Saturday, October 01, 2005

 

Contemporary fiction?


I am woefully unread in contemporary fiction. Please sell me on what contemporary fiction authors/books I should read!

# posted by Steven D. Schroeder @ 12:11 AM
Comments:
Amy Bloom, Jhumpa Lahiri, Glenn Blake, ZZ Packer (a must!)and Steve Martin (trust me on this one)
# posted by Blogger Amanda Auchter : October 01, 2005 12:27 AM
 
Dancing Naked by Robert Hodgeson Van Wagoner.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.
# posted by Blogger Justin Evans : October 01, 2005 7:42 AM
 
Sorry,

That's Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner.
# posted by Blogger Justin Evans : October 01, 2005 7:43 AM
 
Oh, now you're on my turf.

Here are some contemporary must reads:

The Corrections -- Jonathan Franzen
Underworld -- Don DeLillo
Cloudsplitter -- Russell Banks
Blindness -- Jose Saramago
The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver
Merry Men -- Carolyn Chute
# posted by Blogger steve mueske : October 01, 2005 9:15 AM
 
Two of my favorites - Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and Possession by A.S. Byatt (or any of her recent collections of short stories, like the Little Black Book of Stories.) Also concur with recommendations for Steve Martin and ZZ Packer.
# posted by Blogger jeannine : October 01, 2005 11:04 AM
 
Yup, I've only read a couple of these. I'll look up some more of them. :-)

Thanks, everyone.
# posted by Blogger Steven D. Schroeder : October 01, 2005 12:45 PM
 
Check out:

Mark Richard
Jhumpa (as already recommended above)
Naeem Murr
Sarah Pritchard!!
# posted by Blogger C. Dale : October 01, 2005 12:50 PM
 
are you effing kidding me!!
my favourite book of all time:
Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson and -
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Silk by Alessandro Baricco
Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller
thanks for the opportunity to share
and am linking your blog to mine
# posted by Blogger AnnMarie Eldon : October 01, 2005 6:25 PM
 
Three favorites: A.M. Homes, Donna Tartt, Tobias Wolfe (Wolffe? Wolff? too tired to check ;-))
# posted by Blogger Suzanne : October 02, 2005 5:36 AM
 
Seconding Richard and Markson. Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn is fantastic (I actually liked As she crawled across the table better...). Enjoyed and was way out of my comfort zone with Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's Madeleine is Sleeping.

One often interesting fiction blog is jennydavidson.blogspot.com
# posted by Blogger Jordan : October 03, 2005 10:42 AM
 
Wow, thanks for the advice, everyone--I think my reading list is filled up from now until Christmas . . . 2007. I'll be sure to post something once I read one of these or some other contemporary fiction.
# posted by Blogger Steven D. Schroeder : October 03, 2005 2:38 PM
 
I adored Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. It's a tough read, but a fascinating approach to form.

Also, for a poetic approach to fiction, read Carole Maso's The American Woman in the Chinese Hat. It's like having sex with sentences.
# posted by Blogger Charles : October 04, 2005 2:22 AM
 
Drown by Junot Diaz

Anything by T.C. Boyle

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 04, 2005 9:14 AM
 
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