites from way back in the Sixties. Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes.

I need to think up more! I haven't been reading enough fiction of late. This list is going to be a great help to me as well.

I also devoured The Secret History back in the day, so I'm happy that Donna Tartt is still writing engrossing novels.

My absolute favorite of 2013...Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan...read it twice because I couldn't let them go...Can't wait for his sequel which has to come...

Mochi, I read "Kevin" when I was pregnant! Yipes. Brilliant, disturbing book and generated the best book club discussion ever. Didn't know she had a new book out!

I probably shouldn't contribute to the thread, as I rarely read fiction of any sort. But I am an ambassador for non-fiction; it really can be fun, interesting and engaging!

My favourite book of all time so far has been The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins (fabulous author, well-respected scientist), although The Selfish Gene is also excellent. You can open it to almost any chapter and start reading or take it from the beginning. Other faves include Matt Ridley's the Red Queen, Bozo Sapiens by Ellen and Michael Kaplan, and Evolving by Daniel Fairbanks.

Evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology are my main areas of interest, although The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is good, as is The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazza Age New York.

I hope this thread stays live, because I have gotten so many good book recs from everyone here in the past. A few more I've come up with, and yeah, most of them are still on the darker side but extremely engrossing:

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (so sad but incredibly compelling)

Fag Hag by Robert Rodi (I had to throw one in there that was hilarious...even THAT had its dark moments!)

Two by Zadie Smith: White Teeth and NW

I have not read, but have heard good things about Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove

Probably a lot more...hopefully will come back to me.

Yikes, Una, you read Kevin while pregnant?!

OMG Lonesome Dove was the best. LOVED LOVED LOVED. Cried. my. eyes. out.

I am currently reading a fantastic young adult novel called "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio and I am just loving it. Just very sweet and moving.

I love Lonesome Dove too. My husband made me watch the movie (I hadnt read the book yet) when we were dating, and I cried too.

We have now seen it so many times we quite lines of it to each other.