Contemporary Literature Lovers

[aliengirl]

Ok Rippers, I've got Age of Iron, and Disgrace to be going on with, but I'm writing on Mda at the moment. I shall be looking at Coetzee for my dissertation, when I'll be able to give him my full attention. I'll be starting at the beginning of May.

Thank you. We may discuss the details later.

I felt similarly to you about Midnight's Children (haven't read 100 Years of Solitude yet), it was disappointing. I found the story interesting but Rushdie writes as a vehicle to promote his own cleverness and that put me off quite a lot.

I've read Midnight's Children and The Moor's Last Sigh and I felt exactly what you said. He seems to be laughing at the reader and very smug about his own cleverness. Well, that may have worked once but when you see it again, it gets pretty annoying. But try saying it in a university classroom in India and you'll be damned.

[aliengirl]

Is that the v. comprehensive Everyman hardback selection? If so, dive in, she's great! One caveat - I found it slightly repetitive, because she tends to deal with the same issues across several stories, so in a comprehensive edition I think you can't fail but start thinking that she's covering some of the same ground. ... In this collection, she ranges across across three centuries, two continents, and an ocean (her writings about life on board an old sailing ship compares well with Golding and Melville!)

Yes, it is Everyman's hardcover edition. Thanks for giving the go ahead signal. I'd start as soon as I finish reading The House of the Spirits.

It's funny too, because personality-wise I'm not much like Richard but yet I really attached myself to him, was pulling for him to find his courage and even win Door's heart. Actually, the entire cast of characters in Neverwhere are all exceptionally well done... when you end up appreciating the likes of Croup & Vandemar, even when they're torturing someone, you know the writing is damn good.

And likewise, the female characters in many of Gaiman's stories are strong and confident, if somewhat fatalistic. Did you find enough qualities in Door to put yourself in her place?

I'm afraid we've turned this contemporary literature thread into Neil Gaiman thread.

That's a good question Iain. I'd love to be in Door's place. For God's sake who does not want to open a few special doors. I might as well just go and see my mom who is some thousand miles away. Or I may turn up on your doorstep. Jokes apart, I liked the way she stayed calm in dangerous situations and was able to pull herself together even when it looked liked they've lost everything. I'm somewhat like that, unfazed in the face of difficulties. Also I can relate to her because of her special relationship with her dad. As for Richard Mayhew, I felt the same as you did. If he'd have really appeared when I was reading the novel, I'd have given him a hug and ruffled his hair.

I agree that every character in Neverwhere is absolutely well-crafted. While reading the novel around Christmas last year, I also listened to an audio rendition of it on BBC radio 4. They had put together a great cast with James McAvoy as Richard, Natalie Dormer as Door, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Islington.

[Iain Sparrow]

I'm afraid we've turned this contemporary literature thread into Neil Gaiman thread.

That's a good question Iain. I'd love to be in Door's place. For God's sake who does not want to open a few special doors. I might as well just go and see my mom who is some thousand miles away. Or I may turn up on your doorstep. Jokes apart, I liked the way she stayed calm in dangerous situations and was able to pull herself together even when it looked liked they've lost everything. I'm somewhat like that, unfazed in the face of difficulties. Also I can relate to her because of her special relationship with her dad. As for Richard Mayhew, I felt the same as you did. If he'd have really appeared when I was reading the novel, I'd have given him a hug and ruffled his hair.

I agree that every character in Neverwhere is absolutely well-crafted. While reading the novel around Christmas last year, I also listened to an audio rendition of it on BBC radio 4. They had put together a great cast with James McAvoy as Richard, Natalie Dormer as Door, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Islington.

I've listened to it, it's like most BBC productions and is really well done.
I didn't actually read Neverwhere, I listened to it as an audiobook. I was at the local secondhand bookstore and it seemed interesting, the lady who owns the store said it was exceptional so I bought it.

What really hooked me in was the way Richard began the story as this sort of shallow fellow who wasn't too quiet and wasn't to loud, neither this nor that, had his life all mapped out ahead of him... well, it was his girlfriend who had it mapped out for him, and because of one moment of kindness and helping this odd girl with a queer name, his life is turned inside out and he begins to grow.

Anyhow, we better stop gushing over Neverwhere or we'll seem like those fanboys and fangirls who can't stop talking about the Twilight books.

[Paulclem]

The major book competitions are a good place to pick up excellent contemporary literature - such as the booker - but it's always a chance you take with unknown authors.

I intend to read more Delillo after reading Cosmopolis and White Noise which were excellent meditations on corporations and death respectively. I will also read more McCarthy - I have Suttree ready. His range is excellent, and I think he uses his novels to ask particular questions such as how will individuals react after a devastating catastrophe in The Road, and what would a man with a psychopathic dedication to a philosophical purity deal with the modern american man? He explores these to a satisfying degree in both those books.

[Whosis]

Could you be more specific about what you mean by booker prize? When I google it, it comes up with something that says about a prize that has not been offered to Americans until lately. I don't think I'm as familiar with recent English/Irish authors.

I think you are right all around. Some recent authors have been privileged to win major prizes, like Don DeLillo. I find, though, that in the history of prize winners, there are so many obscure winners that stand far in the distance from those like Steinbeck and Hemingway, who also won awards.

[Whosis]

Sorry. Computer went on the fritz, and I'm not sure how to delete second post.

[mal4mac]

The major book competitions are a good place to pick up excellent contemporary literature - such as the booker - but it's always a chance you take with unknown authors.

I don't trust the major book competitions. They are often gongs handed out by members of the elite to other establishmentarians because, "it's Jim's turn to win", and may not reflect real literary merit, and are very unlikely to pick out the best books of the year, or even a "good read".

I intend to read more Delillo after reading Cosmopolis and White Noise which were excellent meditations on corporations and death respectively.

I've only tried Delillo (Underworld) and didn't like it, another one I gave up on. But I keep hearing good things about White Noise so may give that a try at some time. I think the best way to choose contemporary fiction is this second approach of yours - find an author you really like and read more of his/her books (obvious really!)

When thinking about reading a new author, or giving an author a second chance, I think the best thing is to wait until "the noise" about an author "forces" you to read him/her. This may come partly from winning prizes, but I think several other indicators have to "click on" before it's worth taking a chance (good reviews by several, favourite critics and authors, appearance on Radio 4 book club, mentions in forums, librarian's choice,...)

Example - Donna Tartt recently ticked all these boxes, so I've just borrowed "The Secret History" from the library new shelf. No Guarantee of course, but at least I'll find out whether to place more trust in certain reviewers or not...

[Paulclem]

I don't think you can say that if you look at the list of winners and shortlisted authors in the booker. I've just brought up the list and there are loads of good authors represented each year. It's up to you of course.

I gather recommendations from lots of sources - reviews, discussions here and elsewhere. It's good to keep an open mind but nowadays I don't often pick something rubbish, and, like you, I do follow authors through if I like their work.

[Pearlstein]

I've read Mao II and White Noise from Delillo. White Noise was significantly more entertaining to me.

Only read Disgrace from Coetzee and really enjoyed that. Will find more from him in the future.

I suppose it's more of a humor book, but Straight Man by Richard Russo is one of my favorite modern books. Easily the funniest thing I've ever come across.

[TheFifthElement]

I've only tried Delillo (Underworld) and didn't like it, another one I gave up on. But I keep hearing good things about White Noise so may give that a try at some time.

I love Don DeLillo and there were moments of brilliance in Underworld, but in the end I gave up and didn't finish it. DeLillo's work works much better in a more condensed format; Underworld became too repetitive and perhaps more repetitive with enough of a background in his work to see how themes recur in his work. White Noise is a really good read, as is Mao II and Cosmopolis.

Example - Donna Tartt recently ticked all these boxes, so I've just borrowed "The Secret History" from the library new shelf. No Guarantee of course, but at least I'll find out whether to place more trust in certain reviewers or not...

Ah, I read The Goldfinch last year and it's excellent. I have The Little Friend in my to read pile. You'll have to let me know what you think of The Secret History.

Adding Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to my top class contemporary writers list. Half of a Yellow Sun is an excellent, complex and intelligent read.

[qimissung]

I love "The Secret History."

[mal4mac]

I've finished "the Secret History". It's certainly a page turner, a nice combination of campus novel and murder "mystery". I think a bit more could have been made of the protagonists attempts to relive the culture of the Ancient Greeks, and a bit less of the campus parties and drunken behaviour. It was a bit long and repetitive, but certainly a decent first novel. (Not as decent as Thomas Hardy's "Under the Greenwood Tree", which I read right after it. This is a miracle of a first novel, and *really* draws a picture of a rural idyll.) I recently re-read Malcolm Bradbury's "The History Man" - my favourite campus novel. Tartt doesn't quite match it, she doesn't get as deeply into the warped souls of her main protagonists, and isn't as humourous. Given the recent hype for Tartt, in the UK, I was expecting a bit more, but (that said) I wasn't too disappointed. I have "Little Friend" on the shelf and certainly feel disposed to read it sometime soon, she's an author I feel inclined to read again, to see if she improves after a "reasonable" start.

[masonblake]

Coetzee.

Paul Auster

Murakami.

David Mitchell

[Kafka's Crow]

DM Thomas: The White Hotel
Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel: Bring Up the Bodies
Arundhotti Roy: The God of Small Things

[ChicagoReader]

I agree with the aforementioned DeLillo, and also wasn't able to finish Underworld; got halfway through:
White Noise -- My favorite
Mao II -- been wanting to re-read this for awhile but new book always get in the way
Cosmopolis -- Read it twice, enjoyed it each time

Denis Johnson gets a lot of hype but I've only really enjoyed Jesus' Son (also read Tree of Smoke and Train Dreams)

Murakami:
Norwegian Wood is my favorite; also,
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas -- Was about 75% done when I took it to the library to renew it, only for them to tell me someone had it on hold and they took it! Never finished it and been kicking myself for it.

Kevin Powers
The Yellow Birds -- Absolutely loved this book; highly recommended

David Foster Wallace
Any of his nonfiction -- I think he's brilliant

Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day -- A masterly novel
Never Let Me Go -- A good page-turner

Roberto Bolano
2666 -- Truly an experience; a rewarding read
The Savage Detectives

Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian -- One of my favorite novels, definitely worth rereading over and over
Suttree

Tim O'Brien
Going After Cacciato
The Things They Carried

William H Gass
Guy is an absolute genius, way over my head, but I enjoy scraping together what I can from his nonfiction:
Finding a Form
The World within the Word