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Original poster

Lit Fic for ME please

232 replies

Hullygully · 28/06/2013 08:38

Any recommendations? Need lots of books for hols. I want lit fiction eg I do not want Khaled Hossein, Harold Fry, JoJo Moyes etc etc (nothing wrong with them, but I don't want them).

I want Mantel/Mitchell/Houllebecq type stuff please and thank you.

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 12:09

yy Winter's Bone dead good.

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imademarion · 28/06/2013 12:05

Saturday?? Pah what a pile if showy off bollocks. First third of Atonement was great, rest rather silly.

Given we agree on that, I suspect you'll enjoy Candida McWilliam A Case of Knives, been returning to it periodically for decades.

mignonette · 28/06/2013 12:04

Have ordered Twilight Hully

I also like Daniel Woodrell. 'Winters Bone' is the most known but he writes wonderful atmospheric short stories too.

A great Cajun author is Tim Gatreaux.

Linda Bruckheimer, Lori Lansens, Rebecca wells, Fanny Flagg, Tom Perotta and Jeannette Wells all write great popular fiction and memoir in the case of Jeannette Wells (The Glass Castle)..

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 12:00

V keen on Louise

will look at conroy

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mignonette · 28/06/2013 12:00

Pinterest- an online pinboard site. Prepare to waste too much time looking at it.

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:59

Outside in the barnlot he looked up and the pale moon was directly over him and all-encompassing. It appeared to be lowering itself onto the earth and he could make out mountains and ranges of hills and hollows and dark shadowed areas of mystery he judged to be timber and he wondered what manner of beast thrived there and what their lives were like and the need to be there twisted in his heart like an old pain that will not dissipate.?

From Gay's "Twilight"

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mignonette · 28/06/2013 11:59

I love Gilead.

Louise Ehlrich is a great US writer who features Native Americans in her books a lot. Barbara Kingsolver touches on it too in 'The Bean Trees', 'Pigs In Heaven' and 'Animal Dreams'. These are Arizona/SW settings which mesmerised me. I love her work so much.

I haven't read Blood Meridian but I have glanced through and it appears as sparse and spare as its landscape setting. Plenty of Spanish in it.

T C Boyles 'Tortilla Curtain' is a lovely read with a SW setting but oh my the descriptions of the desert flora and fauna make it anything but arid. No cowboy western here.

'Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil' is a steamy Gothic number and I strongly recommend Pat Conroy to all Deep South lit lovers. 'The Prince Of Tides', 'The Great Santini', 'South Of Broad' are all masterclasses in epic, generational dramas that have such a strong sense of time and place (a reason why I adore American literature)...

Then there are the oldies but goodies- Willa Cather, Faulkner, Truman Capote (A Southern Childhood)...

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:56

mig, what is pin?

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:56

May We Be Forgiven is the AM Homes one. Also like her This Book Will save Your Life.

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:54

Wolf Hall is magnificent

really a triumph

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:54

Will look at Hare

will have to hide books from dh

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:53

What about Mistry's Fammily Matters? That's not too gruelling. It's really really sweet

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:52

It's not cowboys and Indians

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:52

YOU MUST READ BLOOD MERIDIAN

MUST

MUST

It is utterly utterly superb

The Judge still haunts me

Every page is drenched in blood, but don't let that put you off

And it's based on a true story

It's Cormac's best (IMO)

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greenhill · 28/06/2013 11:51

Have you read any Flannery o'Connor if you like southern gothic? Her short stories are excellent.

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:50

William Gay - so mad

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dotty2 · 28/06/2013 11:50

PS - don't make anyone read Rohinton Mistry on holiday! So emotionally gruelling. It must be five years since I read A Fine Balance and I still can't forget it.

exexpat · 28/06/2013 11:48

OK, I've downloaded Swamplandia and the Northern Clemency.

Just checked, and realised that I have read Atomised, but the edition I have calls it The Elementary Particles. Might try some more Houllebecq.

My finger is hovering over the buy-with-one-click button on Blood Meridian, but I have a (possibly irrational) reluctance to read anything with an American Western setting. Can someone reassure me that it's not just about cowboys and indians?

Likewise, I am a little hesitant to admit it, but Wolf Hall has been sitting unread by my bed for more than two years - I have read and loved lots of Hilary Mantel's previous stuff, but there is just something about overtly historical fiction that puts me off. I know I must be being silly, as so many people have been raving about it, but I just don't find myself wanting to pick it up.

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:48

V fond of Gilead and Home

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:47

mig - I'll try and remember, if not, ask me after the summer. Memory really is shot.

I love southern gothic, I like whatshisname that is so far over the top there's no coming back.

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dotty2 · 28/06/2013 11:47

I like similar stuff to you and have recently re-read L P Hartley The Go Between - read it as a teenager but enjoyed it much more this time with an adult perspective on childhood. I know you said fiction, but can I also recommend Edmund de Waal's memoir, The Hare with the Amber Eyes? I mostly read fiction for pleasure but loved this and was reminded by a colleague the other day of just why it was so wonderful. Have you read Marilyn Robinson Gilead and Home?

BabCNesbitt · 28/06/2013 11:41

Stuff I've loved over the last year or so:

Leaving the Atocha Station. The narrator is incredibly annoying but I still found it compelling.

Inglorious.

The Artificial Silk Girl. Don't be mislead by the title, it's very far from chicklit/Joanne Harris-type stuff.

mignonette · 28/06/2013 11:39

I'm so pleased you've ordered the Bailey Whites. Please Pm me to let me know what you thought. She's not really known in the UK so glad to give her some exposure. I love her mad Southern Gothic friends, relatives and lifestyle. I'm on pin if you want to browse any more for book suggestions. (I'm not trying to promote myself rather that i have too many suggestions to post here!)

Shanghaidiva · 28/06/2013 11:32

Clemency is better than Badgers -imo

Hollinghurst -the line of beauty
Chris Cleave - Little Bee
Ian Banks - Crow Road
David Lodge - Small World

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Hullygully · 28/06/2013 11:28

My dsis keeps going on about her and I do have Stranger, I have an unreasoning prejudice for some reason

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