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Books that capture current times

18 replies

Cornishblues · 22/03/2021 15:59

One of the members of my book group grew up under a very different political climate from where we both live now and I’d wondered about asking her whether she could suggest a book that captured what it was like. Then it occurred to me that it’s not necessarily an easy ask and I wondered what I would pick for the same question and I’m finding it difficult to think of anything. Good crime fiction is the closest I can think of but thankfully I’ve lived a sheltered life.

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Mypathtriedtokillme · 11/05/2021 03:11

The animals in that country - an epidemic that causes you to hear what animals say. Your dog doesn’t like you… at all.

An Ordinary Epidemic - I kinda wanted to punch the main character in the throat but now I totally get where she’s coming from in her paranoia

The second cure - great book set mainly in Aus but a world wide pandemic

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Cornishblues · 10/05/2021 18:41

Thank you for all the excellent suggestions, a couple I’ve enjoyed before and thanks to @ValerieMorghulis I tried Ali Smith’s Autumn. I’d been avoiding the series as I didn’t get on with others of hers I read years ago but have been missing out - really enjoyed it. Going to move on to something more escapist now though.

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Justjoinedforthis · 10/05/2021 13:56

There is a new book out called Dreamland which is set in Margate in the very near future when the country is being decimated by climate change - very good read!

applecatchers36 · 03/05/2021 15:36

Luster by Raven Leilani is good about what it's like to be young woman now

Charley50 · 03/05/2021 15:12

Some memoirs are great to learn about a set time and type of life; e.g. Viv Albertine, Clothes, music, boys and To throw away unopened - very much of the time and place. 80s to Recent - London

Also, Anita and Me, novel by Meera Syal I found very true to the experience of growing up in 80s UK, as an immigrant with white friends and the difference in cultures. I suppose the 80s is years ago now though!

Charley50 · 03/05/2021 15:05

Zadie Smith White Teeth captures the London of the recent period it's set in.

The Cows by Dawn O'Porter has a very now (albeit a few years ago) feel.

Love a few Patrick Gale books.
They're so cosy.

applecatchers36 · 03/05/2021 14:47

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay hilarious and heartbreaking diaries of a junior doctor

carbuncleonapigsposterior · 24/04/2021 17:35

Amanda Craig's Lie of the Land and The Golden Rule state of the nation satires I preferred them to Jonathan Coe's Middle England.

wireleaf · 17/04/2021 10:49

Jonathan Coe's Middle England was pretty good on the Cameron years up to the Brexit referendum.

Pyewackect · 17/04/2021 10:21

Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History.

TheWindOnTheMoon · 17/04/2021 10:19

There's a thriller I read recently People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd that captures the life of a popular Instagrammer "Mama" well. It looks closely at the life lived intensely in the eye of social media.

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid, which examines racism and looks at white saviour and social media influencers again.

SageRosemary · 17/04/2021 00:56

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins - gripping

MadMadMadamMim · 17/04/2021 00:28

I re-read Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham this year, but there are many post Apocalyptic novels that could also capture the feeling of lockdown.

Z for Zachariah?

dotoallasyouwouldbedoneby · 17/04/2021 00:18

Lockdown by Peter May!

Original poster
Cornishblues · 13/04/2021 19:54

Thanks for these suggestions. Ormally I love Notes from an Exhibition too, but others of his that I have read not so much.

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impostersyndrome · 06/04/2021 19:33

I’d recommend Linda Grant’s latest book: A Stranger City, set just before Brexit

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/04/a-stranger-city-by-linda-grant-review

Ormally · 03/04/2021 00:25

Some of the Patrick Gale books - mostly with a flavour of Cornwall areas. My favourite is Notes from an Exhibition, but this has a distinctive build through from the 60s to the 2000s. Very clever structure. Have not been so into the more recently written historical ones.

Possibly also Jon McGregor - people love Reservoir 13 but I was disappointed in it after If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. Tense to read though.

ValerieMorghulis · 22/03/2021 19:41

Ali Smith books Autumn, Winter etc are very good on “current times”.

At the lighter end, Alexander McCall Smith also, but only if you live somewhere genteel like Edinburgh Grin