If you like reading Jonathan Coe, who else do you really love?

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[marina]

William Boyd
Hilary Mantel (if not already tried her, I suggest you start with Eight Months on Ghazzah Street or An Experiment in Love (and NOT with Fludd)
Marge Piercy, especially Fly Away Home and Woman on the Edge of Time
Gerard Woodward's unforgettable trilogy Summer, I'll Go to Bed at Noon and A Curious Earth

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[ggglmpp]

Sylvia Plath
second William Boyd
Paul Auster
mind gone blank - off to pick up kids from school

[marina]

Yes, with Hilary Mantel, although some of what she articulates is very much the dark side of one's psyche
William Boyd I love just because he is another man who writes convincingly from the female perspective
Gerard Woodward combines a very familiar setting - the wasteland of 70s suburbia - with a hallucinogenic weirdness you will either love or not. I find him scary, hilarious and desperately sad, but am so glad I came across him.
Marge Piercy's early stuff is fab, just an excellent read. You have such a shocking treat in store if you have never read Woman on the Edge of Time
But, as you and I both know, Jonathan is a hard act to follow

[marina]

Je m'en souviens bien gggl

[girlfrommars]

Stephen Fry?

[orangina]

Do they have to be english? Have you read all of the Kate Atkinson books?
Re: US writers, how about Wally Lamb, Barbara Kingslover, Johnathan Frantzen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Karl Hiassen....

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[marina]

Yes, I thought it was a bit flimsy at first (and so did several reviewers) but it had me reeled in nicely by the end. Definitely novella-ish though...
Agree re Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex is a wonderful novel - and you have of course already read Donna Tartt's The Secret History?

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[marina]

Oh, would that be Emotionally Weird, pruners - I hated it too, it put me off her for quite a long time

[girlfrommars]

Mario Vargos Llosa, "The Feast of the Goat"

Andrey Kurkov, "Death and the Penguin" and "Penguin Lost"

[happystory]

Can I butt in quietly? (I loved Middlesex BTW) What do I read by Jonathan Coe for starters?

[orangina]

I loved all her books (Kate Atkinson).... her 2 books post Emotionally wierd, very good. A bit more in the vein of Ian Banks (Have you read The Crow Road or Complicity? Both fab....)
Ian McEwan?
Who is that English bloke who wrote 3 novels, (perhaps semi autobiographical?) about coming from and living in a supremely disfunctional upper class family?
(racks brains)

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[orangina]

Edward St Aubyn. Disturbing, but brilliantly written.

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[happystory]

Thank you

[orangina]

ugh Atonement is the only McEwan book I just couldn't do. Try Saturday, or Enduring Love.

[francagoestohollywood]

I really second Jonathan Franzen's The corrections

I really liked The dwarves of death!!!!

Daniel Pennac

any novel by Georges Simenon

[DaDaDa]

Another vote for Paul Auster, especially Mr Vertigo. Murakami hits the same kind of notes about youth, music and friendship.

[FlossieTCake]

Which Jonathan Coe is your favourite, pruners? I'd recommend something quite different for someone who had particularly loved The Rotters Club and The Closed Circle than I would for someone who had loved, say, The House of Sleep.

Pleased to find some more Coe enthusiasts

Have you read any Barbara Trapido? Lighter reading than JC but some of the same elements. Quite funny. Pushes the idea of coincidence to its absolute limit though.

Hari Kunzru - Transmission for the slapstick/satire end of things.

Just finished a great book by last year's Booker winner Anne Enright - What Are You Like? Fabulously surreal.

I could go on...

[pruners]

Message withdrawn

[marina]

Whereas I love House of Sleep (and The Rotters Club) best
Have never tried any Barbara Trapido, thanks for the recommendation