Book Recommendations: Wanted!

[rebness]

So... um. Number three in my New Year resolution list is to read more, and by reading more I mean discounting the back of cereal boxes, teletext, anything on the internets unless it's an e-text of a book and newspapers. My book count for 2005 was pitiful and composed of too many re-readings.

Now, well-read flist, any recommendations? I'm something of a literary snob, so I likely won't go for chicklit, and I'm not the biggest fan of science fiction. Feel free to recommend any nonfiction works or biographies, too. I need to put these Waterstones' vouchers to sensible use.

For what it's worth, here's what I can remember of (Am ashamed.):


The Aeneid, Virgil
Short Stories, Anton Chekov
Death in Venice, Thomas Mann (re-read)
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Farcia Marquez (almost slung against the wall in frustration)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S Thompson (re-read)
Marie Antoinette, Antonia Fraser (unfinished)
Venice: Tales of the City, edited by Michelle Lovric
Short Stories Guy de Maupassant (French version)
Casanova: My Life, Giacomo Casanova (unfinished)
Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
Castle in the Air, Diana Wynne Jones
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling
Night Letters, Robert Dessaix (re-read)
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy (poetry), Tim Burton
Farenheit 451, Raymond Bradbury (unfinished)
Pleasures and Days, Marcel Proust (unfinished)
The Firebrand, Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Motorcycle Diaries, Ernesto "Che" Guavera
Charmed Life, Diana Wynne Jones
The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke (still reading)

... There are more novels, but I can't remember them. They must have left such a lasting impression upon me.



As you can see, I need help. >:

Comments

[gairid.livejournal.com]

As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann.

I can't recommend this highly enough!

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Is that the one with the picture I posted once, of the dying man? I think I should probably read it just for having such a great cover. >:)

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the one, though I couldn't remember if it was you or someone else who had posted that picture. The story is wonderfully written and , hey, canon slash. Can't ask for better than that!

[rebness.livejournal.com]

>:)

I'm sold!

[peregrinuscanus.livejournal.com]

Okay. I read 102 books last year (about 50% were Young Adult books that can be read in an evening). Some of the notables were -

Port Mungo - Patrick McGrath (in fact any Patrick McGrath book is v.v.v.good)
Small Island - Andrea Levy 5*
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 5* as well
Old School - Tobias Wolff (he wrote This Boy's Life as well)
Some Martin Amis - Money and Night Train being the ones I enjoyed most
Lolita - Nabokov
The Cider House Rules - John Irving

and for Young Adult books

The Lives of Christopher Chant/Conrad's Fate/Witch Week - Diana Wynne Jones (I defy you not to love Chrestomanci even more, and want Richard E Grant to play him in the film).
also -
Surrender - Sonya Hartnett (all her books are v. good)
Useful Idiots - Jan Mark (excellent and thought-provoking)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Lots of people seem to love this Cloud Atlas, so I'm going to go with that, I think. I've always shied away from Martin Amis, but I'll give him a go.

Richard E. Grant would be sublime as Chrestomanci. I'll definitely continue the series this year.

interrupting, oh noes

[fadedacolyte.livejournal.com]

Chrestomanci? As in, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci?

How did I not know it's going to the big screen!

Re: interrupting, oh noes

[peregrinuscanus.livejournal.com]

It's not :( It just ought to! before REG gets too old to play Chrestomanci. I watched him in Withnail & I last night and it confirmed that he is born to play someone snooty in a dressing gown.

Re: interrupting, oh noes

[fadedacolyte.livejournal.com]

Awe no. There went my hope to see how much Hollywood can make things go awry to see it outside of my...um, head. o.O

Re: interrupting, oh noes

[rebness.livejournal.com]

We should make it happen one day. Possibly by kidnapping Mr. Grant.

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like Old School. I've told Becky to read that before. Perhaps she wants us to write it in huge letters on a banner or something before she gets the message.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

All right, all right, I get the hint. I trust both of you, so I'll check it out. ;)

[wiebke.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend Mary Renault: Fire From Heaven, Persian Boy, etc. Brilliant stuff!

Other favs, old and recent reads:

Night's Master - Tanith Lee
Parable of the Sower - by Octavia Butler
Affinity - by Sarah Waters
Kushiel's Dart - by Jacqueline Carey
Lilith's Brood (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago) - Octavia E. Butler
Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
A Room With a View - E.M. Forster
The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin

I'd also recommend just about all of Storm Constantine's books. Which ones depends on what you like. The first book in her Grigori series, Stalking Tender Prey, is a modern version of a gothic horror novel, set in an isolated English village, and might appeal to you, esp. if you've had to read "straight" gothic horror.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Isolated English village, you say? I think I'll give it a whirl!

[wiebke.livejournal.com]

Isolated English village, likely Northern, knowing Storm. Things go terribly, terribly awry!

[ladydaydream.livejournal.com]

One of my favourite books is A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth. It takes a little while to get to grips with all the characters but once you're drawn into the story it's hard to put it down. I also enjoyed On The Road - Jack Kerouac and Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote is nice quick read.

I really disliked One Hundred Years of Solitude when I read it.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I started both On the Road and Breakfast at Tiffany's, and lost them both. True story. I shall endeavour to find them this year, though.

I hated One Hundred Years of Solitude for the simple reason that I had to actually start a spider diagram of the family tree because I was getting lost with the multiple characters with the same name. It was so tedious.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Bugger. I posted and got an error and it disappeared. Um. New Palahniuk, Haunted. Haven't read it yet, but it must be good, surely.

Read and liked this past year:

Nick Hornby: A Long Way Down
Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex
Terry Pratchett: Thud! and Going Postal
Patrick Marber: Closer (play)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

How on earth I have allowed new books by Palahniuk and Hornby to slip me by, I'll never know. I do like me Chabon and Eugenides, so I'll check them out. Thanks!

[fadedacolyte.livejournal.com]

Read The Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra. That's an order, not a suggestion. >:|

And I can't think of anymore at the moment but I promise I'll be back.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Dude! I followed your order exceptionally well, because I've already read it. >:)

I love that book, though I cried big fat tears at the last line.

Good! I shall await your return. *Starts stopwatch*

[fadedacolyte.livejournal.com]

Oo, yay, saves me from having to use my sheer brute force to get you to read it.

It's such a good book. I'd read it again but it'd make me all sad and stuff. :/

Okay, wee, suggestions now.

*E.M. Forster-A Passage To India. I'm really biased, but I feel the urge to recommend this book to everyone. >.<

*C.S. Forester's Hornblower series, if you haven't already read it. Have only read the first two(there's 11, I hear), but I find them to be good(so far).

*I'm seconding the vote for you to read the His Dark Materials trilogy, kthx.

*David Anthony Durham-Pride of Carthage. Historical fiction surrounding Hannibal Barca.

*Aldous Huxley-Brave New World. Aaah you might have read it already and if so, this suggestion's null. :/

*Rudyard Kipling-Kim. Okay, so I'm biased again, but still.

*John Berendt-Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

*Gabriel King-The Wild Road and The Golden Cat, in that order.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I forgot about A Passage to India, and it's sitting on my shelf! (I bought it in a 10-for-the-price-of-1 student deal about three years ago.) I love works set in India, so I should really focus on that this summer.

Loved Brave New World, and your tastes seem to run similar to mine, so I'll keep all this list in mind. Thanks!

[londonesque.livejournal.com]

Bel Canto is a beatifully written book so I'd recommend that :)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :D

[kiraelf.livejournal.com]

I've just finished Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I read it becaue I've heard nothing but rave reviews for it, and against my will almost I have to admit it was an excellent book. Don't let the fact that it was Richard & Judy's read of the year put you off!

You say you don't much like sci-fi, and this does go into the future but things come full circle and it's about people's lives so I think you'd like. If you read the blurb about you'll know it's a series of 6 interconnecting short stories (some more loosly interconnected than others), with reincarnation and humanities capacitiy to destroy ourselves through our knowledge as recurent themes. Each story is set in a different time and the language he uses reflects that, it is very clever. I could go on and on but I won't. This is my recommendation.

Also Wicked by Gregory McGuire was good.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely going to pick up Cloud Atlas. A few people have recommended it to me now. And short stories rock.

[coconutswirl.livejournal.com]

if you are into fantastic literature (not sci-fi), Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is hard to beat. Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake deals with the future but it is a literary novel rather than straightforward sci-fi. It's also a chilling read.

If you like novels set in the past (as your list suggests), how about Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy set during WW1? It has a queer aspect to it and it delves into the history of psychology too.

I really like AS Byatt: Possession won the Booker back in 1990. It is a rich, beautiful tapestry of literary styles and deals with the nature of love and how much we can really know about the past. Note: the novel contains poetry. Everybody skips the poems. You won't lose a thing.

Alasdair Gray, gosh he is great. Terse and very Scottish. The best introduction to him is Poor Things which is a FABULOUS feminist take on Frankenstein set in Victorian Glasgow. The characters are as mad as hatters and the novel is extremely entertaining and good.

Another favourite author of mine is Jonathan Coe. The House of Sleep is a great novel dealing with narcolepsy, ambiguous sexualities and how much the past can influence the present.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Pullman has written a few articles for the Guardian, and I've loved his writing style and what he has to say, so I'll stop holding out and try His Dark Materials.

Actually, I like the sound of all your recommendations, particularly Regeneration (yes, I'm a sucker for novels set in the past.)

omg i am all over your post :o

[fadedacolyte.livejournal.com]

The His Dark Materials trilogy is really good. I don't know them, but coconutswirl gets my vote for a good suggestion. And they stole one of mine, hmph.

[peregrinuscanus.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! The Pat Barker Regeneration trilogy is great. And the film of Regeneration, if you've not seen it, is fant-bloody-tastic! - James Wilby, Jonathan Pryce, Jonny Lee Miller and Dougray Scott.

[jaffacakequeen.livejournal.com]

literary snob. ahem Harry Potter! lmao

well you havnt finished Casanova which was one of favs read of this year.

I recommend you read some John Wyndham, short books that make you think. Day of the Triffids followed by the Chrysalids, then Midwich cuckoos. (there are not science fiction :-p, its more about the breakdown of society faced with different challenges)

I also recommend Alice Hoffman because they dont go over the top with descriptions of opening an envelope but have a good narrative and characterisation that keeps you involved and throws in a bit of surreal not quite there of the real world stuff in for good measure. A good starting point is the The River King and Practical Magic (nothing like the film, although i did enjoy the film) there are not chick lit books. Closer to Margaret Atwood than Zadie Smith.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I prefer Attwood to Zadie Smith any day of the week (I hated White Teeth) so I'll give Hoffman a go.

I'm getting close to the end of Casanova's story, the dirty git.

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

I recommend to you like ten books every day, and do you listen?

[rebness.livejournal.com]

The Firebrand, Night Letters, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The Eyre Affair, Dorian Gray, The Hours and Corfu probably point to the affirmative. >:O

[rebness.livejournal.com]

>: Now recommend me some!

Please thnx

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Well, look, there's three other Thursday Nexts and the one about Humpty Dumpty before you can move on from Jasper Fforde, so I don't know what you're complaining about. Hope to it. Heathcliff's in one of them. And Hamlet.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Hamlet? The original passive-aggressive anti-hero? Why didn't I know this before! (Wait, I think you had already told me.) To the book store!

[rebness.livejournal.com]

*Shakes fist*

It had better be, or I'll fling it at you!

[avariecaita.livejournal.com]

Read the TEAL list. Aww, we both read Leroux, The Firebrand, and Potter. Two books on your list that I'm going to read this year are The Aeneid and the really long title by Susanna Clarke (do audio books count?!).

OMG! I just spent $80 on cds. Kill me now, kthxbye.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Yes, but some people read Leroux in the original French and deserve a sporking for being too clever. >:p

What CDs did you get? I like CDs, I do.

(Audiobooks are liars!)

[avariecaita.livejournal.com]

If by clever you mean: looks up every tenth word, then yes, yes I am!

Lots of CDs. Like, um, stuff you would never listen to in a million years because they were on sale and I couldn't say no (read: Renée Fleming, Trance, and ... um ... some others). I was thiiiiiiiiisclose to buying Franz Fern-whatever, but they didn't have a listening station. Even at 60% off I'm not sure I want to buy something I won't like. Audiobooks that say ABRIGED are liars, I think. :p

FRANCE! TO LIVE! AND WORK! Oh, I'm the colour of a very juicy kiwi right now. Who's clever? NOT ME!

[pandorasblog]

The Birth of Venus! :p

And SANDMAN!!! Because I can almost guarantee you'll become obsessed and end up weeping over it. Which is a good thing, honest! Begins with Preludes and Noctures (gets better later, but really needs to be read in order), and would recommend Hy Bender's Sandman Companion for maximum enjoyment.

The Crow Road by Iain Banks, which is this wonderfully funny and moving story of a large Scottish family, told by the youngest (?) son.