help needed

[Veva]

Please I would be grateful if you told me any British and American writers whose novels are worth reading. I'm in the final high school year and I'm going to study filology at university {English}, what's more I'm from a post-comunistic country and I have serious problems with finding good authors. By the way, I'd like something not very well known as I've already gone through Shakespeare and Dickens. Thanks for your effort. :thumbs_up

[muhsin]

Good luck to you.
But, there are countless authors my dear. First of all, I would like you to go writers index of this site. You'll see things worth what you wanna see.
By the way, if you have any difficulty in doing so, report it.

[PeterL]

Yes, there are very many authors that you could read. You might look at some of the lists of great novels such as :
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html
and
http://www.hylandmadrid.com/libros/en/20th_Century.htm
and
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html
and
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/greatest.htm

For short works you might read the Norton Anthologies, but you certainly should read short stories but Edgar Allan Poe, you is barely mentioned one the lists, because he wrote no novels.


Keep in mind that all such lists are just someone's opinions. Some of the works that are listed as great I consider of no value and/or poorly written. I was amazed that "The Day of the Locust" was listed; it is poorly written and of no importance to society.

[Jay]

Hey Veva, do you already know what university are you going to attend? I'm studying English Language & Literature (filology if you wish) at Masaryk Uni in Brno at the Faculty of Arts. I could give you some pointers as to what authors are generally read during some of the lit. courses if you're interested.

[mono]

Please I would be grateful if you told me any British and American writers whose novels are worth reading. I'm in the final high school year and I'm going to study filology at university {English}, what's more I'm from a post-comunistic country and I have serious problems with finding good authors. By the way, I'd like something not very well known as I've already gone through Shakespeare and Dickens. Thanks for your effort. :thumbs_up
Hello, Veva, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on reaching so far in your studies.
Your question seems a little difficult to understand without knowing a few things about you, your preferences in literature, etc. Perhaps to help us recommend some fitting books for you, do you have any favorite books thus far, or any favorite authors worth mentioning?
Again, welcome aboard the forum, and hopefully we can discuss this more. :)

[penelopea]

I would suggest John Masefield the Bird of Dawning ,followed by the complete set of Parick O'Brien for England's seafaring past.
Thomas Hardy followed by Joanna Trollope.
probably Martin Amis
Iain Banks
Bernard Cornwall is fun.

[subterranean]

If you want to start with classic ones, there is an extensive list of British and American authors. From Chaucer to Kipling (British), from Ward to Chopin (American). And there are even more after them; poets, playwrights, novelists. So, yes, I agree with some posters here, you need to specify them first before you proceed.

[Nightwalk]

Hello Veva, welcome to the forums. Here are my recommendations.

British: Alexander Trocchi - Cain's Book

American: Charles Bukowski - Notes of a Dirty Old Man ( not a novel but a collection of articles the author wrote for an underground newspaper in the 1960's )

Happy hunting.

[holograph]

heh im also in my last year of high school and im from belarus. what a coincidence. but ive lived in the US since i was very young. so here are some authors

british: jane austen, hg wells, virginia woolf, oh chaucer etc.
american: irwin shaw, plath, steinbeck, malamud, twain, emily dickinson, poe, thoreau etc.

if u need any advice feel free to pm me. --alina

[downing]

Read the British
Thomas Hardy-Jude the Obscure, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess D'Urbervilles of course and also other Hardy works.
Jane Austen-Pride and Prejudice, sense and sensibility, northanger park, mansfield park, etc
Charlote Bronte's Jane Eyre
and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

As about Americn literature, a wonderful book... Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell-a must-read book.

[Nightwalk]

Hello holograph, nice of you to mention Irwin Shaw and Bernard Malamud, theire some of my favorite authors.

[Veva]

Jay thank you so much... as a matter of fact Im going to study at your university!!! Are you Czech? I would be grateful if you got in touch with me as soon as possible because I really need your help. Thanx for your effort!

[Veva]

Hello, Veva, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on reaching so far in your studies.
Your question seems a little difficult to understand without knowing a few things about you, your preferences in literature, etc. Perhaps to help us recommend some fitting books for you, do you have any favorite books thus far, or any favorite authors worth mentioning?
Again, welcome aboard the forum, and hopefully we can discuss this more. :)
My favourite is W. Styron- Sophies choice and everything by James Joyce. Thanx

[mono]

My favourite is W. Styron- Sophies choice and everything by James Joyce. Thanx
Unfortunately, I do not feel familiar with W. Styron, but if you like James Joyce, you have quite a few choices. Joyce, himself, wrote quite a few works worth reading (I just started Ulysses myself, but A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man I could likely call my favorite). If you enjoy his fast-paced, fragmented, and so-called 'flight-of-consciousness' literature, you may also like Virginia Woolf (especially Mrs. Dalloway), Sylvia Plath (her only novel The Bell Jar, though she also wrote plenty of poetry worth reading), William Butler Yeats, Thomas Hardy, and Gustave Flaubert; Hardy and Flaubert did not quite have the same 'flight-of-consciousness' literature as Joyce, but definitely had the confessional and fragmented styles worth reading.
Good luck!