non-classic contemporary books from relatively unknown writers?

[underground]

hello,

i recently read desirable daughters by bharati mukherjee and country of origin by don lee. i'd never heard of either writer before, although apparently they're quite well-known in the literary world. anyway, it suddenly opened a new window for me. i'm getting quite tired of all the "must-read" classics (overall they're pretty depressing and full of symbols to be analyzed and whatnot.) and i don't really know too many contemporary authors other than the ones whose books everyone's been talking about (e.g., dan brown, mitch albom) and i was wondering if anyone knows equally good yet underrated books.

much thanks!

[mister_noel_y2k]

vikram seth (pronounced sett), v.s.naipaul, don delillo, jackie kay, jeanette winterson, alex haley, ken kesey, kenzaburo oe, yukio mishima, arundhati roy, luke rhinehart, larry mcmurty, chinua achebe, george macdonald fraser


:banana:

[mono]

I definitely agree with mister noel in promoting Jeanette Winterson and Ken Kesey (though some may consider him 'classic'); but other books/authors I recommend, according to your criteria: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Creation by Gore Vidal, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, and anything by Chuck Palahniuk (though I recommend his earlier work more than his latter).
I apologize I do not have more, but I just noticed how much more contemporary non-fiction I read. :lol:
Best of luck!

[Sally Brown]

Hello,

I wrote something about Agota Kristof here:
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12703
Her books are famous in Europe, especially in France and Switzerland, but they're still unknown in the rest of the world.
I find her writing great.

Bye :wave:,
Sally