Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Contemporary American novels please

64 replies

EdBird · 23/02/2014 20:30

looking for recommendations for contemporary American novels. Preferably post 9 - 11 but others welcome too.
Books I loved have been Middlesex, Art of Fielding, Virgin Suicides, Secret History, Tinkers, Corrections, We were the Mulvaneys and I am not allowing myself to read Cormac McCarthy books all at once as trying to eke them out
Also dont know of anyone ideas on a female American author who has recently (within last year) published a new book who is meant to be excellent and comparable to Franzen and Shriver? Read about her in the Times and she had such an unusual name that I thoght I would remember it and of course I didnt :/
Thank you

OP posts:
SarahAndFuck · 24/02/2014 12:48

I've been enjoying Curtis Sittenfeld's books this past week or so. Have finished Sisterland and Prep and now I'm partway through American Wife.

HippieInASecondLocation · 24/02/2014 10:40

Richard Russo is another one I really enjoy. Such a clever, witty author.

BaconAndAvocado · 24/02/2014 10:16

John Irving. Best living American author Smile

MrsBranestawm · 24/02/2014 05:47

Yes to A M Homes.
Also Anne Tyler, but you've probably already clocked her.

I really liked The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. Written 2008 and set in the sixties. An American friend recommended it to me.

HomeIsWhereTheHeartIs · 24/02/2014 05:36

The Good Father by Noah Hawley is ok.

DuchessofMalfi · 24/02/2014 05:33

Agree A M Homes - I've read a couple of her novels. They are quirky, offbeat, humorous observations slightly skewed modern lives. Very enjoyable.

HippieInASecondLocation · 24/02/2014 03:39

a.m.homes and Jennifer Egan are two I've enjoyed recently.

Germanwife · 24/02/2014 03:32

Paul Auster - especially 'Moon Palace' and 'Book of Illusions', Auster is the godfather of contemporary American literature. His wife, Siri Hustvedt, is also an amazing writer. Check out 'What I loved' and 'Sorrows of an American'.

And my absolute favourite - Annie Proulx. Check out 'The Shipping News', 'Postcards', 'Fine just the way it is: stories about Wyoming', She wrote 'Brokeback mountain' but I can't rember which collection the story appears.

Then of course there are the usual suspects: Philip Roth, John Updike and Don DeLillo.

BabCNesbitt · 24/02/2014 03:30

Seconding Louise Erdrich - I'm reading The Round House at the moment and it's excellent. Would also suggest Ann Patchett and Jennifer Egan. And the website The Millions is really good for recommendations for contemporary US fiction.

MamaPain - it wasn't Michael Chabon, was it?

moreyear · 24/02/2014 02:46

I see you have read the Secret History but was it Donna Tartts new one, Goldfinch?

SecretWitch · 24/02/2014 00:51

I would also recommend David Wallace Foster..Consider The Lobster, is one of my favourite books. His suicide left me feeling so sad at the loss of such a great talent.

DuchessofMalfi · 24/02/2014 00:41

Lionel Shriver? I read her novel Big Brother recently and enjoyed it. She also wrote We Need To Talk About Kevin, which I haven't yet read.

Original poster
EdBird · 23/02/2014 21:28

Thanks - have pynchon and foster wallace on my list - which foster wallace first?
Louise Erdrich - thank you - will look :)

OP posts:
MamaPain · 23/02/2014 21:00

Louise Erdrich? I like her recent things.

If you like Franzen, maybe David Foster Wallace would suit you.

I've read a lot of John Updike and Phillip Roth who I think of as contemporary American, although not as recent as you hoped for.

I read a profile of Michael someone recently who gets rave reviews. Can't remember his surname right now though.

Swipe left for the next trending thread