Going book shopping this week...need recommendations.

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10-19-2003, 08:25 PM
Robert E Lee

Going book shopping this week...need recommendations.

Can anyone recommend me a good fiction novel?

You can check out my "books I've read in 2003" post to get an idea of what I read.

I would prefer the recommendations to not be: written by African Americans (don't like Afro American lit. at all), women (for fear of getting a Jane Austen or Bronte recommendation), French authors (I prefer to read them in their original French which is impossible to find down here).

It's all right if you recommend a book by an author I've already read though but I really am trying to discover authors I haven't read.

Note: this is Lee's brother.
10-19-2003, 08:43 PM
den

For disturbing laugh and twisted horror, may I suggest

Nick Caves' " And the *** saw the Angel " (if you can find it ;) )

From insert: "Outcast, mute, a lone twin cut from a drunk mother in a shack full of junk..."

Euchrid Eucrow's hijinx ensue in this incest riddled, black humour, small town tale of ignorance and loftier dreams of heavenly love born in double-wide trailers. This book was unreal to me, Caves' grasp of classic southern gothic rammed lock and stock into 22 gauge contemporary white trash lingo.

I never would have thought I'd enjoy it, but Cave left me looking for more of his stuff. His music is as much disturbing and joyful as this book was.
10-20-2003, 03:02 AM
Isagel

Ok- no women? I almost do not want to give you this tip. But I ´m in a nice and generous mood.

Cobralingus, by Jeff Noon

Cobralingus is a machine that remixes poetry, like music. Take Dickinson ad the weather report, mix it and refine. Or randomise. Or add the the names of mountains on the moon, translated to english... In the book Noon shows the process and the results. And of course this marvellous machine is all in Noons head. For anybody that loves words.
10-20-2003, 04:39 PM
AbdoRinbo

Robert E Lee, like that wasn't racist? You ***.
10-20-2003, 05:34 PM
crisaor

Your list is too wide to narrow it down to a style of preferred reading, so I'll just recommend the last one i read: Happiness (TM), by Will Ferguson
Finished it last weekend. Great book.
10-20-2003, 05:41 PM
Robert E Lee

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbdoRinbo

Robert E Lee, like that wasn't racist? You ***.

Yeah it's racist, but I can't help hating AfroAmerican "literature". That's just my taste.

I'm sure there are racial categories of writers you'd prefer to avoid.
10-20-2003, 05:44 PM
AbdoRinbo

No, Lee, I have no racial preference. That must be impossible for you to imagine.
10-20-2003, 09:16 PM
Bittersweet

Re: Going book shopping this week...need recommendations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert E Lee

Can anyone recommend me a good fiction novel?

Lucky you !! hmmmmmmmmm I would suggest the following and I'm sure you will like to discover new things.

1. I Saw Ramalla by Mourid Barghouthi
2. Leap of Faith
(a memoir of an unexpected life) By Queen Nur of Jordan
3. Out of Place (A memoir by Edward Said)
4. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
(very heavy and dark but lots of wisdom lol
5. Map of Love or In the Eye of the Sun By Ahdaf Souif
6. East of Eden By John Stienbeck
7. Alchemist By Paulo C. (A fable but will touch your life)
8. The Dive from Clausen's Pier By Ann Packer
I'm reading it right now.. it is so really good so far.
9. The Land of Sand Oranges by Ghassan Kanafani.

Let us know what books you got... Good Luck
10-21-2003, 04:41 AM
Sindhu

Re: Going book shopping this week...need recommendations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert E Lee

Can anyone recommend me a good fiction novel?

Can I suggest "To the Hermitage"- Malcolm Bradbury - It's marvellous- a kind of biography of the French Encyclopaedist Diderot, plus the adventures of contemporary "pilgrims" who set out on a Diderot tour- Shades of the Canterbury Tales.
I would have suggested Orlando - but since you said no women...