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

[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.